Rosebud Theatre

Rosebud Theatre, located in the hamlet of Rosebud, Alberta, Canada, is the only professional rural theatre in Alberta. It produces four mainstage shows a year, attracting over 40,000 people per year to the hamlet of about 100 people.

Although about half of the patrons come from Calgary, the closest major centre, the other half come from throughout the province. Patrons regularly will drive from three hours away (Edmonton and Medicine Hat) to attend.

Rosebud Theatre is associated with Rosebud School of the Arts and regularly uses students on stage along with staff actors and guest artists.

At the Opera House in 2010 are We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!, by Dario Fo (March 12 - May 15); Oliver!, by Lionel Bart, (May 28 - August 29); The Road to Mecca, by Athol Fugard (September 10 - October 23); and The Secret Garden, book by Jim Crabtree, music and lyrics by Sharon Burgett, additional lyrics by Sue Beckwith-Smith and Diana Matterson, from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. (November 6 - December 23).

The theatre began as a fundraiser for the school in 1983. The plays were typically written in-house and focussed on local stories and characters. In 1991, the first royalty play, An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley, was produced. This coincided with a major renovation to the Opera House. This point began a steady growth from a community theatre to a respected professional theatre.

In 2002, Rosebud Theatre hired its first official Artistic Director, Morris Ertman.

Rosebud Theatre's website shows this mandate for producing plays:

Rosebud Theatre's choice of plays varies from lighthearted to serious, comic to tragic, and common to noble. Our intent is to produce a full spectrum of family programming which uplifts and strengthens the participant. It is our belief that values, ideals and noble dreams are not born by chance or promoted by luck. People of goodwill must be inspired to live them. And as theatre artists, we must be inspired to tell stories that grapple with them. Ultimately, our plays are illustrations of the beauty and complexity of life and the reality of issues and choices facing humanity.

Rosebud Theatre has produce many works by Vancouver playwright, Lucia Frangione, who got her start in Rosebud, including the premiere (and a rewrite) of Chickens, Cariboo Magi, and Holy Mo.

Other attractions in Rosebud are an art gallery, three gift shops, a museum, a recording studio, three bed & breakfasts, an inn, two RV parks and a golf course.

Rosebud Theatre's tag line is "an adventure...of the heart"