Twenty-one years ago, a group of community leaders in Antigonish -- made up of an alliance of business people, academics, and theatre lovers -- came together with the goal of forming a professional theatre company. They appointed a Managing Director, secured a performance space at St. Francis Xavier University -- and what was to become Nova Scotia's first and longest running professional repertory company -- Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre -- was born.

In Antigonish, as in many communities throughout Canada, a strong tradition of amateur theatre activity has provided a firm foundation for new cultural development. As Festival Antigonish enters the new millennium, the company encompasses a remarkable range of professional theatre activity and enjoys an enviable level of community support.

At the same time, Festival Antigonish has become a place where Nova Scotian artists can create dynamic new works and gain valuable experience performing in works produced to the highest artistic and technical standards. Some of Nova Scotia's finest playwrights, directors and performers have originated new works and honed their performance and directing skills at Festival Antigonish -- and this legacy continues with the development of our Year 2002 Season.

Festival Antigonish is committed to supporting work which challenges, intrigues, and entertains its audiences while developing their appreciation for the art of theatre as a whole. The Festival strives toward building close working relationships with its regional sponsors, by involving sponsors' corporate identities at every opportunity with the productions and programs they support.

The Festival's willingness to produce and develop the work of Nova Scotian artists promotes the idea that work created by Nova Scotians has a vital role to play within a well-crafted season of professional theatre. And our longevity as a company both in artistic and organizational terms continues to reflect positively on the artists working here.

With the Festival's success comes the assurance that Nova Scotian artists will continue to play a key role in shaping the community's ideas about theatre. It is our hope that artists will continue to be influenced and transformed by time spent in our community, and through their interactions with the dedicated staff and volunteers who have helped to make Festival Antigonish a reality.

1987 - A group of community leaders, university personnel and artists come together to discuss creating a theatre festival. Addy Doucette researches the idea with a grant from StFX.

1988 - Festival Antigonish opens on Canada Day with a three-play, eight-week repertory season, featuring all-Nova Scotian performers. Highlights include the locally written It's the Berries musical revue, a Scottish Concert Series, and the first Summer dramalab theatre camps.

1989 - Emmy Alcorn, Jeannette White, Scott Burke, Wally MacKinnon and John Dartt join the company. The season features John Gray's 18 Wheels, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap and It's the Berries II. The Festival stages its first children's play; Ian Pygott becomes technical director.

1990 - Company members include Frank MacKay, Angela (Cochran) Vermeir, Bruce Thompson and Phil Hughes. The Children's Series expands to two plays, and the Festival wins a Council for Business and the Arts in Canada competition.

1991 - Children's Series produces A Little Bird Told Me, the first of five new plays presented by Canadian playwright Nelles Van Loon. Local sponsorship of productions steadily increases.

1992 - Faith Ward and Joseph Rutten are featured in The Kingfisher. Ian Pygott originates the Late Night Series with two new plays performed by Emmy Alcorn and John O'Keefe.

1993 - Hugh Thompson, Martha Irving, Dennis Fitzgerald and Michael Keating join the company. A major marketing campaign is launched that increases box office receipts by 50 per cent, and corporate funding increases significantly. Frank MacKay writes The Red Row for the Late Night Series.

1994 - The Late Night Series premieres Daniel MacIvor/Daniel Brooks' Here Lies Henry, beginning an enduring partnership with da da kamera; Ross Manson and Carol Sinclair perform in The Elephant Man, which marks the directing debut of Richard Donat. The Festival also premieres Norm Foster's The Long Weekend.

1995 - Rhonda McLean, Cliff Le Jeune, Deborah Allan and Mike Petersen are featured; Mary-Colin Chisholm makes her directing debut with The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, Bryden MacDonald performs his new play Alden Joseph Perfect for the Late Night Series. Subscriptions double. Planning begins for a $700,000 Capital Campaign for the renovation of the Bauer Theatre.

1996 - The newly renovated Bauer Theatre is officially opened by Premier John Savage. Mike Petersen's Don't Get Me Started and Mary-Colin Chisholm's He'd Be Your Father's Mother's Cousin are produced. Acclaimed Nova Scotian designers Stephen Osler and Robert Dolye design sets and costumes for the company.

1997 - Festival Antigonish celebrates its 10th Anniversary by producing a record setting nine productions, attendance increases by 38 per cent since the start of renovations. Amy Melmock is hired as the company's first General Manager.

1998 - Nova Scotians Shelley Thompson, Jennifer Overton, Marguerite McNeil, Craig Wood, and Kathryn McLellan are featured in a season that includes a new original work by Mike Petersen, Norm Foster and Sheldon Currie.

1999 - The festival produces nine shows, and introduces a New Play Reading Series, in cooperation with Guysborough's Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre. The season features new works by Nova Scotian playwrights Bryden MacDonald, Wanda Graham, and a special remount of Daniel MacIvor's Marion Bridge. Addy Doucette announces a one-year leave of absence, Jennifer Overton is appointed Acting Artistic Director for the Year 2000 Season.

2000 - Acting Artistic Director Jennifer Overton mounts the Festival's thirteenth season, scoring box office success with Nunsense, and directing the first Canadian production of The Weir. Daniel MacIvor premieres In On It on the Late Night Stage. FAST restructures its management model to deal with budgetary challenges and decides to implement the Artistic Producer model.

2001 - Festival Antigonish presents a shortened season but achieves an all time record in box office receipts and meets all goals in the first year of a 3-year debt reduction plan. The season features the world premiere of Mary Ellen MacLean's Frankie and Sheldon Currie's By the Sea: Anna's Story, as well as the first NS production of For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again by Michel Tremblay. FAST receives 4 Merritt Award nominations.

2002 - Festival Antigonish mounts an acclaimed revival of Lance Woolaver's World Without Shadows with Sherry Smith, John Dartt, Deb Allen, Lionel Doucette and Lucky Campbell in the cast of its Four-play Main Stage Series which also features Daniel MacIvor's cul-de-sac. The Late Night Series introduces Virginia Hayden's work to NS audiences, as well as featuring plays by Carol Sinclair and Antigonish's Pam MacLean. FAST retires its debt.

2003 - The 16th season of Festival Antigonish sees Dennis Fitzgerald, Sherry Smith, John Dartt, Andrew Bigelow, Jen MacDowell, Alison Muir and Lionell Doucette on the Main Stage in Double Double, Lend Me A Tenor and Midlife. The Children's Series features If You Could Wear My Sneakers by Sheree Fitch and Jeremy Webb directs the musical Les Miserables. 2004 - The 2004 season features the Canadian premier of Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones, a Norm Foster comedy and a farce by Marc Camoletti. Nancy Regan, Raquel Duffy, Shelley Thompson, Jeremy Webb, John Dartt and Wally MacKinnon entertain us all as the Main Stage cast. Subscription sales increase by 25%. It also marks the final season for long time Artistic Producer, Addy Doucette who retires from Festival Antigonish in September.

2005 - Under the new management of Ed Thomason (Artistic Producer) and Madonna Van Vonderen (Administrator), an extended 2005 season with four main stage plays produced on the Bauer stage. Stones In His Pockets, Joni Mitchell: River, Relatively Speaking and a newly commissioned version of the classic Miss Julie garner wonderful press and a great response from our patrons. Cast members include Raquel Duffy, Margot Sampson, Andrew Musselman, Mark Uhre, Jeremy Webb and Hugo Dann. In a season when tourist numbers are down, FAST still entertains over 10,000 patrons.

2006 - FAST is named one of the top five summer festivals in Canada by the Ottawa Citizen. Once again, we produce a wonderfully successful season. Cast members include Genevieve Steele, Shelley Thompson, Jan Filips, Jeremy Webb, Andrew Musselman and Mark Uhre. With funding assistance from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Canadian Heritage, FAST launches Stage2, a 60 seat studio theatre/café in Somers Place on the campus of StFX. Attendance to this new venue is outstanding doubling projected figures.

2007 - FAST's 20th anniversary season! No Way To Treat A Lady, Skylight, Boeing Boeing, Molly's Veil enjoy an outstanding response from both our local audience and the Wolfville patrons who welcome our second week-long visit to the Al Whittle Theatre. Cast members include newcomers Sharon Bajer (also the author of Molly's Veil ), Carson Nattrass and Marty Burt along with favorites Shelley Thompson, Genevieve Steele, Bridget Bezanson, Craig Gillis and Ed Thomason. The Festival Antigonish Foundation is launched. The Foundation will create and manage an endowment fund, the proceeds of which will be distributed annually to the Festival Antigonish operating budget. At the time of writing pledges to the fund stand at $425000.

2008 - The 21st season opens with the hit comedy Sexy Laundry by Canadian playwright Michelle Riml. It is followed by the Neil Simon comedy I Ought To Be In Pictures, Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton and the Canadian premier of Grace by A.C. Grayling and Mick Gordon. Family Series enjoys success with Munsch Ado About Nothing and Godspell. Stage2 sees productions by Gesamtkunstwerk Projects And Stockings For The Ladies, The Russian Play by 2b Theatre, LunaSea's presentation of Allan Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet and Nights In The Gardens of Spain, Shits & Giggles by a local trio of artists followed by Catalpa by Ireland's Blood In The Alley Theatre Company. Stage2 was also home to That Thing You Do, our Tuesday Night showcase presentations of local talent.