Our Company

We recognize that we are standing on the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dene and Dakota peoples and the homeland of the Métis Nation. Stories have been told on these lands for thousands of years and we would like to thank Métis Elder, Dolorès Gosselin who guides us throughout the season.

Through our activities, we share powerful stories that are enriching and thought-provoking. We stimulate the creativity of young people, we foster the development of our amateur and professional theatre artists, we welcome the whole community and are proud of our one hundred years of history.

We seek to bring Manitobans together through French theatre and culture, so as to build a strong, creative, open and interconnected community.

Innovation:

We never cease to advance, learn and improve, with curiosity, passion, creativity and audacity as our driving forces.

Interconnection:

We seek to develop a friendly space for belonging, one where anyone can feel welcome. It is our responsibility to establish connections between the dramatic work and the public so as to create a sense of belonging.

Collaboration:

We believe that thinking and working together allows us to achieve more ambitious goals. This is why each of us is committed to the success of the team, of our theatre artists and of our young people.

Openness:

We are an open and welcoming place, in tune with our community. We believe that access to culture is a human right, and that everyone should have the chance to enrich their lives through culture.

Founded in 1925, Théâtre Cercle Molière is the oldest theatre company in Canada, French or English. It has always been and remains a driving force in the cultural life of French-speaking Manitoba.

Established in St. Boniface, at the heart of Manitoba’s capital city, Le Cercle Molière (now Théâtre Cercle Molière) began by performing plays from the French classic repertoire. Then in the 1950s, plays from Quebec and across Canada were staged, and for the last forty years, the emphasis has been on new Manitoba works. The company first presented a season entirely written by Franco-Manitobans in 1986, then a second time in 2000 to celebrate the TCM’s 75th anniversary.

From the very beginning, the company toured the rural regions of Manitoba. In its first phase and under the leadership of Pauline Boutal (1925-1968), Théâtre Cercle Molière carried home many prizes from the Dominion Drama Festival, and in 1958, embarked on its first tour of Western Canada. In 1970, it was the first non-professional troupe to perform at the National Arts Centre.

Under the artistic direction of Roland Mahé (1968-2012), TCM transformed itself into a professional theatre company, in terms of conditions offered to artists, production values and the pursuit of excellence. During this second phase, the company produced adaptations and translations of plays from Canada and abroad, with numerous texts from the Quebec repertoire that struck a chord among Franco-Manitobans, while adding various forms of professional development and support for theatre artists.

TCM has also put a great deal of energy into stimulating a fully Franco-Manitoban dramaturgy. Over the past decades, some seventy plays by Franco-Manitoban playwrights have been performed on the TCM stage, and the company continues to seek out new voices from the community.

After ten years of planning and a campaign to raise nearly $2 million from the private sector, the Théâtre Cercle Molière team moved into a new performance and production space in 2010. The theatre building, on Boulevard Provencher, St. Boniface’s main artery, is an important symbol of the vitality that the TCM has developed as an institution and the community that it serves. Having a dedicated permanent location, so long wished for, has enhanced the technical capacities of the company, provided the administrative team with a luminous and inspiring setting, and offered performers a generous and stimulating work space.