Principal among the gathering spaces that were lost in the 2024 Jasper Wildfire were the Jasper Anglican Church and its former neighbour, the McCready Centre.

The McCready Centre was home to countless fairs, markets and bazaars—but also plays and concerts. And before the Anglican Church burned, its perfect acoustics and stained-glass filtered light helped illuminate hundreds, if not thousands, of elegant productions over the years. The “Castle Church” stood as an iconic venue in Jasper, not just for worship, but also for theatre. 

Indeed Jasper has staged live theatre for more than a century.

A drama-curious visit to the Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives yields dozens of photos of high school plays from as far back as 1919 and 1922. But it seems that 100 years ago, the performance of El Bandido, staged in 1925 and ’26 at the original Chaba Theatre, signalled the arrival of Jasper as a theatrical destination—for both theatre troupes and home-grown talent. 

A century ago, the Chaba was the local venue for live theatre and silent films. Its stage, though small, had just enough space for a small cast of actors and a piano player. The JMYA’s archives reveal one Mrs. Taylor, who accompanied the Chaba’s mute screen images with musical tempo and atmosphere via her upright piano.

The Jasper Theatrical Society, founded in the 1920s, created this opportunity to entertain Jasper residents and visitors not only at the Chaba, but at other venues springing up around town—Jasper Park Lodge, various churches, and the high school, for example. In those days, as much as the newly-built Stanley Thompson golf course, the rebuilt train station, and myriad outdoor adventures attracted people to Jasper, it was live theatre which entertained them during their stay. 

In 1955, Alberta turned 50. To mark this anniversary, the provincial government funded cultural events across the province. It was an opportunity that did not escape the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce’s attention. That intrepid group commissioned the creative mind of lauded Edmonton playwright Elsie Park Gowan, who penned the text and music for The Jasper Story, a production which, it is fair to say, remains the most elaborate in Jasper’s long theatrical history.

The Jasper Story had two distinct lives—running from 1956 through 1960, and again from 1976 through 1982. The play was a three-act, live outdoor “musical historama” (historical drama), which recounted Jasper’s colonial past from 1825 to “the present.”

Requiring 75 actors (mostly locals), 12 horses, 24 dancers, and 40 singers, The Jasper Story was a truly extravagant production, so large in scale that it was only possible to perform outside. Its first home was therefore on the grounds of the Palisades, just north of the town, and then, in the 1970s redux, The Jasper Story was staged at the Crater Theatre, a purpose-built bowl sculpted across from Whistlers Campground in a spot better known now as the rodeo grounds (or snow dump).

The Jasper Story was staged primarily for visitors. Running for 10 nights each summer during its bifurcated life, the play would attract audiences of up to 450 paying customers. Production was complex, with ensemble dances, horse trains, an occasional CN train (another story), and both solo and choral musical performances. Leaving nothing to chance, the original producer Jack McCreath (1956–60) booked the sound studios at CFRN radio in Edmonton, and pre-recorded the entire play, complete with a live orchestra! This audio was played back during the live performances, while the actors lip-synced their roles.

The 1950s edition of The Jasper Story featured many notable locals, some of whose own Jasper stories are still being told. Jasper senior Avice Heckley lovingly recounted her roles in those early performances as a family affair; her father-in-law James, mother-in-law Janet, sister-in-law Primrose and husband Ramsey all participated.

Going further back, James Heckley featured in the aforementioned El Bandido, and Ramsey, who passed in 2011, had a prominent role in the Jasper Glee Club, which staged many plays over the years. Other well-known locals played in the 1970s edition of The Jasper Story: Sandy Robinson, Dave and Val Butler, and Ann Holmes were much loved participants. It is no exaggeration to say that dozens of Jasper locals had a hand in entertaining thousands of tourists through the play’s 10 year run.

If the 15-year gap separating the two Jasper Story productions does not convince you of the cyclical nature of theatre in this town, perhaps the roll call of different theatre groups will. From the Glee Club, founded in 1926, to today’s Jasper Acts Theatre Group, which staged Puffs last year and will perform Charlotte’s Web next spring, there have been at least 20 different theatre groups or collectives in Jasper over the years.

Four decades ago, Jasper restauranteur Mike Day and local photographer Peter Lynch arrived in Jasper as travelling thespians, performing (from 1985 to 1992) under the banner of the Jasper Summer Theatre. Local musician Grace Kohn and Jeff Shea staged a series of one-person plays across town, including at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (which has its own rich theatrical tradition). And arts promoter Marianne Garrah, the creative energy behind Jasper Habitat for the Arts, has facilitated several theatrical movements during her 40-year run in town, including the Jasper Theatre Arts Collective.

This speaks to the unceasing demand for live performance and the capacity of Jasper’s talent to supply it; like ice on the Athabasca River, it is the nature of theatre companies to form, float, carve off, and melt away…only to re-form during Jasper’s cold winters.  

Jasper’s theatrical reach, of course, extends beyond the three-valley confluence. Actress Erin Karpluk is perhaps Jasper’s most famous thespian, building her successful career from the Jasper Jr./Sr. High School stage to theatre school at the University of Victoria, a three-year, Gemini award-winning role in Being Erica, and much, much more since. Jasper born-and-bred Ryan Chabrel-Davis continues to perform on and off stage in Vancouver. And rising Jasper board-treaders, Emerson Gibbons and Adelle Riopel, are honing their skills at the Alberta Theatre School in Red Deer while they mentor youth theatre in town.

So we have not reached the end of Jasper theatre history. Not even close.

For more than a century, Jasper has created and hosted live theatre. Although perhaps some of our best venues are gone, with imagination, they will be reborn, offering current and next generation actors opportunities to showcase their talents.

In the records and photos of 100 years of Jasper theatre, the creative spark and enduring resilience of the community’s cast of actors, writers, and producers leap from the page. From El Bandido to From Jasper With Love, the century-long arc of live performance in Jasper may be just approaching its peak.

John Wilmshurst // info@thejasperlocal.com