Betty Mitchell graduated in botany, not theatre, and still ended up shaping how Calgary does theatre. If you have ever seen a show at the Betty Mitchell Theatre or heard of the Betty Mitchell Awards, her name was on the door before you arrived.
A botanist ends up in drama
The University of Calgary archives say she was born in Ohio in 1896 and moved with her family to Oyen, Alberta, in 1912. She graduated in botany from the University of Alberta in 1924 and took a teaching job in Calgary. The Canadian Encyclopedia adds that a first university drama appearance sparked her passion for theatre.
At Central High School she and E. Julius Thorlakson founded the Green Room Club, according to the university archives. The club staged plays at the Side Door Play House and sponsored the first Alberta Drama Festival in 1930.
What she built in the classroom
In 1934 she moved to Western Canada High School, and in 1936 she became director of its Department of Drama. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes her as one of the first high-school drama teachers in Alberta after the 1935 curriculum reforms. It also says a 1942 student production of Our Town impressed a Cleveland Playhouse director.
She kept studying, too. The university archives record a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1942 to study drama in the United States, and both sources agree she earned a master’s degree in theatre from the State University of Iowa in 1944.
Where Workshop 14 came from
She founded Workshop 14 in 1944. Theatre Calgary, on its own history page, says the group was established by her students and took its name from her drama classroom at Western Canada High School.
That is our favourite detail in the whole story. One of the city’s best-known amateur companies is named after a room number.
The Canadian Encyclopedia says Workshop 14 won multiple Dominion Drama Festival awards between 1949 and 1959. The university archives say it took awards at regional and national festivals.
How her name lives on
The university archives say she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta in 1958, retired from teaching in 1961 and stayed active in Alberta drama until her death in 1976.
Theatre Calgary says its early home was the Betty Mitchell Theatre at the Allied Arts Centre, a converted tractor showroom at 9th Avenue and 8th Street SW. Workshop 14 and the Musicians’ and Actors’ Club merged as MAC 14 in 1966, and the company became Theatre Calgary in 1968.
The Canadian Encyclopedia also lists a second Betty Mitchell Theatre in the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in 1984, and the Betty Mitchell Awards, set up by Calgary’s professional theatre community in 1997-98.
Her classroom became a company, the company became a professional theatre, and her name outlasted all of it. Next time you see a Calgary production, notice how many people on stage learned the trade from a teacher first.
Next up for you is Workshop 14 Grew Up and Became Theatre Calgary. After that, Six Calgarians Built an Opera Company, and You Should Know Why. Or try Alberta Theatre Projects Began in a 74-Year-Old Log Hall for a change of pace.
Keep going with The Palace Theatre in Calgary, Short and Sweet and The GRAND Theatre Has Played Many Parts Since 1912.
Quick answers
Betty Mitchell graduated in botany from the University of Alberta in 1924 and took a teaching job in Calgary. At Central High School she and E. Julius Thorlakson founded the Green Room Club, which sponsored the first Alberta Drama Festival in 1930. In 1936 she became director of Western Canada High School’s Department of Drama.
Betty Mitchell founded Workshop 14 in 1944. Theatre Calgary says the group was established by her students and took its name from her drama classroom at Western Canada High School. The Canadian Encyclopedia says it won multiple Dominion Drama Festival awards between 1949 and 1959.
The Betty Mitchell Theatre and the Betty Mitchell Awards carry her name. The Canadian Encyclopedia lists a second Betty Mitchell Theatre in the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in 1984, and says Calgary’s professional theatre community set up the awards in 1997 to 98.
Another one worth your time: Vertigo Theatre Sells Mystery From the Base of the Calgary Tower.
