Theatre Outré Information

Theatre Outré is a Canadian theatre company based in Lethbridge, Alberta dedicated to producing queer theatre and improvisation shows for live audiences. Founded in 2012 by Jay Whitehead, Richie Wilcox, and Aaron Collier, the company has become known for their unconventional approaches to theatre and exploring topics of sexual identity, drag performance, familial relationships, queer history, and social taboos. Theatre Outré operates out of Didi’s Playhaus in the McFarland building, a 60-seat theatre space located in downtown Lethbridge.

In 2005, Jay Whitehead, an undergraduate student in the Drama Department at the University of Lethbridge booked a space on campus and held a queer cabaret called Pretty, Witty & GAY. The event was hugely successful and following Whitehead’s departure from Lethbridge, became a standalone yearly event.

In 2012 Jay Whitehead and Richie Wilcox met as faculty members at the University of Lethbridge and were both looking to create queer theatre productions. Whitehead and Wilcox joined forces, along with Wilcox’s husband and sound designer, Aaron Collier, to form Theatre Outré. Theatre Outré’s mandate was to create alternative queer theater productions for the community of Lethbridge that offer “uncensored and uncompromising voice to those in our community who are often considered to exist beyond the fringes of social propriety, sexual norms and gendered expectations.” ^[1]

Theatre Outré’s first theatre space was located on the third floor of the historic Whitney building in downtown Lethbridge and was used for rehearsals and performances. Called Bordello, as a reference to Lethbridge’s historic red-light district, the theatre space was cramped and in ill repair, with toilets regularly clogging and the roof leaking. ^[2] Nonetheless, Theatre Outré began producing theatrical productions such as UNSEX’d and The Drinking Game that were received positively. ^[3]

In 2014, Theatre Outré moved Bordello to a new space in the McFarland building in downtown Lethbridge. Located on the second floor, this space is where Theatre Outré is located today.

After a 2014 controversy, Theatre Outré changed the name of their theatre space from Bordello to Club Didi, after Didi D’edada, Whitehead’s drag persona. The name would be changed again in 2017 to Didi’s Playhaus.

Alongside scripted content, Theatre Outré regularly hosts live improvisation shows with their improvisation troupe, ImpromptOu. ImpromptOu has produced Gomorrah, an improvised soap opera, No Way Out, an improv tragicomedy, and their weekly Drunk Improv shows hosted at different venues around Lethbridge.

My Funny Valentine by Dave Deveaux

UNSEX’d by Jay Whitehead & Daniel Judes

The Case of the Fraudulent Cock

The Drinking Game by Theatre Outré and DaPoPo Theatre

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teats

A Thought in Three Parts by Wallace Shawn

CASTRATI: An Electro Drag Opera by Aaron Collier, Jay Whitehead, Richie Wilcox and Kathy Zaborsky

The Birth of Casper G. Schmidt by Sky Gilbert

How to Leave by Liam Monaghan

CRABS by Jay Whitehead

White Gleaming Beach by Greg MacArthur

Late Company by Jordan Tannahill

The Princess Show by Aaron Collier, Richie Wilcox and Deonie Hudson

Montparnasse by Erin Shields & Maev Beatty with Andrea Donaldson

The Curing Room by David Ian Lee

Tab & Landon by Jay Whitehead

Vigil by Morris Panych

The Confession of Jeffrey Dahmer by Josh Hitchens

No Way Out by David Gabert, Erica Barr, and Greg Wilson

Sapientia by Roswitha

Like Orpheus by Brett Dahl

Where the Two Spirit Lives by Marshall Vielle

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Whale Riding Weather by Bryden MacDonald

Confessional by Jay Whitehead, Mia van Leeuwen, Kathy Zaborsky, Deonie Hudson, Anastasia Siceac & Lee Burckes

333 by Jay Whitehead

A Very Didi Christmas Carol (staged reading) by Jay Whitehead & Kathy Zaborsky

The Sissy Duckling adapted by Nicola Elson, based on the book by Harvey Fierstein

IDTF Eva Gore Booth Award for outstanding Female Performance – Kathy Zaborsky in Montparnasse ^[4]

IDTF Hilton Edwards Award for Best Aspect of Production - for technical presentation and direction of Like Orpheus ^[5]

City of Lethbridge Celebrate Downtown 2019 - Innovator Award ^[6]

In January 2014, Theatre Outré posted on their website their intention to move Bordello to a new, larger venue in the McFarland building in downtown Lethbridge to support their growing company. ^[7] Following this, a petition to have Theatre Outré evicted was circulated by two tenants of the McFarland building, a music teacher and an insurance agent. The petition “expressed hypothetical concerns about exposure to homosexual lifestyles, ‘ transsexual endorsement,’ child molestation, rape, indecent exposure and acquiring STDs from the building’s toilets,” from Theatre Outré’s presence in the building. Theatre Outré posted their concerns about the petition to social media and began receiving widespread support from the community. ^[8] The landlord and Theatre Outré were able to come to an agreement and Theatre Outré was not evicted. ^{[9] [10]}

However, during the time of this petition, an anonymous call was placed to the office of Chris Spearman, Lethbridge’s mayor at the time, about the operations of Theatre Outré which prompted the city to review the companies permits. The city found that Theatre Outré lacked the appropriate development permit causing the opening of Bordello to be temporarily blocked until the issue could be resolved. As a result of this temporary closure, Theatre Outré was unable to mount their planned production of A Thought in Three Parts in their new space but was able to have it shown in the James Foster Penny Building owned by the University of Lethbridge.

Later that month, Theatre Outré was able to obtain the appropriate permits and was allowed to reopen. They reopened in the McFarland building under a new name, Club Didi. ^{[11] [12]}