Forever Home

Progress Photos

Help us fuel the fire by making a donation to support the construction of our new home! 

A SPACE FOR EXCHANGE

After nearly 20 years of saving and searching, we have found a place to call home, a place where we can bring all of our programming & stories under one roof. That place is TELUS’ Strathcona Exchange in the heart of Edmonton’s Old Strathcona theatre district. 

The land the building sits on is the traditional territory of the Papaschase Cree. The original caretakers of this land have gathered here to share stories for millennia. The building was originally constructed as a telephone exchange building in 1908 by the Province of Alberta and was sold to the City of Edmonton in 1911.

As technology evolved over the last century, so has this building. Additions were made in 1926 and 1948. In 1987, utilizing a vacant section of the building, EdTel opened the Telephone Historical Information Centre, a museum dedicated to the history of telecommunications. In 2004, the museum relocated, and the former museum space has mostly been sitting vacant, except to be used as a makeshift theatre venue during the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival and as offices for the Edmonton Pride Festival Society. 

Live improv thrives on an exchange between audience and performer. In 2021, Rapid Fire signed a 40-year lease with TELUS for the former museum space. We have already begun the renovations to turn this former museum into an inclusive, purpose-built improv theatre. We are excited to uphold the tradition of this space as a hub for storytelling, communication, and exchange.

NEW HOME, WHO DIS?

In 2021, Rapid Fire Theatre hired Group2 Architecture and Interior Design (the same design team behind the newly rebuilt Roxy Theatre on 124 street) to take on the exciting task of transforming a 110-year-old telephone exchange into a joyous place for learning and laughs. Together with the team from Delnor Construction, this renovation project could not be in better hands.

The space consists of two main areas: an upstairs and downstairs. The upstairs includes a 160-seat theatre designed specifically for intimate improv performances, a lobby, bar & concession, box office, public washrooms, a mindfulness room, and backstage areas including an artist lounge and dressing rooms.

The basement is where truly transformative programming takes place. This includes a smaller flexible performance and classroom space where we will offer public improv workshops, corporate team-building retreats, and our inner-city youth outreach program. The basement will also feature a students’ lounge, offices for our staff, and much-needed storage areas.

Thank You

Thanks to all these folks for their help in shaping our future home:

Brendan Trayner, Jarrett Campbell, Amir Reshef, Jeff Martens, Garth Crump, Brett Miller, Erin Birkenbergs, Ian Benbow, Mike Strandberg, Patrick Chorley, Stephen Faust, Andrea Ruether, Aaron Bonifacio, Dean Schnelback, Jason Deboski, Lucas Specht, Todd Worrell, Karen Brown Fournell, Rhonda Newman, CK Dhaliwal, Lalita Nault, Kelsie Acton, Josh Languedoc, Bradley Moss, Chris Kavanagh, Brad Fisher, and all visioning session attendees.

Project Funders

Project Partners 

Keep up with the latest updates on our building project!