Varscona Theatre 4.23

The Varscona Theatre is a live performance venue in the Old Strathcona neighborhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Since 1994, the Varscona has been operated by a consortium of small theatre companies, including Rapid Fire Theatre, Shadow Theatre and Teatro la Quindicina (collectively known as The Varscona Theatre Alliance). The theatre is also the home of the nationally renowned live improvised soap opera Die-Nasty and the improv variety show Oh Susanna!. In addition, the Varscona has hosted tapings of The Irrelevant Show, a national sketch comedy program aired on CBC Radio. The Varscona holds over 300 performances and has 30,000 audience members per year. It employs 100 local professional theatre artists.HistoryThe building was originally constructed as Edmonton's Fire Hall #6 in 1956, which replaced the original Fire Hall #6, built in 1909, across the street . Fire Station #6 was later relocated to 81 Avenue & 96 Street, and the building was repurposed as a theatre in 1982.Prior to being renamed as The Varscona Theatre in 1996, the current building was called the Chinook Theatre, and served as the headquarters of Chinook Children's Theatre and the Edmonton International Fringe Festival from 1983-1993. It is still used as a venue during the Fringe Festival every August.