Showcase Productions Society was formed in May of 1990 as the result of interested actors and singers wanting to present musical theatre productions. Our first venture into the world of music was to stage a student recital featuring some of the best musical students Amherst had to offer. Later that fall, they staged the overwhelmingly successful production of We’ll Meet Again, a musical review commissioned by the Royal Canadian Legion, to celebrate the veterans of the World Wars. With a capacity audience of six hundred for each performance, that show established a new record for theatrical audiences in Amherst. That record continues to be unbroken today.

With our successful beginning, we went on to produce further successful shows, delivering in our promise to develop a continuing interest and appreciation for musical theatre in the Amherst area. Shows produced over the years included Broadway, Musically Speaking II, Little Shop of Horrors, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ, Superstar, A Secret Garden, L’il Abner, A Tribute to the Tonys, The Wonderful World of Music, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Smoke on the Mountain, Sander's Family Christmas, Hello Dolly, Godspell, Seussical the Musical, Lucky Stiff, Children of Eden, Blood Brothers, Alice in Wonderland and many more, including more student recitals.

A second, but perhaps the most important, objective of the group was to provide opportunities for, and financial assistance to, deserving students who wish to further their interest in the many facets of the performing arts. The group’s founder, Ed MacKay, took $1,000.00 from an honourarium paid to him to conduct a theatre feasibility study, and established a scholarship which was awarded to Kevin Corbett. This first recipient of the scholarship fund went on to study music at Dalhousie University. Since then, the group has continued to provide avenues and opportunities for students wishing to attend post secondary education institutions.

Showcase Productions Society has funded students who have attended Mount Allison University, Dalhousie University, Acadia University, Dalhousie Theatre School, the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London as well as countless theatre and choral workshops and summer camps. To date, from their scholarship and sponsorship fund, the group have provided financial funding to deserving students in excess of $84,000. Showcase Productions Society is the only community theatre group in Atlantic Canada to offer two such scholarships to students wishing to pursue post-secondary studies in the performing arts.

Our group participates in a variety of community activities including the local Downtown Christmas Parade, and always relies on the local community to provide the necessary supplies required, such as meals for the dinner theatres. In the summer of 1992, the group began a tradition of providing summer dinner theatres at the Wandlyn Inn, an activity taken over by Live Bait Theatre at the request of the group when they could no longer corral summer students and muster the necessary volunteers during our brief, maritime summers.

Showcase Productions Society , in meeting their objective of providing an avenue for the appreciation for quality theatre, instituted an annual excursion to Broadway, New York. For the past number of years, the group has been organizing and escorting fall and spring tours to “the big apple” to see the very latest in theatrical entertainment. Participants come from all over the maritime provinces and as far away as Montreal. Profits from these tours go to the scholarship and sponsorship fund. Since then, our excursions have broadened to include other destinations, including Atlantic professional theatres.

A few years ago, the group decided to contribute directly to the new hospital building fund and staged a musical revue. Profits from this production went to the local hospital as well as to the local Children’s Hospital, the IWK. in Halifax.

The group encourages family participation in all their activities and offer a family membership as well as an individual membership. The management of the society is the responsibility of a Board of Directors, elected annually by the membership with directors specifically responsible for membership, education, policy and procedure and the scholarship/sponsorship program. Casting for all our shows is open to the general public and is conducted through open auditions. For further information on any of the activities of this dynamic group, interested persons are asked to contact showcasep@eastlink.ca or 902-667-1900.