Best Theatre Company

Make that seven Gold Awards in the Best Theatre Company category for Neptune Theatre. The 61-year-old theatre company—the largest in all of Atlantic Canada—has been a staple of Halifax’s downtown since the early 1960s when it opened in a former cinema at the corner of Sackville and Argyle Streets. And while it may be a powerhouse in the world of theatre—where else in Halifax can you find shows with Hollywood stars?—that doesn’t mean the BOH nod has lost its shine for Neptune.

“It means a lot,” artistic director Jeremy Webb tells The Coast. “I’ve been fortunate over the last 20 years to get some of these or be affiliated with these awards, and it always means so much more because it’s votes from [the] people.”

It’s been a busy year (as always) for Webb and his colleagues, who, in 2024 alone, have staged Dear Rita, a “musical celebration” of Cape Breton’s Rita MacNeil; Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; the theatre-music production of King Gilgamesh & the Man of the Wild; an adaptation of Disney’s Frozen; shalan joudry’s Winter Moons, a story of L’nu fire keepers; and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Next year will bring the story of World War II spy and movie star Josephine Baker to the stage (Josephine: A Musical Cabaret), along with the life of civil rights trailblazer Viola Desmond (Controlled Damage).

“That’s the joy of what we’re doing right now,” Webb says. “It’s the variety.

“So many different kinds of people are coming to the theater now, and we want to make sure they get something that excites them.”