Founded in 1977, Catalyst’s original mandate was as a social action theatre company. In 1996 the company’s mandate was radically changed to its current focus on creating  new work. Since 2006 Catalyst has prioritized developing and touring one large-scale production every second year with the continued collaboration of a core group of artists. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Jonathan Christenson and with the ongoing collaboration of Resident Designer Bretta Gerecke Catalyst is now known for its highly identifiable aesthetic.  The company’s work is characterised by a bold and distinctive theatricality that integrates a strong musical component with striking visual imagery, a heightened physical performance style, poetic text, and an often darkly comic sensibility.

Catalyst has toured its productions to the UK, across Canada, Australia and the USA since 1997.  These have included The House of Pootsie Plunket, The Blue Orphan and, more recently, Frankenstein and Nevermore, The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe.

In the past five years Catalyst’s productions have been presented across Canada by partners including Keyano Theatre (Fort McMurray), The Banff Centre for the Arts, Theatre Calgary, The High Performance Rodeo (Calgary), The Vancouver East Cultural Centre, The PuSh Festival (Vancouver), Canadian Stage (Toronto), Persephone Theatre (Saskatoon), the Arts Club Theatre (Vancouver), the Yukon Arts Centre (Whitehorse) and internationally at London’s Barbican Theatre and New York’s New Victory Theater.

Recent commissioning partners include the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Luminato in Toronto and the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton.