168 North Christina Street, Sarnia, 519-344-SHOW (7469)
www.imperialtheatre.net

Originally built as The Capitol Movie Theatre in 1936, the Capitol was lovingly restored between 1995 and 1997, in all of its Art Deco elegance. It was transformed from the premiere movie-house of the 1930s to 1980s to a theatre for live performances and renamed the Imperial Oil Centre for the Performing Arts. Every seat in the house provides an excellent view of the stage. In fact, no seat is more than sixty feet from the stage. The acoustics are great. However, we have recently installed an infrared hearing impaired system with loan-out devices for patrons who request them. We also have up-front wheelchair access.

If that's not enough, there's more -- The Imperial is located right in the heart of downtown Sarnia, just minutes away from anything and everything a traveler could need. Numerous restaurants and shops line the nearby streets, happily awaiting your patronage.

The Capitol is transformed into The Imperial.

Originally built as The Capitol Movie Theatre in 1936, the Capitol was lovingly restored between 1995 and 1997, in all of its Art Deco elegance. It was originally one of the largest single screen movie theatres seating about 1200 people but when regulations changed requiring projectionists per every 1000 seats the theatre promptly removed 201 of those seats in order to not be required to hire another projectionist. Since heritage and authenticity are important to Theatre Sarnia, the group has had remarkable success in recreating many parts of the interior of the building to their original glory and the ceiling and lobby are just two sections of the building with heritage designations. This restoration would not likely have been possible without the generous donations to Theatre Sarnia throughout the restoration process including donations by the local petro-chemical companies.

It was transformed from the premiere movie-house of the 1930s to 1980s to a theatre for live performances and renamed the Imperial Oil Centre for the Performing Arts. Every seat in the house provides an excellent view of the stage. In fact, no seat is more than sixty feet from the stage. The acoustics are great. However, we have recently installed an infra-red hearing impaired system with loan-out devices for patrons who request them. We also have up-front wheelchair access.

The Imperial Oil Centre for the Performing Arts is a facility that includes the 598 seat Imperial Theatre, two fully licensed bars, the Nova Room - which is available for small functions, the Theatre Box Office, the R.W.Lawton Gallery, rehearsal halls, workshops and administrative offices.

Theatre Sarnia is the legal owner and operator of the Imperial Theatre with business and artistic direction under the guidance of an elected Board of Directors from within it's membership. Theatre Sarnia is one of the oldest operating Community Theatre groups in Canada with it's roots in the Sarnia Drama Club formed in 1927.

THEATRE SARNIA : 1927 to 2009 - 82 Seasons of Great Performances !

Amateur Theatre in Sarnia grew through the leadership of Herman Voaden, Dr. R.K.Stratford and D. Park Jamieson with the creation of the Drama Club of Sarnia in 1927. After many years known as the Sarnia Little Theatre the organization is now known as Theatre Sarnia and it  is one of the oldest, continuously operating theatre groups in Canada. Over the years, this group has performed in a Lutheran Church, the auditorium at Johnson Memorial School, the Sarnia Public Library auditorium, Sarnia Collegiate Institute auditorium, and the original Imperial Theatre on Christina Street that was destroyed in the tornado that hit Sarnia in 1953.

Theatre Sarnia now has it's home at the Imperial Theatre in downtown Sarnia, which was officially opened on December 31, 1996. The theatre originally opened as the Capitol Theatre on New Year's Eve 1936 with the movie College Holiday starring Jack Benny. It closed 52 years later in 1988, and was left abandoned and derelict for 10 years and slated for demolition. In two short years, with the help of local Industry, the City and private donors, Theatre Sarnia and many volunteers accomplished the transformation of the movie house to a live theatre venue. Now restored in all it's Art Deco elegance, the Imperial Theatre seats 598 patrons and actively hosts a variety of professional and amateur performers, profit and non-profit events. The Imperial Theatre is a state of the art venue noted for it's excellent facilities and friendly, helpful Technical and Administrative staff.

The Imperial Theatre is owned and operated by Theatre Sarnia under the guidance of an elected Board of Directors. Over the years the group has hosted successful Theatre Festivals such as the Dominion Drama Festival, the Theatre Ontario Festival and the Western Ontario Drama League Theatre Festival and WODL Mini-Fest. The theatre group has won many awards and had their work nominated for recognition at these Festivals. Graduates of Theatre Sarnia have gone on to careers in various fields of the theatrical community and entertainment industry. (Courtesy of the Imperial Theatre website)

We encourage you to take in one of these award winning shows, you will not be disappointed. Tickets can be purchased by following the link below to the box office.

https://secure1.tixhub.com/imperial-sarnia/procurement/

As like many older theatres, there are the stories of whether the theatre has any resident ghosts. That is a mystery best left simply that, a mystery