Work-from-home and productivity culture has changed many things about today’s workforce, including how people take lunch breaks. Nowadays, if a person takes one at all, they’re likely just taking a few minutes in the middle of the day to eat at their desk. But 50 years ago, many downtown office workers stepped out to watch a mid-day theatre show.
“The vision that was there when Lunchbox started in 1975 to present theatre to downtown office workers on their lunch breaks, it’s just not really the reality anymore,” says Bronwyn Steinberg, Lunchbox Theatre’s artistic director.
When Lunchbox Theatre launched, shows took place at Bow Valley Square. The theatre moved to the base of the Calgary Tower in 2008, in a space dedicated to Lunchbox Theatre. In 2021, that space was closed and the theatre moved operations to Vertigo Theatre’s studio theatre. The downtown locations perfectly suited what was once Lunchbox’s target audience. But with more people working from home, the audience for Lunchbox shows was no longer just downtown office workers, but people travelling from all over the city.
“Our audience still loves a lunchtime show. They still love a one-act play, but they hate driving downtown and paying for parking and dealing with construction and traffic,” says Steinberg. “When we get a complaint, it’s about parking.”
Lunchbox’s evolving audience needs led the company to make a move to cSpace Marda Loop, a space that was formerly King Edward School and is now a thriving arts hub. The new location offers a 1,430-square-foot studio theatre space with a 138-seat capacity, only slightly smaller than Lunchbox’s previous location. It also offers the added benefit of ample parking space in cSpace’s own lot, on the street or at the nearby community centre.
Steinberg believes the new location will not only help Lunchbox retain its audience, but grow it as well.
“I think the audience will change, but I think it could stay the same or even grow. I think there’s new opportunities there,” says Steinberg.
To take advantage of the opportunities the new space offered, Lunchbox added an additional show in the evening. Going forward, shows will take place Wednesday through Saturday at noon, Wednesday and Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 4 p.m.
The 2026-27 lineup includes the return of Ribstone, a one-man show from artist Christopher Hunt that was also performed on the Lunchbox stage last year. There will also be two more solo shows, Inner Elder and Oh Mother!, plus Steinberg’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol for the holiday season and a show from Lunchbox’s Stage One Festival, Marv & Ev, to close out the season.
“We wanted to make sure we had a season with big impact,” says Steinberg. “We’ve got a lot of things for people to see, but for us on the producing side, they’re actually simpler shows to present.”
Lunchbox Theatre performances will take place in The Studio at cSpace in Marda Loop, 1721 29 Ave. S.W. For more details about Lunchbox Theatre’s 2026-27 season, visit lunchboxtheatre.com
