Atlantic Theatre Festival

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The Atlantic Theatre Festival is a professional theatre company located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Theatre Festival presents live theatre during the summer in Wolfville's Festival Theatre, the former town hockey rink, which was converted into a 504 seat, thrust stage, theatre, and professional production facility, by the Atlantic Theatre Festival Society (a non-profit charity) As a result of a twenty-year (dollar-a-year) lease from Acadia University, over two million dollars was contributed by the local, Nova Scotian, and Canadian government to create the theatre. The Founder's Season was in the summer of 1995.

Mounting debts over the first five years forced the Atlantic Theatre Festival to reduce budgets, and cancel productions. In 2002, the original lease was terminated and a new lease was offered that reduced the professional theatre company to a seasonal tenant, curtailed technical production activities and increased costs. Acadia University runs the Festival Theatre building and now leases it seasonally to the Atlantic Theatre Festival. This arrangement has threatened the Atlantic Theatre Festival's existence and in 2004 it had to cease operation until 2006.

From 2004 until the summer of 2006 rebirth of the Atlantic Theatre Festival, the Festival Theatre was used a few days a year for the Performing Arts Series of concerts, which are held through-out the University school year, and for conferences.