13 Best Performing Arts in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Friday night ceilidhs with Celtic dancing, fiddling, and a few stories thrown in for good measure, run weekly May through October. It's worth checking out the winter concert series, too.

Brackley Drive-In Theatre gives visitors in this neck of the woods a reason to stay up past dark. It shows a pair of first-run flicks nightly at 9 pm, from late April to October; gates open at 8 pm. Onion rings and other classic snacks from the canteen complement the experience. There's limited RV parking (arrive by 8:30 pm). Bring bug spray and, if possible, a bug screen for the car window(s); and if there's no way to turn off car headlights, bring a blanket to cover them (battery booster cables are available if necessary).

An energetic revue—featuring more than 30 bagpipers, Highland dancers, step dancers, and fiddlers—is hosted in the 290-seat theater here several nights a week, along with a few matinees, in July and August. During the same months, miniconcerts also run five times daily weekdays, and the C$7 tab can be credited toward the price of evening show tickets. Other events include piping contests and a Robbie Burns Dinner on the Scottish bard's birthday in January.

Canada's longest-running dinner theater, established in 1979, specializes in fun, fluffy musicals, with a season spanning late June through August. Watch lively shows while chowing down on a buffet meal.

For more than 40 years, this company has served up musical comedy with a buffet meal Tuesday through Saturday.

Sharing space with the Eptek Art and Culture Centre (but accessed through a different entrance), this 527-seat theater stages dramatic and musical productions year-round. Touring musicians and comedians routinely drop by, too.

In summer months, the Kings Playhouse stages lighthearted comedies on Sunday and Wednesday evening. On Tuesday, the venue is turned over to fiddlers and dancers during the weekly ceilidh, and other productions include dinner theater, comedy shows, and concerts.

Built in 1902 by Island architect W.C. Harris, this French Gothic-style church hosts performances by visiting artists from mid-June to mid-September as part of the Indian River Festival of classical and other music. The church has exceptionally good acoustics, plus a beautiful pastoral setting, and the concerts here are often broadcast nationally by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In summer, local musical acts perform and amateur actors mount plays several times a week at the St. Peters Courthouse Theatre. It's also the venue for the three-day Frank Ledwell Storytelling and Comedy Festival each July, and shows old-release movies. During certain days in summer, it hosts the "Escape of the Courtroom," a game in which intrepid participants have to solve various tasks to get out. Logically enough, the venue is a restored courthouse that dates back to 1874.

One of Charlottetown's major cultural centers, the Guild hosts plays, musicals, comedy and other performances, and a variety of exhibits throughout the year.

This is the city's main theater, at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. With more than 1,100 seats on two levels, it has hosted the famous Anne of Green Gables—The Musical for more than 55 seasons.

An intimate little theater, The Mack has just 200 seats, arranged cabaret-style around tables. Some evening performances have liquor service (so no under-19s are admitted).

Offering a renowned professional program with a focus on contemporary Canadian theater and music, this place may only have 150 seats but it has big talent and a huge heart. It operates year-round, and in the peak season, July through mid-September, the circa-1914 venue operates daily, offering four theater productions plus assorted concerts.