NB Drama Festival

NB Drama Festival For 40 years, New Brunswick has proudly celebrated Canada's largest scholastic theatre festival.

DramaFest 2025
May 5-7, 2025 MIDDLE SCHOOL
May 7-10, 2025 HIGH SCHOOL

05/20/2026

A big thank you to for capturing what a week at our festival looks like! We appreciate your support!

From sets, to shows, to onstage, and behind the scenes, photos from this year’s festival are now live!A link can be foun...
05/19/2026

From sets, to shows, to onstage, and behind the scenes, photos from this year’s festival are now live!

A link can be found on our website’s homepage.

A master list of this year’s certificates is now live on our website’s homepage!
05/12/2026

A master list of this year’s certificates is now live on our website’s homepage!

05/11/2026

“A New Brunswick teacher who helped generations of students perform live theatre was remembered this past week at the drama festival she helped orchestrate for decades.

Suzanne Doyle Yerxa passed away on April 18 at the age of 75.

Doyle Yerxa was a teacher at Kennebecasis Valley High School in Quispamsis, N.B., for 35 years where she led the school’s theatre program and co-founded the KV Players community theatre group. She also served as the New Brunswick Drama Festival’s long-time coordinator.

The festival, hosted each May at Fredericton’s St. Thomas University, is the largest single-site provincial school theatre festival in Canada.

Doyle Yerxa served as a driving force at the festival for 30 years: 15 years as the festival’s organizing committee chair and 15 years as the festival’s coordinator.

“There’s countless volunteers, teachers and people like myself who are here based on the impact and legacy she had,” said Michael Hogan, co-chair of the task force that took over organizing the festival after Doyle Yerxa passed.

Over 1,200 middle and high school students participated in this year’s festival, which ran Monday to Saturday and featured 53 plays from 36 schools.

Hogan said Doyle Yerxa always made a point of trying to see as many of the school plays as possible.

“We are actually reserving a seat that she would always sit in,” said Hogan. “There’s little things like that throughout the festival that will honour her memory while making sure we continue to put on the festival as she would’ve wanted.”

A book of remembrance for Doyle Yerxa was also placed outside the Black Box Theatre during the festival.

Ilkay Silk, a long-time adjudicator at the festival and theatre educator, wrote that Doyle Yerxa was a creative force of kindness, talent, and compassion.

“Her love of theatre and her responsibility as a teacher and mentor to bring out the best in students was one of her super-powers,” wrote Silk in a memorial included in the festival’s schedule. Silk said she will miss Doyle Yerxa’s laughter and wisdom.

“She changed people’s lives.”

Suzanne Doyle Yerxa’s family says a celebration of her life will be announced for a future date.”

- Nick Moore, CTV News Journalist

A huge thank you to all of our volunteers! This festival does not run without you. We appreciate all of your hard work!!...
05/10/2026

A huge thank you to all of our volunteers! This festival does not run without you. We appreciate all of your hard work!!

LAST CHANCE to get merch! Drop by the merch table or see our pinned post to WIN MERCH!!
05/09/2026

LAST CHANCE to get merch! Drop by the merch table or see our pinned post to WIN MERCH!!

Be like these guys!! Sign up for workshops at the info desk before it’s too late ⏳
05/09/2026

Be like these guys!! Sign up for workshops at the info desk before it’s too late ⏳

Drama Festival 2026 Dance!! The dance floor, open mic night, and board games were full of smiles tonight 🪩🎭
05/09/2026

Drama Festival 2026 Dance!! The dance floor, open mic night, and board games were full of smiles tonight 🪩🎭

Tokens and bracelets are how we get in to shows! To get a token you can line up outside the theatre at the load-in time ...
05/08/2026

Tokens and bracelets are how we get in to shows! To get a token you can line up outside the theatre at the load-in time for the show, then a volunteer will approach you with a token!

🎟️😊

Waiting in line shenanigans…
05/08/2026

Waiting in line shenanigans…

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51 Dineen Drive
Fredericton, NB
E3B 5G3

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