As a "collective" the space was run by a revolving membership of artists, some of whom have gone on to open larger, more mainstream theatres in Canada, including Robert Winslow, one of the space's founding members who in 1991 started Fourth Line Theatre in Millbrook, Ontario.

The Union Theatre was located at 188½ Hunter Street West in a space rumoured to have been an old undertakers facility (this was the inspiration for the weekly semi-improvised show The Coffin Factory).

A group of local theatre artists, including Robert Winslow, Trent University professor Ian McLachlan and members of Theatre Trent, along with other performance artists banded together to continue the work they had done in various Peterborough performance endeavors.

"[3] The space closed its doors on Hunter Street in 1995 and moved to a new home in Peterborough in 1996 where they only remained for one year.

[4] In 2006 a group of local artists from the Union Collective began work on opening a new theatre space with the same artist-run focus.

In 2000 independent film-maker, An Kosurko, a past collective member, created a 27-minute documentary about the Union Theatre called "Re:UNION"[6] which featured interviews with past collective members, space users, and local arts activists.

The film also included footage of the space, images of past show posters, and music recorded by bands who had played at the Union Theatre in its heyday.

Despite an always-full schedule of events, the space still struggled for survival and was often on the verge of closure - see "Union Theatre Losing its Home" below in Selected Posters and Articles.