Studio 58 is the professional theatre training school at

Langara College Langara College (snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ in ''Halkomelem'') is a public degree-granting college in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which serves more than 19,000 students annually. Langara College started in 1965 as part of Vancouver Community ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia. The school offers a three-year diploma program for acting students and a three-year diploma program for production students. It is regarded as one of the top theatre schools in Canada and the only conservatory-style theatre training program in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

. The school auditions hundreds of people across Canada with sixteen accepted per semester (there are intakes in both fall and spring). Studio 58 operates a small theatre and presents 4 full-length productions annually as well as a smaller presentation of a student devised show, called Risky Nights. Professional directors and designers are hired to work on each production, and occasionally guest performing artists. Studio 58 productions are open to the public and reviewed by the Vancouver media.

History

The school was founded in 1965 as a small

theatre arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...

course first held on the King Edward Campus of Vancouver City College, now

Vancouver Community College Vancouver Community College (VCC) is a public community college in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1965, it is the oldest community college in British Columbia. VCC offers 79 certificate programs, 24 diploma programs, 9 award o ...

. Led by

Antony Holland Antony Holland (28 March 1920 – 29 July 2015) was an English actor, playwright and theatre director who until his death in 2015 lived on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada. History Holland completed his drama training at the Labou ...

, the course grew into a full program. In 1970 the program moved to new facilities on the Langara Campus and became known as Studio 58, named after the room number of the original theatre space. In 1985 Holland left and was replaced as

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

by Kathryn Shaw, who retired in 2020 and was replaced by Courtenay Dobbie, who died in 2024 and was replaced by Interim Co-Artistic Directors Raes Calvert and Shizuka Kai. Studio 58's 2015/2016 season celebrated their 50th anniversary.

Notable staff

* Aaron Bushkowsky - Playwriting * Andrew McNee - Acting * Kathryn Shaw - Former Artistic Director; Acting

Notable alumni

* Scott Bellis - Actor, director * Mark Acheson - Actor, TV, film and voiceover *

Brian Drummond Brian Drummond (born August 10, 1969) is a Canadian voice actor. He formerly served on the board of directors for the New Westminster-based Urban Academy along with his wife, Laura Drummond, also a voice artist. Usually working in Vancouver, h ...

- Actor * Bob Frazer - Actor * Carmen Aguirre - Actor, director, writer * Lara Gilchrist - Actress * Kevin Kerr - Playwright * Jonathan Lachlan-Stewart - Actor * Kevin Loring - Actor, playwright * John Mann - Actor, musician * Kevin McNulty - Actor *

Scott McNeil Scott McNeil is an Australian actor based in Canada, known for his live-action work as well as his roles in animation. His voice roles include Ace the Bat-Hound in '' Krypto the Superdog'', Voltar in '' League of Super Evil'', Jetfire, Backstop ...

- Actor *

Colin Mochrie Colin Andrew Mochrie (; born November 30, 1957) is a Scottish-born Canadian actor, writer, producer and improvisational comedian, best known for his appearances on the British and American versions of the improvisational TV show ''Whose Line ...

- Actor, ''

Whose Line Is It Anyway? ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' is a short-form improvisational comedy show created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. The three major versions of the show are the original 1988 British radio programme (from which all subsequent versions are ada ...

'' * Ty Olsson - Actor * David Richmond-Peck - Actor * Craig Veroni - Actor *

Jonathon Young Jonathon Young (born May 8, 1973) is a Canadian actor known for his role of Nikola Tesla on the SyFy show ''Sanctuary''. Appearances include ''The Fog'', ''Eureka'', and ''Stargate Atlantis''. Young is a well-respected stage actor. He is the ...

- Actor * Daniel Doheny - Actor * Josh Epstein - Actor, Producer, Writer * Juno Rinaldi - Actor *

Sonja Bennett Sonja Bennett (born August 24, 1980) is a Canadians, Canadian actress and screenwriter. Her film debut was in the Canadian feature film ''Punch'' (2002), for which she won the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Fi ...

- Actor, writer * Jane Perry - Actor

References

External links

Studio 58 Website
Langara College

{{authority control Education in Vancouver Drama schools in Canada Theatre companies in British Columbia Theatre in Vancouver Langara College