Theatre school is getting ready for five new productions this academic year.
A new season of plays is almost here.
Each year, the Theatre School of George Brown College (GBC) puts on a handful of shows, featuring students in their final year of their program. The program has been around since 1976 and is considered one of Canada’s highest-rated schools for drama.
With the new academic year kicking off, Michael Longstaff, theatre arts support coordinator, is excited to welcome students back as they prepare for the upcoming five plays. He shares that each production is carefully chosen to give students meaningful roles and provide audiences with diverse and engaging performances.
“The biggest challenge is finding plays that are current, pertinent to the times that we have, but also have large casts. Because, of course, our program, we tend to have between 20 and 30 students in each year of the program. So… we obviously want everybody on stage as much as possible and getting as much experience as they can,” said Longstaff.
This year, the 2025/2026 season includes a diverse lineup of productions: Orlando by Sarah Ruhl (Nov. 5 to 15), The Marvelous Museum of Munsch by Christel Bartelse and the Second Year Class (Nov. 26 to Dec. 6), The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare (Feb, 4 to 14), Picnic at Hanging Rock by Laura Annawyn Shamas (April. 7 to 18), and The Parliament of the Birds by Guillermo Verdecchia (April. 8 to 18).
With the first play just two months out from the start of classes, there is a lot to prepare for the students who will be taking to the stage for each performance. He adds that the performers have gotten the majority of their skills out of the way and get to focus the year on the stage.
“Our third years, they’ve done a lot of their training, of their skills and their core elements through first and second year. Some of that does continue into third year, but then mainly they’re working on shows. So, they come in in September, they do a brief intensive piece with one of our directors, and then they start their work on the first show of the year, which goes up in November. And then same thing, after they come back from the winter break, they start working immediately on the show, which performs in February,” Longstaff added.
Students in their final year audition for on-stage parts, while others are assigned important backstage responsibilities. Longstaff also points to how students get the chance to work with professional actors, directors, and industry professionals, to surround them with a wealth of experience.
While the final year students are the ones who are starring in the majority of the works put on during the season of plays, Longstaff says that they’re not the only ones who get a chance to perform.
Each year, there is one play where the second year students get the chance to take to the stage and perform. This play, which usually takes place around the winter break, is generally a fun performance which is the most attended play each year.
“So, our second-year class does a play for young audiences every year, and it’s actually our most highly attended production. We get over 5,000 students from Toronto area, elementary schools, private, public, independent, and so forth. And they all get bused in, or take TTC, find their way here, and so leading up to the winter break, it’s a real big event for all of our, all the audience members that come. We have public shows and school shows for that. And yeah, it’s a great, great way for the second years to really jump in, into the fire for performances.”
