Ryan Hinds, a Sheridan contractor and professional theatre artist, in Toronto, on April 5, 2021.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The college musical theatre program credited as the birthplace of the smash-hit musical Come From Away is coming under pressure as financial turmoil continues to mount at postsecondary schools across Canada.
Sheridan College’s Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program will be submitted to an “efficiency review,” meaning it will remain open for enrolment but subject to audit by the college for possible cuts in the future.
Furthermore, the school’s Performing Arts – Preparation course, which has been a springboard for performers, writers and directors across the country, will be suspended after its current cohort graduates next year.
“Anywhere there is music theatre as an industry, there is someone who has graduated from Sheridan, someone who attended the program or maybe taught there,” said Ryan Hinds, a Sheridan contractor and professional theatre artist. “That impact can’t be overstated – there are Sheridan grads on Broadway. There are Sheridan grads on London’s West End.”
The Honours Bachelor program is an intense four-year program with an emphasis on musical theatre performance, where students often spend more than eight hours a day on campus between classes, rehearsals and auditions. The Performing Arts – Preparation course offers students a comprehensive introduction to theatre, with classes in acting, dance, music and backstage work.
The changes to the theatre program at Sheridan are part of a larger swath of cuts being implemented at the college. Last week, the school announced 40 program cuts and 27 program reviews, owing to an expected $112-million drop in revenue in the next fiscal year – the result of a reduction in the number of international study permits being issued by the federal government.
“These changes are required for Sheridan to remain a financially sustainable and vibrant community in response to chronic underfunding, changing government policies, and social, technological, and economic disruption,” said college president Janet Morrison in an e-mailed statement to media last week.
Come From Away got its start at Sheridan in 2011, when producer Michael Rubinoff supported the show as the first production of the Canadian Music Theatre Project, a now-defunct incubator that was a component of the Honours Bachelor program. The show eventually went on to Broadway, where it won a Tony Award in 2017 for best direction of a musical. Since then, it has toured the world and is largely considered Canada’s most successful theatrical export.
Mr. Hinds, who’s currently directing A Christmas Carol at the Shaw Festival, says the college’s affected theatre programs are crucial to the health of the Canadian theatre industry. “If they take away these programs, we’ll be losing an important access point for people starting their career in the arts,” he told The Globe and Mail. He has spent much of his time at Sheridan with the Performing Arts – Preparation course and says the loss of that program in particular will be devastating.
“That program really helps students figure out the path they want to take through the arts,” he said. “It gives the students a little bit of experience in everything from musical theatre to stand-up comedy to fight choreography and stage tech, which is a hugely important part of the artistic community.”
Vanessa Sears credits her time at Sheridan for jump-starting her career.David Cooper/Shaw Festival
Vanessa Sears, an actor with credits across Canada as well as on Broadway (she understudied the role of Francine in New York, New York in 2023), credits her time at Sheridan for jump-starting her career. She appreciates the college’s emphasis on networking for students and new graduates.
“The biggest thing Sheridan is successful at is creating pathways for their students and showcasing their students so they feel like they have a solid launch pad into the industry,” she said. “I was able to get great auditions because Sheridan gives you those connections.”
One former international student, Freya Scerri Diacono, moved to Canada from Singapore solely for Sheridan’s musical theatre program. Now a Canadian citizen, she looks back on her time at the college fondly, but with concern for its future.
“I was drawn to the creative projects that are part of the program,” she said. “As part of the Honours Bachelor program, we did creative dance, acting and cabaret projects, which all had an emphasis on finding our own voice as an artist and creating our own work. Nowhere else I auditioned offered anything like that.”
While Ms. Diacono has shifted away from theatre to focus on film, she credits Sheridan with giving her the tools to make that transition.
“As an artist, especially with musical theatre, you can sometimes be put into a box based on your voice type or your archetype,” she said. “Sheridan really challenges that. And that sort of thinking is so rare and was so instrumental to my development as an artist. I’d hate to see it be lost.”