George Brown Theatre School

George Brown Theatre School is a drama school and department of George Brown College in Toronto. Both schools are named after the Canadian politician and journalist George Brown.

The school was founded in 1976 under the artistic leadership of veteran actor and director Joseph Shaw. The program was originally housed at the Kensington Campus of George Brown College. It moved to an old Christie's Warehouse space that had been refurbished for the program at 530 King Street East the following year.

Upon Shaw's retirement in 1986, Heinar Piller became Artistic Director. Piller engaged Peter C. Wylde as Head of Acting and under their leadership the program was expanded from two to three years. The curriculum was redesigned with a focus on classical text and expanded performance elements to showcase its graduating students.

Following Piller's 1997 retirement, Paul Lampert became Artistic Director until 2000. James Simon then served as leader. Paul Carder, Dean of Business and Creative Arts at George Brown College, approached Albert Schultz, Artistic Director of Soulpepper, with the suggestion that a partnership be struck between Soulpepper and the George Brown Theatre School to create a new performance/education facility.

In November 2001, the Distillery Historic District Project was announced and the partnership of George Brown College (GBC) and Soulpepper Theatre Company immediately began negotiations with the Cityscape Development group to take possession of Tank Houses 9 and 10, creating what became the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. The vision of this partnership was to create a performing arts, education and community outreach facility and home to the school program, Soulpepper Theatre Company and Toronto’s independent arts community.

In 2002, the architectural firm of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects was hired to design the centre with Thomas Payne as the principal architect. The design offered four flexible, dedicated, indoor performance venues, four studios, two classrooms, a wardrobe production facility, a student lounge, artist garden and administration offices for GBC and Soulpepper. At the centre is a welcoming atrium that includes a café/bar and fireplace. The cost was $14 million, shared equally between the partners. In 2003, David Young through the Michael Young Family Foundation contributed a lead gift of $3 million to what became the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. The facility officially opened to the public on January 15, 2006.

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