Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Theatre gives volunteers a chance to hone skills

Langham Court Theatre is re-energizing its mandate to provide theatrical learning with a Volunteer Learning Program, funded by the Victoria Foundation.
McCarthy.jpg
Langham Court Theatre general manager Tom McCarthy: "We are fortunate to be surrounded by people who love what they do."

Langham Court Theatre is re-energizing its mandate to provide theatrical learning with a Volunteer Learning Program, funded by the Victoria Foundation.

The community theatre, home of the Victoria Theatre Guild and Dramatic School, has provided a professional stage for performing artists since 1929. It typically hosts six shows a season. In the past 87 years it has staged more than 2,800 performances, with more than 4,000 actors, 3,200 set builders, 3,000 lighting technicians, and 500 directors and stage managers.

More than 250,000 people have at one time sat in the theatre’s 177 seats to enjoy classics such as She Stoops to Conquer or emerging plays, such as Escape From Happiness, a dark comedy.

“We are fortunate to be surrounded by people who love what they do,” said Tom McCarthy, general manager of the theatre. “The Volunteer Learning Program is an opportunity for us to invite the larger community to the theatre.”

People with different life experiences and abilities can join in various theatre guilds (a group of people with an interest in a similar craft), such as: costume, director, producer, tech, stage management, set design, event planning, box office and actors.

The program addresses the many requests for learning opportunities in each of the guilds in the organization.

“It’s all about providing an environment where we can support our volunteers in their experience,” said McCarthy, a 45-year veteran of the arts. “We want to take away any barrier to fuller participation.”

Funding from the Victoria Foundation means there is an opportunity to do things outside the core business and cover previously underserved areas.

Langham Court will put on 24 workshops and lectures a year for non-members as part of a community outreach strategy. The larger community will be invited to use the theatre’s buildings between performances.

For the first time in its history, the Victoria Theatre Guild and Dramatic School will offer day camps this summer to reach a younger crowd. At the camps, children and young adults, age eight through 16, will be able to write and perform in their own plays.

In the Victoria Foundation’s current Vital Signs report, an annual checkup of the city, people consistently listed festivals and events and arts and culture in the top half when asked to vote for the best things about Greater Victoria.

“Successful and prosperous cities around the world all have a vital creative component,” said McCarthy, late of Calgary. “In order to create an environment to build a successful city, we need to give citizens access to creative pursuits. Our programs help effect that change.”

For more information, go to langhamtheatre.ca.