Studio 58 welcomes alum graduate as artistic director

By GUILHERME MÜLLER

Studio 58 has appointed a new artistic director, ending a period of transition as the program looks to the future amid new challenges.

Paul Moniz de Sá, who graduated from Studio 58 in 1997, was appointed as the new artistic director of Langara’s theatre arts program in February after nearly 30 years working as a professional actor, director and educator across Canada.

The position became vacant following the passing of artistic director Courtenay Dobbie in November 2024. Dobbie had led Studio 58 since 2021. Before her, Kathryn Shaw held the role for 35 years, retiring in 2020.

Homecoming

Returning to the school that trained him felt like an opportunity Moniz de Sá could not let pass.

“It was a matter of now or never,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to be back here.”

Moniz de Sá said his first weeks have been spent listening to faculty, staff and students before making any changes. He acknowledged the weight of what the program has been through.

“There’s a lot of healing to be done,” he said. “I want to make sure we have the room to heal while still moving forward.”

Looking back on his own training, he said Studio 58 transformed how he saw himself as an artist.

“I felt like I was a big fish, in a very small pond,” he said. “And then all of a sudden, coming to Studio 58, that pond just gets bigger. And you’re no longer that big fish.”

Susan Smith Alexander, senior director of programming at Arts Umbrella, worked alongside Moniz de Sá for years. She said students can expect a leader shaped by both history and current experience.

“He’ll be rooted in what was, but based on his current experiences as a working actor, he’ll also be able to think about what [the program] could be,” she said.

Acting instructor David Hudgins, who was part of the committee that selected Moniz de Sá, said the program faces financial pressures under its new leadership, with budget constraints brought on by declining international student enrolment.

“We are going to have to be creative as some of our budgets are getting tightened and changed,” Hudgins said. “We need an artistic director who can find ways to bring the high quality that we’re doing within the new realities.”

Beyond academics

For students in the program, Studio 58 is more than a training ground.

Final-term theatre arts student Dylan McNulty came into the program with a goal that had little to do with acting. He did not know if he would love or hate it, hoping at minimum to leave a little less anxious about life.

“I have a crippling stage anxiety,” he said. “Even just running into people on the street, I just freeze up, and it was detrimental to my life.”

He said Studio 58 delivered both life and career skills.

“You learn so much about life skills in this program that you really can’t get anywhere else,” he said. “And in terms of acting, you can’t really beat this place.”