Earlier this week, Sheridan College's Theatre Sheridan celebrated a significant milestone with its 50th anniversary.
With the collective end of the 2024 winter term ending this week and closing of Theatre Sheridan's 2023/24 season, the occasion was celebrated with a gala event at Sheridan's Trafalgar Campus in Oakville.
Dozens of students, faculty, audience members, donors and alumni gathered at Sheridan's Marquee event space on Tuesday to see displays of past Theatre Sheridan work, sample food and drink, hear from leaders in programs and enjoy live performances from the Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program.
The event was capped with those in attendance seeing the closing show of Theatre Sheridan's musical Mary Poppins, having ended its sold-out run.
Tanya Senewiratne, the Associate Dean for Sheridan's Visual and Performing Arts Programs, said the day is special for the entire history and legacy of the program, but also for this specific graduating class.
"What we have today is a group of students who went through COVID - in their first year, they learned tap dancing over Zoom!" said Senewiratne to Oakville News. "They came back in person, but when you see them on stage, their talented has only flourished. What you see on stage tonight is their resilience, and the fact we’re celebrating this group and have so many people show up to support us means everything."
"Theatre Sheridan is such an important part of the community here at Sheridan, but also an important part of the community in our surrounding areas," said Mark Jones, Dean, Faculty of Animation, Arts and Design, speaking at the event.
"For over 50 years we’ve seen time and time again how the students, staff and faculty of this incredible, complex ecosystem of Theatre Sheridan continues to produce some of the finest talents and some of the best work of any theatre company in the country."
Sheridan President and Vice Chancellor Dr. Janet Morrison also spoke, thanking the alumni and especially the audiences of Theatre Sheridan over the years: "I want to acknowledge all the patrons here today. Your continued support of Theatre Sheridan is in fact also in support of those communities, and the mental health and well-being of their community members. On behalf of everyone in our learning community in the towns and cities we support, we thank you very much."
Performances featured graduating students, including from the recently closed Bad Hats/Theatre Sheridan co-production of Alice in Wonderland, which ended its run last week.
"We’ve got an incredible history filled with talented people who’ve come out of Sheridan," adds Senewiratne. "Many of our faculty and many of our donors, sponsors and supporters are all alumni - we have artists who represent us in both technical and musical theatre programs around the world: Broadway, the West End, and all across Canada. They support us with every show, teaching our students, and they show up for us."
Theatre Sheridan is comprised of students in both the Music Theatre Performance and Technical Production for the Performing Arts programs. Theatre Sheridan is expected to announce their 2024/25 season in the next several weeks.