Joel Greenberg, Former Professor, Retires as Artistic Director of Studio 180

On October 11th, Toronto’s Studio 180- named after the University of Waterloo’s black box theatre in Hagey Hall, announced that artistic director, Joel Greenberg will be retiring after the current 2022/23 season.

In 2002, Greenberg co-founded the theatre company alongside  C. Derrick Chua, Mark McGrinder, Samara Nicholds and Kimwun Perehinec, and has since directed 19 of their mainstage productions. The final production as a Studio 180 director was the Toronto premiere of Indecent, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, which saw its final performance earlier this month.

From 1991 to 2014, Joel Greenberg was the chair of the Communication Arts Department (formerly known Department of Drama and Speech Communication) and did much to promote the practical orientation and production focus of the curriculum during that time. He was also instrumental in the development and improvement of our department performance spaces, particularly the Theatre of the Arts. He taught courses in various aspects of film studies such as Film Noir and Hollywood’s New Wave, as well as courses in Theatre Criticism, Acting, Directing, Playwriting, and Audition Technique. He directed 15 plays for the program, including a number of musicals; highlights include Chicago, Godspell, and Oh, What a Lovely War!

We wish Joel well in his next act, whatever that may be.