{"id":27199,"date":"2025-09-19T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T16:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=27199"},"modified":"2025-09-12T12:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:06:14","slug":"intrepid-theatres-metro-studio-closing-after-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2025\/09\/19\/intrepid-theatres-metro-studio-closing-after-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Intrepid Theatre\u2019s Metro Studio closing after 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two decades of running the Metro Studio, a small venue in the southwest corner of the Victoria Conservatory of Music that has provided a performance space for independent theatre initiatives since 2005, Intrepid Theatre will soon be closing its doors.<\/p>\n

Confronted by a large rent increase, the organization has made the decision to not renew their lease next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe financial situation of a rent increase just really made the financial realities of operating Metro untenable for the future of the company,\u201d says Intrepid Theatre artistic director Sean Guist. \u201cWe\u2019re sad to lose our home that we\u2019ve been at for 20 years, and we\u2019re trying to look at what could be possible in our next steps, whether that is a new space somewhere or a partnership on a new space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Intrepid Theatre will be closing the Metro Studio\u2019s doors in the new year (photo by Mackenzie Lawrence).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Guist says that the closure of the Metro Studio doesn\u2019t mean Intrepid Theatre is closing down, and they will continue to provide the community with independent theatre initiatives at their Fisgard location, and at the Metro until next spring.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still at our Blanshard space on Fisgard, which is our 45-seat studio and our office space there, so we\u2019re still present and active downtown,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re also still at the Metro with programming through next February, so we\u2019re open to what the future could be; we\u2019re just not sure what that looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the last two decades, Intrepid Theatre has utilized the Metro to produce their own theatrical events as well as to rent the space to community theatre initiatives. Guist says that the decision to close it down was made in order to preserve independent theatre in Victoria, since maintaining the space would be a financial drain on Intrepid that may have jeopardized the company\u2019s financial viability.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially with the large rent increase that was coming, the numbers just didn\u2019t work,\u201d Guist says. \u201cWe really needed to take care of Intrepid Theatre as a company, and our own programming, which we need to preserve and deliver, so that\u2019s why we made the difficult decision to wrap up next spring. We didn\u2019t want to sacrifice that by running a venue with a huge loss, because it really would start to cut into what it is that we can do for artists, and for our festivals, and for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guist reassures theatre patrons that while the closure of a decades-long icon of independent theatre may seem dire, it is merely a strategic logistical decision made to ensure the future of local independent theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going anywhere, just closing the Metro,\u201d he says. \u201cWe really are focused on preserving the financial realities to continue to bring three festivals a year and remarkable work all season long to the city, so that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to keep doing; we\u2019re just going to look a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After two decades of running the Metro Studio, a small venue in the southwest corner of the Victoria Conservatory of Music that has provided a performance space for independent theatre initiatives since 2005, Intrepid Theatre will soon be closing its doors. Confronted by a large rent increase, the organization has made the decision to not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-september-17-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27201,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27199\/revisions\/27201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}