In a media release, the Arts Club Theatre Company announced Stephen Drover as its new associate artistic director.
In this new role at our city’s largest theatre company, Drover will be responsible for new play development programs, as well as residencies, and professional development initiatives for artists.
Drover will also become the company’s dramaturg, and assist newly installed artistic director, Ashlie Corcoran, who replaces long-time artistic director, Bill Millerd, in the Arts Club’s upcoming season.
“I’m so incredibly excited and honoured to be invited onto this fantastic team,” says Drover in the media release. “The Arts Club is a leader in both our community and our industry, and I can think of no better way to serve the artists and audiences of Vancouver than to call it my new home.”
Since 2012, Drover has been the artistic director for Vancouver indie theatre company, Rumble Theatre. Focusing on multi-disciplinary works, Rumble is the producer of the biennial Tremors festival for emerging artists.
Drover also founded a commissioning program to generate new Canadian adaptations of classical texts. This program helped to create Indian Arm by Hiro Kanagawa, and the critically acclaimed The Society for the Destitute presents Titus Bouffonius, both of which he dramaturged and directed.
No stranger to the Arts Club stages, Drover has directed past productions of Hand to God, The Patron Saint of Stanley Park, and Skydive. He will direct Mustard as part of the Arts Club’s 2018–2019 season.
“Stephen, who is deeply passionate about the Vancouver theatre scene, brings years of experience as a dramaturg and director,” says Corcoran. “He also has a keen interest in the professional development of artists, which will be a huge focus in this brand-new role at the Arts Club.”