Meet The Staff - Geoff McBride

Image Description: Image is a polaroid photo of Geoff taped down with a brown tape. The background is a photo of the front of the G C T C building with the front windows, marquee, and street lights visible. Text: "Volunteer Coordinator".

Welcome to our new series: Meet the Staff of GCTC! We had some new faces join the team in 2021, and we were also lucky to have many familiar faces return. We want to introduce you to everyone, so that you can get to know the folks behind the scenes at the theatre, and maybe see someone who you’d be interested in connecting with further.

Image Description: A photo of Geoff, who is wearing a striped button up shirt with a black shirt underneath. He is standing in front of a light wall, looking at the camera.

Photo of Geoff McBride by Andrew Alexander.

First up is Geoff McBride, who grew up in Ottawa and has been a part of the GCTC community since he moved back to the city after time away. Geoff is the Volunteer Coordinator for the theatre, which is a position he moved into last year after working as a show captain and box office staff. As Volunteer Coordinator, he reaches out to folks and works to build up the volunteer program, while making sure volunteers have an understanding of what the expectations are. Geoff enjoys the company of volunteers, and says they are good folks. If they have any questions, he is their go-to! With COVID, the things being asked of volunteers are not the same that they used to be, so, as with a lot of arts workers these days, everyone is adapting. 

While he is currently Volunteer Coordinator, Geoff has worn many hats in his time here. Not only has he worked as a staff member, but he has also performed in a few GCTC productions such as “Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells)” and “Goodnight Desdemona, (Good Morning Juliet)”, and has directed three Lawyer Play fundraisers! Most recently, you might have seen him on stage in “Daisy” by Sean Devine! What keeps him coming back to GCTC? For him, it’s the fact that “every experience is a welcoming one, and you can approach the people who work there as a community member and they are very generous with their time”. 

Geoff has seen many spectacular shows at GCTC, noting “Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools” Created by Evalyn Parry, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Erin Brubacher, and Elysha Poirier with Cris Derksen, which he got to see right before the pandemic. As an actor, it is always exciting to see other actors at work, and Geoff is often impressed by the work of John Koensgen, who has taken the stage at GCTC for shows such as “Butcher” by Kat Sandler and “Facts” by Arthur Milner.

There’s no typical work day for Geoff, but you can usually find him booking tickets for people, communicating with volunteers, and keeping things organized! During show times, he makes sure everyone knows where they’re going, and gives them a rundown of what to expect. Outside of GCTC, He has played in the parks for ten seasons with a Company of Fools, including this fall's return to the parks in the socially distanced production of “Love From Afar”. Currently Margo MacDonald and he are creating “The Persistent Stain”, a play that is allowing them to live out their punk rock dreams. When he’s not working, creating, or performing, he loves cycling and collecting vinyls. Like a lot of us, he is eagerly awaiting the return of live music! 

He loves connecting with others and encouraging them to get involved with the theatre. If you have any questions about volunteering, please reach out to him at geoff@gctc.ca

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