Richmond resident Shelby Wyminga has become the newest apprentice at the Pacific Theatre in Vancouver, which kicked off its new season this month.
Having grown up on the First Nations reserve of Nazko in northern B.C., Wyminga obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre from Trinity Western University (TWU) in 2016 and moved to Richmond soon after.
The theatre offers a 10-month professional apprenticeship to recent theatre graduates, where they can gain experiences with front-of-house, administration and production.
This is Wyminga’s second time applying for the competitive program and she was one of the four apprentices that the company hired for the 2018-2019 season.
“When I was studying at TWU, I had the opportunity to watch a lot of the company’s (Pacific Theatre) shows and I’ve wanted to work with them for a long time,” said Wyminga.
“They have a good family atmosphere and I’ll get to know many loyal, established artists.”
Some of her recent acting credits include playing: Juliet in Shadows & Dreams Theatre Company’s Romeo and Juliet; Lucy Steele in Metro Theatre’s Sense and Sensibility and the role of Gloria in her self-produced play, It’s a Glorious Wonderful Life, at the 2017 Vancouver Fringe Festival.
Besides her work in theatre, Wyminga also works for a children’s birthday party company called Pacific Fairytales, where she gets to dress up as princesses and movie characters.
She is currently living in one of the Artist Residency Tenancy (ARTS) Units, located within the Capstan Village neighbourhood, just before the Oak Street Bridge.
The 20, loft-style one or two bedroom units, which came about as part of the City of Richmond’s Affordable Housing Strategy, are made specifically for tenants whose income depends on their professional artistic practice.
Wyminga had just begun her training with the company this week and is “scared, but a good kind of scared.”
