TV Studio One/Leigha Lee Browne Theatre

Television Studio One was built in 1966 as part of the original buildings of “Scarborough College.” The TV Studio was fitted out with the most advanced technology of its day supporting what was imagined to be a new and (cost) effective form of teaching. In “TV Studio One,” professors were to record their lectures for broadcasting on screens in the older lecture halls of the campus (still present in the older lecture halls of the H and S wings on campus). This idea fell apart almost immediately. Operating a professional recording studio was vastly more expensive than had been anticipated, and more importantly, students hated watching recordings of professors who were not exactly trained performers for screen. Seeing an opportunity, then Professors Michal Schonberg and Leigha Lee Browne transformed the TV Studio into a working theatre throughout the 1970s. It was renovated into a proper theatre with funds from students and donors and named for Leigha, a beloved teacher we lost in 1986. The theatre bearing her name has continued to be a venue for classes and performances ever since. In this “scene” from the archive, you’ll find a collection of materials related to the TV Studio and its transformations over the years.

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