Q&A with Cinema and Media Studies Grad Colin Hutchison
Colin Hutchison
BA '26 with combined honors in Cinema & Media Studies + Contemporary Studies from King's College University, with a Certificate in Theatre Creation.
Q: What drew you to this combination studies?
A: I grew up in Toronto was always interested in the arts. I did a lot of acting in school plays and community theatre. I've always enjoyed reading and watching movies.
Contemporary studies is one of the three main King's College University honors programs. So it's an interdisciplinary program geared around the philosophy and humanities fields, and the contemporary world, looking at roughly the 20th century onwards.
When I discovered Dalhousie’s Cinema and Media Studies department, and the Fountain School of Performing Arts, it was really exciting to feel like I had the option to do both. I knew wanted to do some sort of film studies major, but I had also dedicated so much time to theatre throughout the years. I've always loved both, but felt more confident in film.
I knew that a double major in theatre and film or even like a minor in theatre, wouldn't work as well for me. So Dalhousie’s Theatre Creation Certificate was a great way to supplement my focus on cinema and media, and contemporary studies, and learn more about something that I've always loved.
Q: Favourite class?
A: My favorite classes overall were the script writing classes. We got to explore script writing in both film and theater and look at the ways those scripts look different and the best medium to tell a story in. I’d been writing a lot of scripts, so it was a great opportunity to get feedback from my peers and from the professor, Roberta Barker.
Q: Are you more of a maker or a performer?
A: I did really enjoy acting but the more writing and directing opportunities I got  the more I realized this is what I’m instinctively drawn to. I know what this character wears and all these different elements that are broader than an actor's job. I definitely think of myself more on the making side of things.
Colin with Fountain School Cinema and Media Studies faculty Shannon Brownlee (photo: Kate Hayter)
Q: Were you involved in any student societies at Kings or Dal?
A: I've done a lot of directing and writing with the I did short plays and moved on to full-length plays. I’ve directed main season shows that I wrote.
Q: How does what you’ve learned in film and media studies inform your theatre work, writing and directing?
A: I think a lot of what I learned I definitely take into playwriting. I'm very interested in genres. In the most recent play I wrote, called Christmas in July, I sort of framed it in my mind as a 90s sitcom. That was the like key visual world that I wanted it to exist in. I was drawing on my film and television studies while writing for theatre.
Q: Work you're most proud of?
A: this latest one, Christmas in July, is my proudest one. It felt like a combination of everything I’ve been learning, and it all came together. The comedy in it felt more important, and how the audience responded.
It was also the biggest set that I had built for a Kings Theatre Society show with the help of my producers, crew members and friends for additional hands! We wanted to make it feel really detailed and lived in, like those sitcom sets from the 90s. It is a fully student-run society so it’s me and my producers building the set. Using drills and paint rollers, the whole 9 yards.
Q: Best part of creating?
A: That first day and having everybody read the script. It always comes with a just horrible amount of stress and fear, but it’s quite a rush. I love seeing the very first kernel of an idea now existing in the world as a fully realized piece of theatre.
Q: What stands out about the Cinema and Media Studies program?
A: It is a relatively small program. You really get to know your professors and there's a relatively wide range of courses and courses that are cross-listed. It really helps you create a timetable and a degree plan that really feels like your own.
Q: Dream job?
 A: I would love to keep writing scripts, and be a playwright or a screenwriter. If I could keep doing that forever, that wouldn’t be too bad.
Colin and friends on set of Christmas in July (photo contributed)