Matthew Burgess

Matt was a volunteer with Korda Artistic Productions in Windsor when, in gratitude for his hard work, Korda’s board sent him to Off the Wall for theatre production arts training.  Matt enrolled in a Setting the Scene workshop in 2016, and spent two weeks learning to build props.  Matt fell in love with prop making and decided to pursue the craft as a career.  

The following season, Matt took six more Off the Wall theatre production classes. Recognizing Matt’s talent for design and drawing, Off the Wall contracted him to design the masks, weapons, props and armour for a production of The Trojan Women – a Setting the Scene collaboration with Walkerville Centre for the Creative Arts.

With Off the Wall training and a talent for backstage production, Matt was accepted as an Apprentice in the Stratford Festival Props Department, then was promoted to Prop Journeyperson. For the past five seasons, he has been on contract to build props for the festival. 

Coming full circle, when the 2024 festival season was finished in the Prop Shop , Matt returned to Off the Wall to teach Prop Making for a Setting the Scene collaboration with Korda.  During the 2025 season, Matt will teach a workshop in Sculpture for Off the Wall.