Soulpepper, one of Toronto's major non-profit theatres, to part ways with its executive director

“I’ve been at Soulpepper for nearly five years, and it’s been a really amazing adventure,” said Arthurs, 47, who noted he was stepping down for personal reasons. “I feel like Soulpepper is now ready to launch into the stratosphere, so I can now step back and concentrate on other parts of my life.” 

Arthurs’s departure is the latest in a series of big shakeups in recent months at the upper echelons of Toronto’s major arts institutions, including Hot Docs, the Art Gallery of Ontario and Factory Theatre. 

During his four years with Soulpepper, Arthurs led the company alongside former artistic director Weyni Mengesha, who departed in 2025, and her successor, Paolo Santalucia. 

His tenure came amid a period of significant upheaval for Soulpepper, which was established in 1998 primarily as a classical theatre company but has shifted in recent years to focus increasingly on new works and play adaptations. Between 2019 and 2025, the theatre saw the average age of its audience drop by 25 years, according to the company. As well, more than two-thirds of its current patrons live within five kilometres of the theatre’s home at the Distillery District, up from less than a quarter before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Arthurs’s time with Soulpepper was also marked by an aggressive push to expand the company’s programming and partnerships. Last year, the company announced a three-year deal with Crow’s Theatre that would see both organizations collaborating on several productions each year and partially integrating their subscriber bases. This year, Soulpepper also unveiled partnerships with Hot Docs, to host documentary screenings, and with the Star, to host a series of live journalism events. 

“What I’m really proud of is the real spirit of collaboration,” said Arthurs. “Soulpepper has really been a company that was more than a collection of plays. It’s a holistic company. And I think the partnerships and the work that we were doing were an extension, or an adaptation, of that original DNA.”

But despite the broadening of Soulpepper’s offerings in recent years, the company has also struggled financially under Arthurs’s watch, running a deficit in three of his four years at the helm, according to public data from the Canada Revenue Agency. Last year, the company, which typically has an annual budget of roughly $7 million, reported less than $100,000 in liquid assets, down from nearly $2.5 million when Arthurs joined the company. 

“I would definitely say we’re in recovery mode,” said Arthurs. “Certainly, the first couple of years after the pandemic, the changes in audience patterns were really tricky and that has been something we’re working on.” However, he noted that Soulpepper’s upcoming season is selling “really, really well” and that the company has doubled the number of season subscriptions compared to the previous year. 

Prior to joining Soulpepper, Arthurs spent eight years at the National Theatre School of Canada as its chief executive officer. No stranger to the Toronto arts scene, he was also previously the general manager of Tarragon Theatre and the executive director of the Toronto Fringe Festival. 

“Much of an executive director’s most vital work happens beyond public view, but it shapes every part of a theatre company — from the art on its stages, to the people who create it, to the community that gathers around it,” Santalucia said in a statement about Arthurs’s departure. “Gideon took on that responsibility at an extraordinary moment, as the entire theatre sector was beginning the long process of rebuilding from the pandemic.”

Arthurs, who is married to the Canadian playwright Erin Shields, said he’s exploring other opportunities, including those outside of the theatre. 

Soulpepper, whose 2026-27 season begins this month, is expected to announce further details of its leadership transition in the coming weeks.