The Stephen Joseph Studio occupies a former German Protestant Church, which was built in the 19th century.  The church is mentioned in the Manchester Directory for 1854.  Today it is attached to the Mansfield Cooper Building across from the John Rylands University Library. 

Stephen Joseph was the son of the famous British actress Hermione Gingold and the publisher Michael Joseph.  Among his acievements in life is the fact that he was the youngest person to be accepted at the Central School of Speech and Drama from where he graduated in 1939.  He is credited with promoting the concept of "theatre in the round" and in 1962 he converted an abandoned cinema in Stoke-on-Trent into the Victoria Theatre, the first permanent theatre-in-the-round in the UK.

In 1962 he was appointed as the first fellow of the Department of Drama at Manchester University.  He later took up a lectureship at the university and was instrumental in helping to create the department of drama.