| e-bulletin 28 Hello
|
| Simon Brault
– an influential cultural personality |
Montreal, Cultural Metropolis
– Rendez-vous November 2007 |
| New CALP projets |
| The Ark,
2007 |
| Playwrights-in-Residence |
| New Artistic
Directors |
| 2007 Governor
General Awards |
| gas |
| Reminder –
François Vincent at Espace Création |
| $50,000 donation
from Barrick Gold |
| Costume Sale |
| Thanks to photographers Maxime Côté, Tim Leyes and Guillaume Simoneau. |
|
2007 Gascon-Thomas Award The National Theatre School of Canada
is proud to announce that this year’s Gascon-Thomas Award
will be distinguished upon the immensely talented and internationally
celebrated Montreal-born actor August Schellenberg,
and the incomparable Brigitte Haentjens, a director
whose directorial choices have consistently been marked by rigor
and audacity. The two will receive the Award at a special ceremony
on Friday, October 26th at 12:30 p.m. in the Monument-National’s
Ludger-Duvernay Theatre, where they will share their thoughts on
their work with the School’s students. |
Created
in 1990 by the NTS’s Board of Governors, the award recognizes
exceptional achievement in theatre. Each year, two artists (one
Anglophone and one Francophone) are singled out and honoured for
their efforts to shape the world of theatre and for their status
as role models to NTS students.
|
More on August Schellenberg
|
A
graduate of the NTS’s Acting Program (1966), August
Schellenberg was born in Montreal to an English-Mohawk
mother and a Swiss father. He began his acting career in the theatre
with a six-month tour of Ontario performing for high school students
with the Crest Theatre Hour Company. Work opportunities took him
to theatres across Canada including Montreal’s own Centaur
and Saidye Bronfman theatres, as well as the prestigious Shaw and
Stratford Festival, where in 1967, Stratford bestowed upon him the
Tyrone Guthrie Award for most promising actor. At the age of 31,
Schellenberg moved to Toronto where he lived until moving to Dallas
in 1995. His acting career has taken him to some of America’s
greatest stages, i.e. the Guthrie in Minneapolis and New York’s
66th Street Armory. He is a consummate actor, investing himself
in every role he has been asked to perform. From Stanley Kowalski
in A Streetcar Named Desire, Joseph Stalin in Master
Class, to Jamie Paul in The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, the
stage has been transformed by his powerful presence. Television
saw much of Schellenberg; he performed in the long-running series
Lonesome Dove, Walker, Texas Ranger and
Canada’s North of 60. He is proud of his heritage
and has given life to some outstanding American Indians, both real
and fictitious. Think of Chomina in Black Robe, Powhatan
in The New World, and now Sitting Bull for which he was
nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or
a Movie Emmy Award, in the 2007 HBO production of Bury My Heart
at Wounded Knee. He has been honoured by the First Americans
in the Arts Awards, American Indian Film Festival Awards, and in
2005, August Schellenberg was one of five inaugural inductees at
the Aboriginal Walk of Honour Awards in Edmonton, Alberta. He has
been nominated for three Genie Awards (he won for Black Robe)
and two Gemini Awards (he won for The Prodigal). Schellenberg
has also taught acting seminars at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre
and at York University, both in Toronto. He continues to conduct
motivational workshops in schools and for cultural and community
organizations across North America.
|
More on Brigitte Haentjens
|
The
impact that Brigitte Haentjens has made on the
theatrical discipline of French Canada is indisputable; the stage
would not be the same without her. Her direction is so powerful
and so highly anticipated that theatre patrons routinely flock to
her work with a dedicated loyalty, curiosity and unwavering respect.
Originally from Versailles, she studied in Paris at the Jacques
Lecoq School. In 1977, Haentjens moved to Canada where she quickly
became a leader in the Franco-Ontarian artistic community, directing
the Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario for eight years. In 1991
she moved to Montreal and became the artistic director of the Nouvelle
Compagnie Théâtrale (Théâtre Denise-Pelletier)
until 1994. During that time, the Quebec cultural scene was hit
with a whirlwind of creative possibility generated by an independent
artist whose directorial choices were marked by rigor and audacity.
She was co-president of the Carrefour international de théâtre
de Québec from 1996 to 2006 and in 1997 she created her own
theatre company,
|
Precipice
– a radio project
|
On
Saturday, October 27, 2007, five 10-minute radio dramas will be
performed by the National Theatre School’s 2008 Acting graduating
class and recorded in front of a restricted live studio audience
at the Studio Hydro-Québec of Montréal’s Monument-National.
The project was initiated by Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal
and is being directed and coordinated by PWM’s former Artistic
Director, Paula Danckert (Directing, 1987) and
Stephen Lawson, actor, director and Artistic Director
of
|
Four NTS graduates at the Stratford Festival Conservatory On September 18, 2007, Martha
Henry (Acting, 1962), Director of Stratford’s Birmingham
Conservatory for Classical Theatre, greeted eight young actors,
selected during a cross-country audition, for an intensive 20-week
course. Four of the eight are NTS Acting program graduates: Dalal
Badr (2004), Jesse Aaron Dwyre (2003),
Ian Lake (2006), and Trent Pardy (2004).
The actors will complete their training in February and will be
given contracts for the 2008 season at the Stratford Festival. In
the press release issued by Stratford Festival, Ms Henry mentioned
that many things were looked for in the auditions “but the
deciding factor is usually something that makes you sit up straighter,
makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck”. NTS is
proud of its graduates and wishes them every success in the months
ahead. Bravo to all! |
|
House Wide Open
|
True
to its tradition, the School opened its doors to the general public
on the last Saturday in September, as part of the no less traditional
Journées de la culture. Over 1,200 enthusiastic theatre fans
(it was impossible to get a precise count!) visited our St. Denis
Street campus, where the world of Michel Tremblay was
celebrated in highly original fashion by our students and special
guests. The Quebec Minister of Culture, Communications and Status
of Women, Ms. Christine Saint-Pierre, also took
the opportunity to come to the School and pay personal homage to
Michel Tremblay. For those who missed this event, take heart! We
are currently producing a short video that will attempt to communicate
the heart and soul that permeated the School on that day and the
special moments that we all experienced. You’ll be hearing
more about it soon!
|
Teachers at NTS As always, many teachers, mentors
and directors converged in the studios and hallways of the NTS,
some Montreal-based, others traveling in for short or long-term
work sessions. Sarah Stanley returned for a 2-week
run at the beginning of October to direct 1st year Acting and Directing
students in their Starts project; Sarah is presently directing Isadora:
Fabulist for Montreal’s Imago
Theatre. Chris Abraham (Directing, 1996), mentor
for the Directing program, was back for a week in mid-October, as
were actors Paul Dunn (Acting, 1998) and Damien
Atkins, here to work on Vocal Masque with 1st year actors.
Ker Wells (Acting, 1988), just off a performance
run in Toronto of Living Tall and Karin Randoja
(Acting, 1988), who directed Wells in said production and arriving
directly from the NAC’s English Theatre Ark project,
will co-direct second year actors and directing students in the
Physical Theatre project. Ann-Marie Kerr is here
until mid-November coaching 1st year actors and playwrights in the
art of Jeu. Susan Williams is back to teach theatre
history; Kelly
Thornton will return at the end of October to work with 2nd
year actors’ and playwrights’ on their solo show; and
Andrew Wade will voice and text coach 3rd year
actors. |
|
McConnell Foundation visit
|
On
September 25, the School received a visit from the J.W. McConnell
Family Foundation, main sponsor of the NTS Cultural and Artistic
Leadership Program (CALP). Trustees Linda Leus,
David and Peter McConnell, and
Sara Provencher, President and CEO Tim
Brodhead, and Lisa M. Potter, Program
Officer, were presented with a few excerpts of pieces that received
start-up funds from the CALP. 2008 graduating actor Brendan
McMurtry-Howlett performed a piece written by guest teacher
Attila Clemans, …and stockings for the
ladies; graduating French actor Matthieu Girard
set the stage for his adaptation of Théâtre sans
animaux; and Christine Khalifah (Acting, 2007
- our picture) spoke to the importance of the CALP program, giving
students and recent graduates access to the type of necessary funding
to help concretize their ideas and, later, set the stage for future
endeavors.
|
MECCA nominees
|
Montreal
English Critics’ Circle Awards (MECCA) committee announced
the 2007 line-up which includes NTS alumni and several guest teachers.
Trent Pardy (Acting, 2004) is up for Best Actor
(American Buffalo); Best Director category finds Chris
Abraham (Directing, 1996) for I Am My Own Wife, and
guest teacher and director Alexandre Marine, for
both Amadeus and the School’s production of The
Suicide (our picture), on the same ticket. In the line-up for
Best New Text is …and stockings for the ladies, a
CALP funded project written by guest teacher Attila Clemann;
Best Set Design has Yannick Larivée (S&C
Design, 1996) for Amadeus and I Am My Own Wife
and Vincent Lefèvre (S&C Design, 1997)
for The Caretaker, competing for the prize; one of NTS’s
Set and Costume Design program teachers, Susana Vera
is up for Best Costume (Glorious); and Spike Lyne
(Production, 1986) for Best Lighting for Amadeus. And to
top it all off, one of the shows up for Best Visiting Production
is The Eco Show (Necessary Angel Theatre Company), presented
during last Spring’s Festival Trans Amérique (FTA).
Written by Daniel Brooks, it was directed by Chris
Abraham and Daniel Brooks; Julie
Fox (S&C Design, 1994) was part of the distinguished
design team; and Richard Clarkin (Acting, 1998)
was part of the superb ensemble cast.|
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comments?
National
Theatre School of Canada |
