1st Year

Moving between theoretical work and hands-on application, students solidify their foundations, deepen their self-awareness, develop their personal practice, and experiment with form.

• Directing Practices
• Text Analysis
• Theatre History
• Indigenous Theatre in Canada
• European Plays and Playwrights
• Foundations: From Script Analysis to Conversations with Collaborators
• Sound and Lighting Workshop
• Creative Strategies in Black Theatre
• Movement Practices
• The Poetry of Costume Design
• Adaptation and the Self
• Scene Study 1 (Shakespeare)
• Performing Images/Puppetry
• Leadership and Care in the Rehearsal Room
• Collaboration with the Production Team
• Devised Creation
• Assistant Directing on an NTS production
• Introduction to New Play Dramaturgy
• Approaches to Performance-Making in a Digital Context
• Directors’ Studio Project
• Directing Mentorship

2nd Year

Along with classes and workshop, the second year is dedicated to the realisation of two productions: the first, of the directors' choosing, is supported by professional mentors and collaborators; the other sees the students directing productions of the graduating playwrights’ work for the New Word Festival, featuring all-student casts, and design and production teams.

• Scene Study 2 (contemporary)
• Major Directors' Project (full production)
• Professional Development
• Directing Mentorship
• Text in Context
• Major Devised Creation
• Assistant Directing on an NTS production
• Dramaturgy and New Script Development
• New Words Festival
• Exploration of Scenography
• New Words Festival

Note: Curriculum is subject to change and varies each year according to student needs.