Our training

NTS offers highly individualized training. As such, the curriculum is subject to change, following the latest development in technology, new artistic practices, and the needs of the specific group of artists making up each class.

Our training is always practical, underpinned by the 20 student shows created each year.

To reveal and shape each writer’s unique voice

Year 1

First-Year Foundations and Unity Play Project
Adaptation Project
Free Writing
Movement
Plays in Discussion (Ancient to Contemporary)
Exploring Dramatic Structure
Professional Best Practices 1
Creating Great TV (Year 1 or Year 2)
In-house Play Readings and Workshops
Select intensive workshops, which vary year-to-year. See list below

Year 2

Second-Year Project
Theatre for Young Audiences Project, Phase 1
Banff Playwrights Lab (New Words Project development)
Free Writing
Movement
Plays in Discussion (Ancient to Contemporary)
The Canadian Theatre Landscape
Professional Best Practices 2
Creating Great TV (Year 1 or Year 2)
In-house Play Readings and Workshops
Select intensive workshops, which vary year-to-year. See list below.

Year 3

New Words Festival Project
Theatre for Young Audiences Project Phase 2 (with Geordie Theatre)
Free Writing
Movement
Plays in Discussion (ancient to contemporary)
Grant Writing
SmART Money
In-house and Professional Play Readings and Workshops
Select intensive workshops, which vary year-to-year. See list below.

Curriculum varies each year, and includes two to three workshops/projects such as:

Blind Imaginings, Character and Disability, Creative Strategies in Black Theatre, Dramatic Structure & New Play Dramaturgy, The Fornes Creation Method, Indigenous Theatre and Storytelling, Japanese Theatre Forms in Context, Moral Complexity and Civic Engagement, Opera Libretto Creation, Performing Images, Post-Dramatic Theatre, Shakespeare’s Text, Solo Piece, Theatre for the Ear (Writing for Podcasts), Writing for Video Games, and others based on students’ interests and needs.