Rigorous and immersive training supporting individual growth through exposure to a diversity of professional practices and theatre styles

REHEARSAL PROCESS / RESEARCH PRACTICES / COMMUNICATION WITH ACTORS

NTS’s training for directors is rigorous and immersive. It supports individual growth through exposure to a diversity of professional practices and theatre styles, including a thorough examination of current Canadian and Quebec theatre practices. Students in the English Section will also work closely with Directing students from the School’s French Directors’ training program on select projects, allowing students to develop an intimate rapport with Quebecois theatre and artists. While the working language for the program is English, some basic French is encouraged and supported by the School.

In collaboration with the French section's Mise en scène et dramaturgie program.

Rose Plotek - Associate director of the Directing program

“NTS allows emerging practitioners to deepen their skill set, and their artistry. There is no better place than this School to throw your instincts, your energy and your intelligence against material that is resistant, tough, and challenging.”

Rose Plotek (Directing 2007) is a director and theatre maker. The inquiry of Rose’s work investigates form and aesthetic, with experiment being a driving force of both development and presentation. Her work is often developed through inter-disciplinary collaboration and workshop, most frequently with Philip McKee (Directing 2009).

Read the bio

The director of the Directing program is Alisa Palmer.

ADMISSIONS

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

You must be at least 18 years old as of December 31 of the year of entry at NTS.

APPLICATION FORM

The applications for 2018 are now closed. The next intake will be in 2019. It’s easy, and it’s online. Simply fill out the application form and pay the registration fee. We’ll be in touch to let you know about the next step.

TUITION FEES

2018-2019 School Year

Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents
$5,725

Foreign Students
$11,450

Money should never be an obstacle to talent. NTS can help you pay for your studies.

Learn more about Financial Aid.

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

Once the application has been submitted, candidates are subsequently required to submit a portfolio that will include:

a letter of intention,
a resume, and
a written treatment of a text from a list of plays supplied by the School.

Details are communicated to candidates shortly after the admission deadline.

INTERVIEW

After consideration of these submissions, selected candidates will be invited to attend a workshop in Montreal, in May 2018, which will include an interview.

École nationale de théâtre
Photo: Maxime Côté

WHAT MAKES THE PROGRAM UNIQUE

Direct contact with leading professional directors in a class of only two students
Working and collaborating with professional actors, designers, choreographers, etc.
Working in a variety of spaces, from intimate flexible black boxes to a large 800-seat proscenium stage theatre
Final-year project directing an original play written by a graduating Playwriting student and featuring the graduating Acting class
Direct and personalized interaction with Quebecois artists and theatre practices

Curriculum

Year 1

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

Year 2

Along with classes and workshop, this second year is dedicated to the realisation of two productions: the first, of the directors' choosing, is surrounded by professional mentors and collaborators; the second is in collaboration with the Playwriting program in the development of the New Words Festival.

See a more detailed list of classes

Accompanied by excellence

Sarah Garton Stanley

Director and dramaturg
Sarah received the 2016 Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas’ Elliot Hayes Award for her focus on the Indigenous body of performance work in Canada.

Brendan Healy (Directing, 2005)

His shows have garnered multiple Dora Mavor Moore Awards and he is a recipient of the Ken McDougall and the Pauline McGibbon awards for directing. Between 2009 and 2015, Brendan was the Artistic Director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

Ravi Jain

Actor and award-winning director whose work has been produced extensively around the world. Over the past six years, as artistic director and founder of his international theatre company Why Not Theatre, Ravi has created over 14 productions, performing in 15 different cities on 4 continents.

List of artists who mentor our students