Program Description

• The Directing Program allows participants to develop and strengthen their theatrical intuition and craft. Its purpose is the training of artists who will be leaders in the milieu.
• While the program seeks to develop students’ creativity and enable them to express themselves through current aesthetic paradigms (rooted in Quebec, Canadian, and international contexts), it also invites artists to imagine a theatre of their own, a theatre that does not yet exist.
• The shape of the program is driven by each individual director’s personal artistic research interests. The program aims to refine, clarify, and reinforce an evolving theatrical approach
• The program is structured around a personal research question that roots the participants in the program. Directing offers both practical and theoretical approaches to the work while also strengthening ties with(in) the professional community. Instructors will include leaders in the milieu both nationally and internationally.
• The two main components of the program are:
• Independent artistic research and study, focused on a practical artistic research question
• Ensemble/cohort-based learning in workshop, class and meeting settings
• Over the course of two years, the program evolves through workshops, seminars, observation, internships, courses, and public exercises.
• The program is a partnership between the English and French Sections of the School, with cohorts from both Sections training together frequently and bilingually. Each Section will welcome four students, for a total of eight students, every two years.
• Training as directors and leaders within a cohort is an invitation to foster a meeting place and exchange of ideas, aesthetics, and visions.
• Each year of study will culminate in the sharing of the artists’ artistic research in the form of presentations, workshops, or writing projects.

Curriculum

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 unique group of artists making up each class. Our training is always practical, supported by the 17 student shows created each year through the work of all of the school’s nine programs.