Set and Costume Design

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WHAT MAKES THE PROGRAM UNIQUE

  • A team of professional head carpenters, scenic painters, and dressmakers, who assist students with their designs
  • Access to an impressive costume collection containing thousands of pieces and fully-equipped professional set and costume shops at the Monument-National
  • Increasing responsibilities throughout the 3-year program, from assistant to designer for several productions
  • In the final year, full responsibility for show designs for productions at the Monument-National

3 years of training | 8 students per year

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Costume and set design for theatre, dance, opera, or the circus arts

Our training program allows students to dream and create, while also giving them the tools to make their ideas become reality. To this end, we create a synergy between the reflective, creative, and technical aspects of scenographic practice, so that each facet feeds the others.

See students in action

Costumes for 7 Stories designed by Erika Parra Bernal (Set and Costume Design, 3rd year, Palmira, Colombia). Shown: costume sketch and finished costume for Percy, character played by Evelyn Wiebe (Acting, 2019, Waterloo, ON)

7 Stories by Morris Panych, directed by Philip Akin presented by the Graduating Class in Acting, Production Design and Technical Arts, and Set and Costume Design, in December 2018

Photo by Maxime Côté 

Costume shop at the Monument-National, the School's second campus

Photo by David Ospina

Set up of the exhibition by 2nd-year students in Set and Costume Design. The exhibition showcases copper etchings and 3D-printed maquettes. 

Make up class for Set and Costume Design students

Student and teacher in Set and Costume Design 

Set maquette created by Joline Rath (Set and Costume Design, 2020, Saskatoon, SK) for a class project on Woyzeck by Georg Büchner 

Costumes for Orlando designed by Adriana Bogaard (Set and Costume Design, 2016). Shown: costume sketch and finished costume for Sasha, character played by Maddalena Vallecchi Williams (Acting, 2016). 

Orlando by Virginia Woolf, adapted by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Eda Holmes (Directing, 1996), presented by the Graduating Class of 2016 in Acting, Production Design and Technical Arts, and Set and Costume Design in December 2015

Photo by Maxime Côté

Costume sketch by Wendy Kim Pires (Set and Costume Design, 2020, Vendargues, France) for a class project on circus costumes

ADMISSIONS

APPLICATION FORM

Fill out the online application form and pay the registration fee before January 31. We’ll be in touch to let you know about the next steps.

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

PROJECT

Candidates have one month to design the set and costumes of a play to be chosen by the School. Instructions are sent by mail after the application deadline.

INTERVIEW

Candidates who pass this initial step are invited to an interview during which they are asked to present a portfolio of recent art or theatrical work (originals strongly preferred).

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 20 student shows created each year.

CURRICULUM

Year 1

Learning the language related to designing spaces and costumes. Coming into contact with the subject matter.  

 

 

 

Year 2

Expressing the language through various design projects. Integrating the subject matter.

Year 3

Materializing and communicating thought by creating show, in cooperation with the production team. Incarnating the subject matter.

See a list of classes

An average of 20 student shows are created each year.

Stéphane Longpré - Director of Set and Costume Design program

"NTS made me who I am today, not only as an artist, but also as a human being. It’s where I discovered theatre. It’s where I met artists involved in their community. It’s where I found purpose. In my view, it’s a training program that is unique in Canada, notably because of its bilingual nature and its social and cultural diversity, all of which brings it an incomparable richness. The imperative of openness to others is, I feel, central to the teaching philosophy at NTS: to be confronted with different perspectives and approaches to feed your identity as an artist and find your own creative path or voice."

Since graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada (Set and Costume Design, 2002), Stéphane Longpré has worked on over a hundred shows as a scenographer, props designer, and assistant scenographer.

Read the bio

Instructors

Our students are taught and mentored by working professional artists who have their finger on the pulse of the artistic community.

They share a wealth of theatre experience from across Canada and around the world. NTS has an overall ratio of two instructors per student. Our group of teaching artists varies each year according to student needs.

Accompanied by excellence

Christine Neuss

Cutter and tailor of costumes for 35 years.

She has worked on costumes for theatre, opera, cinema, dance and circus. She was the head of the costume workshop at the Monument-National for 8 years.

Micheline Chevrier

Director, artistic director and dramaturge. She has worked at such theatres as The Shaw Festival, the National Arts Centre, Canadian Stage, and many more. She received a Betty Mitchell Award, two Capital Critics Awards, a Dora Mavor Moore Award, and a META.

Eo Sharp (Set and Costume Design, 1989)

Set and costume designer, working with Shaw Festival, Segal Centre, Stratford Festival, Centaur Theatre, National Arts Centre, Canstage, Neptune Theatre, and Imago Theatre. She was part of the Canadian Scenography Exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial in 2015.

List of artists who mentor our students

Our alumni work with many artistic companies around the globe. Here are a few examples:

  • Canadian Opera Company
  • Cirque du Soleil
  • Comédie-Française, Paris
  • Dreamworks
  • Metropolitan Opera, New York
  • Moment Factory
  • Neptune Theatre
  • Opéra de Paris
  • Shaw Festival
  • Stratford Festival
  • Universal Pictures
  • Winnipeg Art Gallery

NEED ANY HELP?

Read the Frequently Asked Questions

CONTACT OUR REGISTRATION OFFICE

services@ent-nts.ca

514-842-7954, ext. 134

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