Our Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) offers financial support for unique and flexible training with a chosen mentor in any theatrical discipline (except performance.)
Kelly Wolf began training in creation/dramaturgy with Richard Greenblatt at Tapesty Opera in Toronto
(May 8, 2017) As I continue to evolve as a theatre artist, I have become more interested in becoming the instigator of a theatre process, rather than simply responding to the project as a designer. I am looking forward to getting started with Richard Greenblatt as I pursue a greater understanding of project creation and dramaturgy as a collaborative creator.
My background is primarily as a designer. I am increasingly interested in creating a piece of theatre in response to a space. It is a fantastic way to allow another kind of narrative to emerge. Typically, I am responding to a set of givens, I am hoping that this mentorship project will encourage me to expand my personal creative practice. Traditional spaces already have an expectation built into them as far as the kind of theatre you can expect to see. I want to create theatre that expands your notion of what theatre is and should be by taking theatre out of the traditional venues. I am interested in collaborating with other artists—from all disciplines—in order to fuse and blur the lines between them in search of new approaches. I have created site specific works of theatre in the past. I want to continue to make this kind of work but feel I need more development in order to move forward. What I feel I am lacking is confidence in structure and dramaturgy.
I approached Richard Greenblatt, someone with whom I already have a collaborative relationship, to share with me some of his insights into project creation. Richard Greenblatt is a director, playwright, actor, dramaturg who has created many original pieces of theatre for adults and young audiences. We have worked together in the past on projects that are script based as well as creation based. He has two projects on the go that I will observe and participate within; a new opera Selfie by Julie Tepperman for Tapestry Opera and The Missing Pages by Tom Allen. I am about to enter into the project at the very early stages; as they are dramaturging the piece, following it through the drafts, then eventually a workshop. What intrigues me about Selfie in particular is that is that Richard is interested in redefining the form of opera with this piece. This opportunity to follow the project from its early stages of development to finding the right collaborators, to developing the work is what I am most curious about. Following this exploration, I will be creating my own piece of theatre. I am producing a new work, Normal Shmormal at the Hamilton Fringe Festival Gallery Mini Series. This would be an excellent opportunity to take what I have observed and turn it into action.
Richard and I both have a genuine interest in seeing the art of theatre connect with the audiences. I am looking forward to our debriefing sessions where we will just talk about the process of making theatre.
The next application deadline for the Professional Theatre Training Program is October 2, 2017.
Theatre Ontario’s Professional Theatre Training Program is funded by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
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