Our Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) offers financial support for unique and flexible training with a chosen mentor in any theatrical discipline (except performance.)
Stephanie Kast training in writing and producing with Joshua Bainbridge in North Bay
(July 9, 2018) I am currently at the halfway point in my mentorship with Joshua Bainbridge for Writing and Producing. I couldn’t be more pleased with how it is going.
When starting this mentorship, I had planned out each week in detail with what I was going to learn and work on—but not everything goes according to plan. I originally mapped out that the first 4-5 weeks was strictly about creating and writing a two-act play, and when my play was completely finished we would switch gears and start with the producing. Except when Josh and I get together to have meetings we always find bits and pieces of producing infused in our talks. He started teaching me how to budget for a show. Using the play that I am currently writing as an example, he has given me a tutorial of how to budget. He used one of his previous budgets from an old production, as a template to demonstrate each thing that needs to be accounted for. For example what a venue would cost, costumes, a set, posters/advertising—things of that nature. Josh also went over the audition process with me, starting with how to get an audition together. We’ve done a mock up audition notice. He has also walked me through different kinds of audition processes and what to look for in an audition. The final thing we’ve touched on is the media involved in producing. We haven’t finished this discussion yet but I’m learning about pictures and imagery and their influence on a production.
Aside from the producing, I have started my play. I took a different route while writing it then I had originally planned. I started writing it as a one-act play. My goal for the last half of my mentorship is to fill it out to a two-act play. Currently I’m on my fourth edit of the one-act. My first two edits were about getting the story I wanted to tell onto paper, after that it was about things that needed work or things that didn’t quite make sense. Josh has edited it once and we spoke about what needs to be added and what needs to be taken out. I have my plot and my characters developed but I found that I needed to change how I was telling the story. I’m also presently editing my dialogue, making it more fluid and relaxed. Once this draft is done and Josh gives his final notes, I am going to start working it into a two-act.
I’m very thrilled to continue to the next half of my mentorship. The first half has already been a great experience and I’m learning a lot. I’m ecstatic to keep working on my play with Josh and learn more about producing. I look up to Josh and couldn’t have asked for a better mentor.
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The next application deadline for the Professional Theatre Training Program is October 1, 2018.
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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