New Training Opportunities: Crowdfunding, Getting Started For Actors, Self-Producing, Playwrighting Self-Editing and a Directors Intensive

We’ve pleased to announce five more exciting training opportunities coming up at Theatre Ontario.

So You Need Money For Your Project? Crowdfunding for Artists and Arts Organizations is a new workshop with Nancy Kenny on March 25 at 6:30pm.  You’ve got the ideas.  You’ve got the passion.  You’ve got the drive.  What you’re missing is the almighty dollar.  Grant writing and fundraising events are no longer your only options when it comes to finding money to get your project off the ground.  Welcome to the wonderful world of crowdfunding—come learn the tools and the techniques to succeed.

We have also scheduled our next dates for our two popular professional theatre sessions.

Getting Started For Actors with Tim Chapman on March 27 at 2pm.  This session is for actors beginning their professional careers to get the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the business of acting: the realities of showbiz, pictures and resumes, Equity and ACTRA, agents and casting directors, auditioning, and maintaining and improving your acting skills.

Self-Start: The Basics of Producing with Tim Chapman on April 10 at 2pm.  If you want to do a show but have never produced professionally before, and if you want to know what questions to ask first, this session is for you!  This workshop is designed for individuals thinking of producing a show or starting a theatre company, and gives you the opportunity to ask questions and try out ideas, discover the questions you need to ask and answer, learn to organize your thinking and planning, work on scheduling and budget considerations, and find out about available resources and services.

Finally, we have two weekend courses, one for playwrights and one for directors.

Playwriting: How to Self-Edit and Critique with Lindsay Price on April 5 to 7.  Plays are not written in the first draft.  Plays come to life in rewrites.  But re-write how?  What if we don't know how to move our work forward?  What if we don't know how to critique our own work?  What if we aren't sure how to process feedback from others?  This workshop offers tools and techniques for playwrights who have a play “under construction.”

Directors Intensive with Autumn Smith on April 20 to 21.  This two-day workshop is designed for experienced directors in both the community theatre and professional theatre realms, concentrating on making the work as specific as possible; and exploring how to get what the playwright intended onto the stage in a simple and detailed fashion.

To find out about all of Theatre Ontario’s upcoming training covering grant information, proposal writing, taxes, and introduction to adjudication, visit the Courses and Workshops listing on the Theatre Ontario website

Browsing The Bulletin Board

Spaces are available in two of our upcoming workshops:

• Proposal Writing with Wanda Nanibush on February 19 at 6:30pm in Toronto – For individuals and theatre organizations applying for funding and sponsorships to learn to write proposals that place readers in a position where they have an overwhelming desire to fund, promote or collaborate with you.
• Grant Writing Information Session for Playwrights and Theatre Artists with Pat Bradley of the Ontario Arts Council on February 27 at 6:30pm in Thunder Bay - Share information, perspective, and tips about project grants, particularly the OAC’s three professional theatre project programs—Theatre Projects, Playwright Residency, and Theatre Creators’ Reserve.

And don’t forget the February 11th deadline for applications to our Introduction to Adjudication course with Ron Cameron-Lewis, running March 12 to 16 in Guelph.

Upcoming on The Bulletin Board

• The application deadline for SubDevision 2013 at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival is February 8.  SubDevision will feature Ontario artists with site-specific, innovative, boundary-pushing work.
• The Rhubarb Festival at Buddies In Bad Times needs volunteers; the mandatory orientation session is February 13.
• b current needs box office and front-of-house volunteers for afterRock - deadline is February 14.

New on The Bulletin Board

• Theatre Passe Muraille invites applications for two programs - the Elephants In The Room Creation Group for artists who self-identify as emerging interested in working as part of a collective, and the Pitch Andy sessions for artists interested in making a pitch to TPM's Artistic Director who have something to say beyond “please produce my show.”  Deadline for both programs is February 18.
• Playwrights Guild of Canada is holding a workshop for artists with a successful Fringe show interested in creating a future for the production: Next Steps with Gideon Arthurs is on February 25. 
• The Professional Association of Canadian Theatres is now inviting nominations for the Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award.  The nomination deadline is March 22.
• Humber College is holding a puppetry intensive for artists and teachers who have previous experience in theatre performance, theatre production, visual arts, dance, design, and/or writing, starting June 3.

Check out these items, and all our postings of workshops, calls for submission, specific volunteer opportunities, awards, and much more—on Theatre Ontario’s Bulletin Board on our website

Call For Applications for the Youth Theatre Training Program

Does your organization want to undertake a unique youth training project, led by professional theatre artists?  Theatre Ontario's Youth Theatre Training Program may be for you.

Theatre Ontario is now inviting applications for the March 15, 2013 deadline for the Youth Theatre Training Program (YTTP), funded by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.

YTTP provides training dollars to fund accessible theatre programs involving youth aged 14 to 21. YTTP assists Ontario organizations that wish to undertake projects providing training to youth in various theatrical skills and disciplines, lead by professional theatre artists.

Read all about the Youth Theatre Training Program on the Theatre Ontario website. After reading the YTTP guidelines, applicants are encouraged to contact Tim Chapman, Professional Theatre Coordinator (tim@theatreontario.org or 416.408.4556 x.12) regarding your application.  You can also read about the most recent youth training (Fall 2012) funded by this program.

ONstage Openings for the week of February 4

In Toronto
Feb. 5, Here To Hear from Carousel Players at Young People's Theatre with a preview on Feb. 4
Feb. 6, Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata at Factory Theatre in co-production with Acting Up Stage Company (currently in previews)
Feb. 6, A Fond Husband (or The Plotting Sisters) at George Brown Theatre School
Feb. 7, The Power of Harriet T! at Young People's Theatre, with previews from Feb. 4
Feb. 7, The Piper at Ryerson Theatre School
Feb. 7, Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead at Soulpepper Theatre in previews
Feb. 7, Rapunzel at NAGs Players
Feb. 7, Sweeney Todd at Scarborough Music Theatre
Feb. 7, Shakespeare's Nigga at Theatre Passe Muraille produced by Obsidian Theatre
Feb. 8, The Classics at Ryerson Theatre School
Feb. 8, [title of show] at Lower Ossington Theatre

In Central Ontario
Feb. 7, The Number 14 at Talk Is Free Theatre (Barrie)
Feb. 8, Monty Python's Spamalot at Kempenfelt Community Players (Barrie)

In Eastern Ontario
Feb. 5, Rabbit Hole at Kanata Theatre
Feb. 5, undercurrents: theatre below the mainstream at Great Canadian Theatre Company (Ottawa)
Feb. 7, Bedtime Stories at Belleville Theatre Guild
Feb. 8, Chicago at Seaway Valley Theatre Company (Cornwall)

In Northeastern Ontario
Feb. 7, 9 To 5: The Musical at Theatre Cambrian (Sudbury)

In South Central Ontario
Feb. 6, Gaslight at Markham Little Theatre
Feb. 7, A Few Good Men at Oshawa Little Theatre
Feb. 7, The Odd Couple at West End Studio Theatre (Oakville)
Feb. 8, Frozen Dreams at Georgetown Little Theatre
Feb. 8, Les Belles Soeurs at Theatre Aurora

In Southwestern Ontario
Feb. 8, Bedtime Stories at Theatre Tillsonburg
Feb. 8, Soldier's Heart at Theatre Woodstock
Feb. 8, Shorthanded at Elmira Theatre Company – world premiere

For more information on these shows and other theatre playing across Ontario, visit Theatre Ontario’s ONstage theatre listings on our website.

Ontario Off Stage

Behind The Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• Susan Douglas Rubes, founder of Young People's Theatre, passed away on January 23 and is remembered on the YPT website: "Only the best is good enough for our children"
• Dahlia Katz shares a “Theatre Photography Mini-Master Class,” with some great tips on how to plan your production photography strategy
• The Ontario Arts Council has released a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of arts and culture on Ontario tourism—yeah, it’s significant

Conversations

• The “uncertain and unhappy beginnings” of Our Town, and the lessons we can learn in our own development processes, from Kate Powers on plainkate.com

From The Wire

• Canadian Actors Equity Association has announced new policies designed to facilitate small-scale theatre production
• The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts invites you to the book launch of Conversations With George Luscombe: Steven Bush in conversation with the Canadian theatre visionary on Monday, February 4 at 6:30pm at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, hosted by Brendan Healy.  You can also donate to the Friends Of Toronto Workshop Productions campaign for a Heritage Toronto plaque honouring George Luscombe

Migrations

• Erica Angus is the new Executive Director at Theatre Collingwood

Assembled by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator