2006-2007 marks Peter Hinton’s first season as Artistic Director, and with him he brings a passionate commitment to educational programming. His all-Canadian season features outstanding contemporary plays that examine, either literally or in more figurative ways, the meaning and value of Art, and the role of the Artist in Society. It’s a season that poses big questions in a variety of theatrical forms: comedy, tragedy, musical; some plays have large casts, some have a cast of one; there are new plays, plays in translation and plays in revival. One thing all the work has in common, however, is that it forms part of perhaps the most exciting season of English-language theatre in Canada.

Enhanced Theatre-going Programmes for Schools/Universities (Both Students and Teachers)

All NAC English Theatre workshops are led by enthusiastic and experienced theatre professionals with teaching skills. Activities are designed to meet student and teacher needs and curriculum requirements to complement your teaching and illuminate our plays.

Pre or Post Performance Workshops
A pre performance workshop prepares students to view the play. A post performance workshop allows time to debrief, discuss and debate further the issues raised in or by the work. The choice is yours!

These workshops, delivered in your classroom or at the NAC, build on your preparation using our Study Guides. They are led by artists involved in the specific show (when available) or artists from the professional community.

Examples of workshops (subject to availability)

• text analysis
• text-on-their-feet
• movement
• props
• discussion of the play
• playwriting
• design

Workshop Fee: $150 for a workshop (1.0-1.5 hrs approx., 30 students maximum).

Note: Courses are available in English only.

Why take a workshop?
Workshops help students better understand the language of theatre, the techniques of making theatre and the excitement of creating theatre.

Students, having worked on a scene, or discussed a theme, feel more connected and engaged with the performance.

Discussions with actors allow students to learn first-hand about the play and about life as an actor in Canada. In particular, students may engage personally in the topic, “the artist in society?”

Skill-Building Workshops
These workshops are designed to introduce specific theatre skills for students at elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels, and are available at your school or at the NAC. Skill Building Workshops are delivered by experienced theatre professionals who have an interest inworking with young people.

Examples of workshops (subject to availability)

• stage combat
• text analysis
• improvisation
• movement
• canadian text exploration
• Shakespearean background/text
• collective creation
• Jacobethan background/text
• classical text
• poetry
• design
• playwriting
• voice

Full Day(3-4 hours approx.) Fee: $350.
Half Day (2 hours approx.) Fee: $250.
1 hourworkshop (approx.) Fee:$150
(maximum of 30 students per group. Note not all workshops are appropriate at every level).

Choose a workshop that fits with your curriculum. Give your students the opportunity to learn and practice new theatre skills. Play with us!

Backstage Visits
Backstage is a different world from onstage and these visits, led by professional stage managers, allow students to see how production elements come together. The itinerary may include a visit to the “shops” (props, scenery and wardrobe), tours of the four stages at the NAC,and/or a look at the vomitory, dressing rooms and the Green Room.

Add a tour to your pre, post or Skill Building Workshop and call it a day at the NAC!

Fee: $50 (maximum of 30 students per group. Note tours could be restricted and are subject to availability).

March Break for Youth at Risk
This intensive one-week theatre training programme March 12-16, 2007 provides students aged 15 to 19 with the opportunity to spend a week at the NAC seriously studying theatre. This free programme is intended for students who lack training opportunities due to a lack of finances or for other personal reasons. Led by professional artists and teachers, this week is demanding, strenuous, hugely enriching, fulfilling and fun. We expect students to offer ideas, accept challenges and take creative risks. In return (as one student put it) “they will have an opportunity of a lifetime!” In past years topics included: mask, movement, voice and text. Participants are accepted on the recommendation of teachers, and social/youth workers, and must undergo an interview process.

Please contact Martina Kuska, Education and Outreach Coordinator at: 947-7000 ext. 522 in early January 2007 to recommend your students.

Professional Development for Teachers!
“Well done! I like the “hands on” approach, less “talk”more “DO”! Thank you!
(Montreal teacher on an NAC Workshopled by Sarah McVie)

Participate in a workshop tailor-made for you! Meet other teachers, gather ideas for lesson plans, share your questions and challenges and learn new skills. Taught by professional theatre artists, these workshops are participatory, invigorating and informative.

Shakespeare Workshop is taught by Sarah McVie, (recently at the Stratford Festival) and helps you develop strategies to decode Shakespearean text for your students and approach it in a new way. Rap it, sing it, and shout it out loud!

For Teachers: Thursday, February 1, 2007 9:00-15:00. Fee: $100

Skill-Building Workshops allow you to brush up on your current theatre skills or explore something new. Put together a group of teachers and we’ll provide the workshop at your school or at the NAC. This is agreat way to spend your PD day!
Dates: Anytime, Fee: TBD.

The Ark
Our 2007-2008 Jacobethan season will focus on plays from the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, including those by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Middleton, Jonson, Webster and many others. This fall, an innovative programme, The Ark, brings together a group of actors and directors with Peter Hinton for a three-week period to explore these texts in preparation for the next season.

Observe a rehearsal
For those interested in observing the The Ark in action, drop in on Saturday, November 25 and watch the actors at work. Please call Martina Kuska (947-7000 ext. 522) in advance to register your interest and reserve a seat.

The Performance —The Jacobethan Imagination: from Riot to Restoration
Join us for a public presentation of some of the discoveries made during The Ark on Saturday, December 9 at 20:00 at St.Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (corner of Wellington and Kent).
Tickets: $20 on sale at the NAC box office starting September 5, 2006.

Workshop
Getting to know the Jacobethans taught by Artistic Director, Peter Hinton, gives you a preview of what’s in store for the 2007-2008 season. Explore the three underlying themes in 17th Century text: to serve, to obey and to love. Learn about the “other” Renaissance playwrights and discover plays that are funny, shocking, bloodthirsty and fascinating. Gain the knowledge to excite your students about a whole new dramatic landscape which they will see brought to life on stage in our upcoming season...
Saturday, November 18, 2006 10:00-16:00. Fee: $100

Aboriginal Theatre and Canadian Theatre
In conjunction with our season we will offer teacher workshops in Aboriginal Theatre and Canadian Theatre. Please call Martina Kuska, Education and Outreach Coordinator at 947-7000 ext. 522 for details.

Teachers’ Advisory Group
We would like to hear from you! This committee meets four times a year to discuss how English Theatre can serve you better. If you can commit to participating on a regular basis come out, discuss what is happening in your classrooms, and tell us how you feel about our educational programming. Sample discussion topics: Arts Alive website, Study Guidesand workshops. This advisory is for Elementary, Secondary and College/University teachers. Call Martina Kuska at 947-7000 ext. 522 to volunteer.