Category: Backstage Courses

Course Description: Are you interested in directing but scared to take the plunge? Have you already directed something but feel like you need to hone your skills? In this “Into to Directing” workshop we will discuss preparation, visualization, and communication –the basics of directing.

Instructor Bio: Robin has worked professionally as a stage-manager, lighting designer, dramaturge, actor, director and playwright and has worked for companies across Canada including The Arts Club, Pacific Theatre and The New Play Centre (now known as the Playwrights Theatre Centre) in Vancouver, as well as the Belfry Theatre (Victoria), the Globe (Regina), Persephone (Saskatoon), PTE (Winnipeg) the Grand (London, ON), and Drayton Entertainment (Grand Bend, ON) . She received her BFA in theatre from UVic and her MFA in directing from UBC and has been a faculty member in the theatre program at TRU since 2004. In 1995 She, along with 5 other actors who had all recently become mothers, created a show about motherhood called Mom’s the Word which has been produced in 11 other countries, translated into 5 other languages, is still touring and has played to over 2 million people across Canada and internationally. It was followed in 2005 by Mom’s the Word 2: Unhinged which also toured internationally and in 2009 by Mom’s the Word: Remixed which is currently touring in Canada.

Course Description: Acting involves four primary relationships: with the script, with the director, with fellow company members… then with the audience. This workshop will explore the first three, looking in a very practical way at how to analyse the play from your character’s point of view, how to follow, and sometimes interpret the director’s vision, how actors can get the best out of each other… and how to work towards getting it right when it’s patently going wrong.

Instructor Bio: Keith has worked at the top levels of live theatre in Canada, including a season at The Stratford Festival, Ontario. While in Edmonton, Keith worked with John Neville OBE at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, and created The Phoenix Theatre. At Theatre 3, Edmonton, he directed the award-winning premiere of Sharon Pollock’s internationally acclaimed drama, BLOOD RELATIONS. Keith is a coast-to-coast festival finals adjudicator, having adjudicated the Cabot 500 International Festival in St John’s, Newfoundland, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Festival Finals in Gander; on the West Coast, Keith adjudicated the Theatre BC Mainstage Finals in Victoria. Along the way, he adjudicated a final festival in Saskatchewan, and a regional final in both Alaska and Washington State
Keith also spent a decade and a half as a teacher at Brentwood College on Vancouver Island. As a commissioned screenwriter, Keith has completed five screenplays and two film treatments. His sitcom series, CON JOBS has been optioned to noted UK production company, Green Bay Media. Keith was also a series writer on TIME EXPOSURES for Chek TV. Currently Keith is working on a commissioned stage play (Working title SHERLOCK & JACK) for Centre Media in London, England. His ‘claustrophobic thriller’, TRUNK, co-written with former head of Theatre BC, Brian Paisley, was made last year, has finished post-production and has been contracted by international distributor, IndustryWorks.

Course Description: 3 Hours of quick yet highly effective procedures to tune you up vocally, physically, and emotionally. You will be at your best with these unique and powerful techniques from getting ready for the audition, working during rehearsals and on through opening night and all performances. Improv, cold reading, and effective stage movement will also be covered.

Instructor Bio:Douglas has over 30 years’ experience as a working professional in film, television, audio and theatre. He’s an award-winning director, actor, writer, and teacher. He has a BFA from York University in Stagecraft, Production and Design, graduating on the Dean’s list and with the Cheryl Rosen Award for Excellence. He studied acting on scholarship at the Banff Centre for Performing Arts. Douglas then went to the University of Georgia on a full Academic Scholarship graduating Summa Cum Laude with an MFA in Directing for Stage Television and Film. His film directorial debut Stick Up won a Best Comedy award during its festival tour in 2004 and was then sold to the Comedy Network and is still playing. Douglas is a produced playwright for the stage and CBC radio. His screenplays have won awards in Los Angeles for two years. He has performed in over 100 films, TV shows, commercials, cartoons, plays, and audio works. He was a resident street performer for 6 months at Expo 86 and performed his street show every year during Vancouver’s First Night celebrations. Douglas has also taught at a number of post-secondary institutions in BC and Alberta. He served as a jury member for the 2012 Vancouver Island One-Act Play Festival in Qualicum Beach. Theatre BC: Douglas has served as adjudicator for both the Central Interior and Skeena Zone festivals, and he led workshops in Commercial Voice Over (2001), Physical Action (2007), Directing (2006, 2009), The Actor’s Toolbox (2013) and Well Slap Me Silly (2013) at Mainstage.