Call for Submissions: Intern Directors and the Directors Project, Theatre Ontario/Shaw Festival

APPLICATIONS FOR 2009
DEADLINE: JUNE 27, 2008

A Guide to Applicants:

Each year, the Shaw Festival hires two Intern Directors for a period of about six months. They look for promising professional directors near the beginning of their careers. Applicants should have a fair bit of professional experience, but probably not in a company as large as the Shaw Festival. The contracts run approximately from mid-March to late August, depending on the production schedule for the particular season. These positions are salaried at an apprentice level, which at The Shaw is around $600 per week.

The Intern Directors work under the mentorship of the Directors of the Academy, which is the Shaw Festival’s professional development and public education wing. Each intern is assigned to two or three successive shows as an Assistant Director. One of these shows is usually in the Festival Theatre (860 seats) and another in a smaller one (330 seats). For the most part, being an Assistant Director involves observing the senior directors at work in rehearsal, doing research as required, acting as a sounding board as required. (Getting them coffee is not required.) The Interns also assist the company in educating audiences about theatre in general and the Shaw’s productions and programmes in particular. The Intern positions usually have free time built into some portions of the season, so that Interns are free to take Academy classes and pursue other theatrical projects that interest them.

The “Directors Project” is the culmination of the Intern Directors’ season, and has become a very important event to the Shaw company as a whole. It consists of a double-bill of two one-acts directed by the two Intern Directors. In consultation with Neil Munro, the company’s Associate Director, each Intern chooses a play from the period of the Shaw Festival’s mandate (1856-1950). These plays are given three performances to invited audiences (artistic directors, sponsors, company members, family and assorted friends of the Festival) in a studio setting. While production resources are limited as to costumes, sets, props, lighting and sound, there are normally apprentice designers, stage managers and other personnel assigned to the project. All casting is done in consultation with Neil Munro, but basically you can use any member of the Shaw Festival ensemble whom you can talk into being in the show. (The project is in excess of the actors’ contracted workload, and so they take part in the project on a volunteer basis.) Each one-act has between 50 and 60 hours of rehearsal over 5-6 weeks, scheduled by our Production Stage Manager.

Since its inception in 1988, the Directors Projects has been sponsored annually by Sun Life Financial and Theatre Ontario.

Applications for the Intern Director positions are made through Theatre Ontario, with a June 30 deadline to begin residency the following March. There is no application form – just submit a resumé with a covering letter, explaining why you would like to be an Intern Director at the Shaw Festival. Please do not send support materials that you wish to have returned. Applicants must be Canadian citizens. Hiring decisions are made exclusively by the Shaw Festival.

If you have questions about the application process, please contact:
Tim Chapman Theatre Ontario – 416-408-4556
or email tim@theatreontario.org

Submit applications by mail to:
Tim Chapman
Theatre Ontario,
215 Spadina Ave. Suite 210
Toronto, ON M5T 2C7

ATT: Shaw Directors Project

NO SUBMISSIONS via FAX or email will be accepted.
Applications must be received at Theatre Ontario by June 27th, 2008.
www.theatreontario.org