Theatre Ontario has been working on creating new formats for technical courses for community theatres. These types of courses are frequently requested, but we have often been unable to offer them during our Summer Courses in a way that is economically feasible.
Therefore, we are offering two courses in a new format to community theatres in an attempt to address your needs in a more effective way--our Weekend Retreat workshops.
Firstly, we are running a marketing course, "Bums In Seats: How to make the most of a limited advertising budget", as a weekend retreat. When we surveyed interested parties we found an even split between two alternatives – those people who lived in the GTA voted for a less expensive version to be held at our Spadina Avenue offices, and those outside voted (for them) the less expensive weekend at Geneva Park in Orillia. We are starting off this coming May 7th to 9th with the Geneva Park version and will hold a second course (if necessary) next fall in Toronto. Read more about this course on the Theatre Ontario website.
Secondly, we are introducing a course entitled "Leader Of The Pack: Stage Management for Community Theatres" a course for Stage Managers facilitated by the same team that run the Professional Development SMARTS course for Equity Stage Managers (they are reproducing much of the content but removed those portions specific to the Canadian Theatre Agreement between CAEA and PACT. This course is designed for those that have had some experience with stage management. Read more about this course on the Theatre Ontario website.
"Bums in Seats" and "Leader of the Pack" were conceived to help groups expand their inventory of expertise, as well as the personal development of the participants. Both courses will take place at Geneva Park in Orillia, May 7 – 9th, and include room and board plus the price of the course all for $525 (includes tax.)
We encourage our community theatre group members to consider sponsoring one of their own individual members to attend each of these courses. This investment will reap dividends for your group.
I wish there were a weekend retreat for technical theatre (lighting, sound, special effects) for experienced people. There seem to be any number of "Introduction to..." offerings but very few opportunities in Ontario for people who are beyond the novice level to enhance their skills or get together and swap stories outside of the festival.
ReplyDeleteThe only courses I have found are available through LDI (Broadway Master Classes series). There's quite a leap between community theatre and Broadway budgets. The Summer Intensive is great but tends to favour the actor/director rather than the theatre technician.
Hi Karl,
ReplyDeleteThanks for enthusiastically starting a conversation on this subject. I'm going to be moving it to a new place where I don't have to moderate the comments.
Brandon Moore
Communications Coordinator
We've moved this conversation to:
ReplyDeletehttp://theatreontario.blogspot.com/2011/03/lets-talk-about-technical-theatre.html