Our Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) offers financial support for unique and flexible training with a chosen mentor in any theatrical discipline (except performance.)
Stephanie Graham is training in artistic direction with Mitchell Marcus at Musical Stage Company in Toronto
(November 8, 2017) I started as the Intern Artistic Director at the Musical Stage Company in early July.
On my first day, I attended a meeting with Artistic Director, Mitchell Marcus and Associate Artistic Director, Kevin Wong at the Regent Park School of Music to have a post mortem on their inaugural Make Me A Song program. This is an incredible initiative that pairs musical theatre composers and lyricists with the choirs at the Regent Park School of Music. Through a creative collaboration process with the students, the writers compose songs for the choirs based on the students’ ideas to be performed later in the year. Like most of you, I was not aware of this program and was so thrilled to hear that they will be rolling it out again in 2017-18. I cannot wait to hear the outcome in the spring.
Besides attending weekly staff meetings (which are always so collaborative) and board meetings (which are also so collaborative), I was able to sit on the panel for the auditions for the children of Fun Home and for the Syd and Shirley Banks Prize. I also attended the pitches for the Dan Fund musicals. It was truly overwhelming how much talent we have in Toronto and in Canada.
The Ambassador Event at the Jazz Bistro, highlighting the work of Britta Johnson, was a fantastic evening. As a donor, this is a fun evening to attend and learn more about the company and the artists that are featured in the season.
After the dress rehearsal of each Musical Stage Company show, the staff goes out to share thoughts and ideas. The mainstage programming, education and outreach initiatives keeps our small staff of eight (including me) very busy so it was nice to be together outside of the office.
Once Life After opened, I assisted in coordinating the volunteers at Canadian Stage and hosting some of the pre-show chats. What a great way to connect with our audience. The success of Life After has all of us in the musical theatre community thrilled that the young Canadian voice of Britta Johnson was supported not only by other artists, but packed houses at Canadian Stage.
I went to New York to see the new musical presentations at NAMT and was able to connect with other attendees about our Crescendo series and Life After. With the success of Come From Away, the Americans seem to be paying a little more attention to us. This is exciting for Canadian musicals. Check out the blog post that Associate Artistic Director, Kevin Wong and I did about our experience at NAMT.
Even though I have worked with the Musical Stage Company as a director/choreographer for One Song Glory, the choreographer of The Wild Party and Grey Gardens, this experience has opened my eyes to the excellent leadership that Mitchell Marcus provides both artistically and administratively. His knowledge in both these areas make him an exceptional arts leader in Canada.
As I come up to the end of the first half of my internship, I realize how very proud I am to be associated with the company in awe of the work they do in addition to their mainstage programming. It is a lot to digest, but I am very much enjoying changing my thinking from project based work to strategic and long-term planning.
Thank you so much to Theatre Ontario and the Ontario Arts Council. This experience has been both eye opening and satisfied my thirst for knowledge in the area of arts leadership.
Related Reading:
The next application deadline for the Professional Theatre Training Program is March 1, 2018.
Theatre Ontario’s Professional Theatre Training Program is funded by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
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