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The idea of directing a play is a scary concept. It is the fear all artists feel when they begin to make art. It’s like the conductor who walks to the podium praying the players will lift their instruments when she lifts her baton. Or the writer who faces the blank page hoping that the words which will be scrawled there will deface the page honourably (to quote Tennessee Williams).

The exercises in this workshop will demonstrate that as long as you are human, you have strong enough ideas to direct a play. There is no emotion you have felt that has not been felt in some way by every person who has ever lived. Everything you need to direct is inside you. YOU ARE ENOUGH.

And there are landmarks which we can learn to recognize in the directing process. There is language which will help you to stimulate the creativity in your collaborators and widen and deepen the creative process for everyone involved.

After a brief history of directing, we will use the text of a play by David French or Kent Stetson to develop and express individual theatrical concepts through set, costume, light and sound design built from a personal analysis of character, narrative, themes and context. Participants will create their own productions to discover which vocabulary is most effective with each collaborator.

With these words, each director will learn to communicate ideas in language that will stimulate actors, designers, stage managers and producers. These ideas direct the thoughts and dreams of everyone involved in your production.

The Old Farmers Bank
Rustico, PEI

On the lush green north shore, overlooking the working fishing grounds of Rustico Bay, sits the Farmers Bank, the oldest stone building on the island. Here, in 1868, Father Belcourt created the co–operative bank which would lead to the credit union, Caisse Populaire and co-op movement which swept North America in the Twentieth Century. From the room where the course will take place, the Acadian farmers of the region invented a system to create capital in such a significant way that their methods and practices are still in use today - worldwide. The Farmers Bank sits beside the oldest Acadian building on the Island – the recently restored Doucet House!