Description
Led by Ghost River Theatre Artistic Director Eric Rose, the National Devised Theatre Intensive is a 3-week, comprehensive, advanced program of study designed for established and emerging artists and educators drawn from the national community. Open to adventurous artists in all media (designers, dramaturg, performers, writers, dancers, visual artists, musicians, digital artists, etc.) the intensive explores the complexities and potentials of a guided, complete devised production process, from initial idea to public presentation, in 3 weeks of intensive hands-on-creation.
Topics Include
Dramaturgy of devised work through a practical creation process
Audience engagement theory and techniques
Long-term strategies for collaboration and decision-making
Workshops in marketing and grant writing, specifically tailored to the challenges of new work creation
The building of a national network of artists who are versed in a common process and interested in future collaborations
Visual approaches to storytelling
Non-traditional text generation
The key principles of healthy creation practices
“It was a real joy to take the time to focus on the process of creating theatre in a very practical way. The experience and insight brought into the room was invaluable and the working environment that was created and nurtured by the entire team was everything I aim for in a creative process.” Jen Quinn (2019)
“The devised intensive has equipped me with a massive toolbox of techniques, strategies, and ideas with which to go back into the world and advance my artistic practice. I feel revitalized as an artist and ready to embark on more wild and wonderful collaborations.” Anna Shepard (2019)
“The Intensive will quickly feel like a beautiful, engaging, challenging, artistic community that will likely somehow expand your perception of 'process'. You'll start off excited to be uncomfortable and you'll leave with the ability to thrive in discomfort.” Dominik Buconjic (2019)
DATES AND TIMES
June 3 - 22, 2024
June 3 - 18: Monday - Friday, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm (with an hour break at ~1:00 pm)
June 19 - 20: 10:00 am - 10:00 pm (10 out of 12 hour day with an evening performance on the 20th)
June 21: 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm (evening performance and closing night party)
June 22: Debrief and Strike. Times TDB.
Venue
West Village Theatre: 2007 10th Ave SW, Calgary, AB, T3C 0K4.
PRICING
Early Bird Discount n/a
Equity Rate $1,200.00+GST
Regular $1,450.00+GST
This intensive is limited to a maximum of 16 participants. Only a few spots remain. For more information about the program and registration, please contact ed@ghostrivertheatre.com.
A $200 deposit is due two weeks after acceptance. Full payment is due April 1, 2024. You can request to set up a payment plan by contacting Christy at ed@ghostrivertheatre.com if needed.
Billets may be available. Early application is encouraged to enable Ghost River to support participants’ funding applications.
PROGRAM Sponsor:
Sentinel Storage
About the instructors
Eric Rose is an award winning multi-disciplinary director and creator of live performance and the Artistic Director of Calgary’s acclaimed Ghost River Theatre. His passion for the creative process has inspired the diversity of his multidisciplinary experience spanning: large scale contemporary and classical theatre, site- specific performance, devising theatre, new play development, physical performance and dance. Eric’s work embraces a hybrid of high tech visual spectacle with low-fi theatrical magic and is developed through a significant investment in imaginative research and development.
Recent GRT credits include: directing/writing STRUCK (Betty Mitchell Awards for Outstanding Lighting Design and Outstanding Video or Projection Design); directing/co-writing GIANT (Betty Mitchell Award Outstanding Ensemble), The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst (Betty Mitchell Award Outstanding Production, New Play & Direction), directing/co-writing The Highest Step in the World (Betty Award Outstanding Production, CITT Award for Technical Achievement) concept/direction The Intuition Project, SCENT BAR, TOUCH, TASTE and Tomorrow’s Child for a blindfolded audience as part of GRT’s Six Senses Series.
He is honoured to have been the Playwright in Residence at Alberta Theatre Projects, to have received the Canstage Award for Direction (ONE, SummerWorks 2011) be named to Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 class of 2012 and to be the recipient of the 2012 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award for his body of work as a live-performance innovator.
As an educator, Eric has taught for: 2023 and 2019 Prague Quadrennials, Pat the Dog Theatre Creation, Undercurrents Festival, CanAsian Dance Festival, University of Toronto, Theatre Calgary, Globe Theatre, Charlottetown Festival, Tarragon Theatre, NextFest, Mount Royal University, Red Deer and Sheridan College, University of Calgary, Theatre Ontario, Artstrek and many others.
Snežana Pešić is a Serbian-Canadian performance designer and educator.
Her work has been seen across Canada and internationally. In Canada, she collaborated with companies such as the Banff Centre, Soulpepper Theatre, Canadian Stage, Crow’s Theatre, The Confederation Centre of the Arts, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Against the Grain, Ghost River, Obsidian, Volcano and Native Earth, among others. Internationally, her designs were toured and performed in the US, Norway, and Serbia and presented in numerous international exhibitions. She exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial (2007 and 2015), World Stage Design (2009, Seoul and 2013, Cardiff), Innovative Costume of 21st Century; Next Generation and Costume at the Turn of the Century (Moscow, 2019 and 2015) and World’s Stage Costume (2022, Mexico City). In 2019, Snežana designed and curated the Canadian Professional Exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ).
Pešić is the recipient of the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Lighting Design, the Prix Rideau Award nominee, and was shortlisted for the Pauline McGibbon Award for emerging theatre artists.
As a designer and design educator, Snežana has worked at the University of Alberta, the University of Victoria, Dalhousie University, the University of Toronto Mississauga, Keyano College, George Brown Theatre School, The Banff Centre and The Glenn Gould School. Currently, she is a professor of performance design at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto.
About Ghost River Theatre
Led by Artistic Director Eric Rose and Executive Director Christy Offer, GRT is a devised theatre company that creates, develops and mounts original productions through a significant investment in imaginative research and development. We make our work in a rigorous, supportive collaborative-creation environment that recognizes and utilizes the unique abilities of all participants, premiering our work in Calgary and then touring it nationally and internationally. Our work embraces a hybrid of high tech visual spectacle with low-fi theatrical magic. Our impressive roster of critically acclaimed productions includes: GIANT, ONE, The Highest Step in the World, The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, Tomorrow’s Child, amongst many others. With a keen desire to create, to engage and to push the boundaries of live performance GRT has established itself firmly as a leader in the Calgary, Alberta, and national cultural ecologies.