Directors

CALL for ​​​Directors - New Ideas Festival 2019

Alumnae Theatre Company invites non-union directors to apply to direct one of the 15 plays (running time 10 to 40 minutes) for New Ideas Festival (NIF) 2019, our 31st annual three-week juried festival of new plays, works-in-progress, and experimental theatre to be held from March 6 to 24, 2019.

​How to Apply:
If you are interested in directing a play in the New Ideas Festival, email newideasfestival@gmail.com by Oct 5, 2018. Please make the subject line “Director Application (your name)” and provide a directing CV or paragraph description of your experience (not required for returning directors). You will receive further details once you have submitted your application. As our industry has far fewer female directors, women directors are especially encouraged to apply.
 
Important Dates: 

• Fri., Oct. 5, 2018:  Deadline to apply to direct one of the New Ideas Festival plays (We encourage returning directors and Alumnae members to apply by Sept. 30.)
• Tue. & Wed. October 16 & 17  (MANDATORY) New directors interviews
• Sat., Nov. 3, 2018: (MANDATORY) Creative Exchange: directors meet playwrights
• Dec. 3, 4, 5, 6, 2018: (MANDATORY) Attend your play’s cold reading on one of these dates
• Jan. 5-9, 2019: (MANDATORY) Attend Festival auditions according to your casting needs
• Sun., Jan. 27, 2019: Rehearsals begin
• Wed March 6 to Sun March 24, 2019: New Ideas Festival. Each show runs one week.

 
NIF Provides the Following:

• Stage managers, technical crew, and front of house staff
• Festival auditions presenting a large pool of actors
• Rehearsal space, performance space
• Promotional materials and publicity
• Access to Alumnae Theatre’s wardrobe, props, and sets
• A collaborative process with the playwright to continue developing a new work with actors and a dramaturg (if requested)
• A supportive place for directors to experiment and hone their skills
• Production guidelines and mentorship that get all the plays and dozens of performers successfully from audition to rehearsal to stage

 
New Ideas Festival does not pay fees, royalties, or a box office share to participants. Alumnae Theatre Company retains creative discretion over the festival as a whole. The focus of the festival is script development, so technical requirements for the plays are kept to a minimum.
 
NIF is an exciting opportunity to work one-on-one with a playwright to develop a new work.

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CALL for ​​​Director/Producer ​Pitches and/or Pitch-a-Package

The Alumnae Mainstage Programming Committee for the 2019-20 season is looking for submissions from members and member teams.  Is there a play you want to direct or produce on our mainstage? 

• Are you a director who is interested in pitching a play about which you are passionate?
• Are you able to form a director/producer team (designers and SM's) with other Alumnae members?
• Are you a solo producer interested in producing one of the plays on our shortlist? 

We want to hear from you!
​
This year we are offering the following options for directors or director/producer teams:
1 - Pitch to direct a play from our shortlist of plays (directors may pitch for more than one play)
2 - Pitch to direct a play of your choosing that fits our criteria
3 - Do both!​
​
Shortlist of Plays for Pitching:
The committee has shortlisted the following plays as ones that we are interested to see produced on the ATC mainstage.  Please e-mail Nicole Arends at nicolearends@yahoo.ca if you would like a PDF of any or all of these plays for reading.

• The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein
• Albertine in Five Times by Michel Tremblay
• The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote
• Age of Arousal by Linda Griffiths
• The Vibrator Play (or In the Next Room) by Sarah Ruhl

 
Play Pitch-a-Package:
If you are interested in suggesting and pitching a play that is not on our shortlist, please adhere to the following criteria:

• The play should meet our overall mandate:  “The Alumnae Theatre Company is dedicated to the production of adventurous, high-quality theatre not readily seen elsewhere, and to the promotion and skill development of women in theatre.” 
• Working theme: Women's Stories (exploration of female narratives)
• The play should have strong/prominent roles for women
• The play should have medium to large-sized casts (5+ actors)
• The play should have 50%+ roles for women
• The play should be relevant to today and to our audiences
• We are looking for plays or playwrights with public recognition to help bring in audiences
• Preference will be given to previously produced or published plays

 
Submission Requirements:

• Your contact information
• Your CV
• Name of play and playwright
• Where the playwright is from (e.g. Canadian, American, British etc)
• Year the play was written
• Your casting breakdown (e.g. 4 females, 2 males = 6 total)
• PDF of play - for the committee to read before your pitch/interview (for Pitch-a-Packages only)

Expressions of interest should be sent to Nicole Arends at nicolearends@yahoo.ca by September 30, 2018. 

Written outline and one-on-one pitch coaching sessions:

• Before you meet with us, please send a brief one or two page written outline of why you want to direct this play, why you believe it is relevant to present it in our season, and what themes or elements of the piece you feel should be emphasized in the production.  (Due Oct 31, 2018)
• During the month of October as you prepare your verbal pitch, Barbara Larose will be available to do a one-on-one pitch coaching session with you.  This is optional - but it will allow you an opportunity to hone your pitching skills and to refine your pitch preparations. 

Pitch guidelines for your in-person pitch/interview:
20 minutes each - including questions from the panel
To take place in November 2018 - dates TBD

• Share with us your understanding of the play and its key themes.
• Tell us why you’ve chosen this play.  What is it that has inspired you?  If you have a feeling about the play, or an idea of how it should be shown, tell us your vision. 
• If it is helpful to you, include sketches, pictures, fabric samples, colour swatches, music clips, or any other inspirational elements to illustrate your ideas.

• What is the climax of the play? What should be the effect of the climax on the audience?
• How is the play structured? How does each scene flow into the next?
• What will be the style of your production?
• Include a description of how you will structure your auditions and rehearsals and how you will work with the actors, designers and production staff.
• Regarding rehearsals:  How will you break down the script? What are your deadlines?
• What kind of set is necessary?
• How will sound, lighting and costume design feed into your production?
• Let us know of other members of the Alumnae Theatre who want to work with you on the project.  Do you have anyone in mind for particular technical positions and why?
• Tell us why you think this play is a great fit for the Alumnae Theatre’s 2019/2020 Season.

Skills Needed:
There are three important skills that a director or producer should have that are not strictly related to the theatre. Please give some examples of where you showed these traits in your past experience (theatre or otherwise). 

• People skills which includes patience; the ability to clearly communicate your ideas with others; knowing when to listen; and, especially, allowing your opinions to be affected and/or changed by what you hear.
• Organizational skills, meaning the ability to pull many disparate people and tasks together and make a production happen.
• The ability to compromise.  In this context, it means that you know how to effectively and creatively compromise your vision of the story without compromising the story itself.

 
Reminders:
Alumnae Theatre Company offers emerging theatre artists, established theatre professionals, and theatre lovers the opportunity to work side by side in the production of a full season of plays in our beautiful theatre in downtown Toronto. We are a volunteer-run organization that creates high quality shows on a lean, mean budget that follow our mandate to produce works which offer strong roles for women and works that are not often seen in Toronto. We need to know that you will be able to work within the confines of an amateur company with a small budget and to work in a team approach with the producer ensuring that the production stays on budget and the director ensuring that the play stays on vision while dealing creatively with the limitations that a small budget requires. 

Timeline:
September 30, 2018     Deadline for pitch submissions
October 2018                 One-on-one pitch coaching sessions take place
October 31, 2018          Deadline for written outline
November 2018             Pitch/Interviews take place
December 2018             Decisions made - all candidates will be contacted

Contact:
If you have any questions, please contact Nicole Arends at nicolearends@yahoo.ca

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