EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE
By Craig Wrotniak
Happy New Year to all our amazing members! The Regional STAR Fest saw much growth across the country, and that required our attention from mid-November through December. However, we have been working hard in all areas, and have some exciting updates to share below. This includes expanding teacher support, opportunities for individual drama students, and opportunities for your drama program to join us at the National STAR Fest!
DTSS – Drama Teacher Support System
We have already started on our goal to take the support and the sense of community that you get at Teachers’ Conference, and make them last all year long, with an enhanced DTSS (Drama Teacher Support System), including the following programs:
a.) Our Production Resources Program has opened up, with a prop and theatrical equipment rental program on the West coast. We have taken over the legendary Vancouver Playhouse Prop Collection! The Vancouver Playhouse was one of several “regional theatre companies” created across the country in the early 1960s, to give a boost to the beginnings of professional theatre in Canada. Sadly, the company folded in 2012, due to financial difficulties. However, its prop collection is still intact and is over 60 years old, and our acquisition of it takes to the next level the whole matter of theatre props for our schools. All active TAEA STAR troupes can have access to up to $300 worth of free prop rentals per school year! Follow the link above, for fine print and details.
We are also looking at a costume rental program in the Greater Toronto Area and other regions, as we find assets that can benefit our schools. We will post more updates as we find more resources to share.
b.) Our Mentorship Matching Program has now opened up. This program links professionals across the country, who can serve as mentors or mentees to other members. These include drama / theatre instructors (both practising and retired), university students, teaching artists, and members of the professional theatre community. Again: for more info, click on the link in this paragraph.
c.) We have updated our Vendor Discount Codes. These codes offer our members discounts on such goods and services as theatre tickets, published scripts, licensing fees, theatre equipment, professional development resources, and playwrights’ royalties. One more time: click on the link!
d.) Our Teaching Resources Library has expanded! And in the next semester, we plan on continuing to add to the collection, in order to give you more drama teaching tools. We have sections for: Performance Resources, Stagecraft Resources, Playwriting Resources, New Teacher Resources, and Other Theatrical Arts Resources. By now, you know what to do.
e.) Our Zoom PD Recordings Library is fully up for this year. This time, when you click on the link, you’ll probably get a forbidding-looking screen that tells you that you can’t come in. In that case, enter this password: TAEA_National_Conference_2024. Then you’ll find recordings of Zoom meetings from last spring, on such subjects as the Meisner technique, vocal techniques, monologues, student festivals and programs, the director’s toolkit (those last two are my own Zoom meetings), the teaching of playwriting, scenic projections, monologues, stage lighting, and writing the 10-minute play.
f.) Our TAEA Leadership Development Program has also opened up. We want to provide opportunity for Canada’s most passionate drama / theatre teachers, who have an interest in becoming regional or provincial leaders in the TAEA, supporting the teaching of theatrical arts in Canada. “Leadership” might mean administering a STAR Drama Festival, or a gathering of teachers at our National Drama Teachers’ Conference – among other prospects. Our goal is to provide opportunities and mentorship to support you on your leadership journey with TAEA. Follow the link to the application form.
TAEA National Teaching Artists Directory
We are currently developing the last piece of the DTSS, which has not been set up yet, and that is the creation of a National Teaching Artists Directory. This will be a project for this semester, which we will share more, as we have updates. If you would like to help with building this project, please email me at craig@educationaltheatre.ca
National STAR Search – Deadline February 28th
Open to anyone in grades 6 through 12 who wants to submit recorded performance material as a virtual audition, to be viewed by 12 different agents and casting directors from across Canada. You can enter a submission for Film Acting and / or a submission for Voice-Over work. The cost to enter is $15.00. More details can be found by clicking HERE and then scrolling down.
Unified Post Secondary Auditions – Deadline February 28th
These auditions are open to grade 12 students, or students who have completed CÉGEP (Grade 13) in Quebec, and who want to go to a theatre or film school next year in any performance or technical program. Get your self-tape showcased to dozens of schools across Canada and the US. The cost to enter is $15.00. More details can be found by clicking HERE.
National STAR Fest –
Pre-Registration “Expression of Interest” Forms are Now Open
You can bring your students to National STAR Fest for two or three days, where they can attend workshops from industry experts in a wide variety of topics, watch their fellow students perform, offer their own performances (from short scenes or musical numbers to full plays), attend or participate in our Tech Olympics (a fun, competitive showcase for the skills and talents of young theatre technicians), and / or take part in scholarship auditions, multi-school devised-theatre and musical-theatre intensives, and closing ceremonies performances.
Your school / student performance opportunities include: Qualifying STAR Award Pieces advancing from Regionals, Wildcard STAR Award Pieces (up to three that do not require regional qualification), and One-Act Plays (with no qualification required). Last year we awarded over 1 million dollars of student scholarships across Canada! You won’t want to miss this! So please fill out the “Expression of Interest Form,” for your region, below. (Filling out this form does not obligate you to attend, or to attend in the numbers you submit: it’s a preliminary process to help us estimate how many participants we might expect. Also please note the deadline for filling out the form in your region.)
National STAR Fest West: April 24th to 26th at Douglas College, New Westminster BC
Pre-Registration Expression of Interest Form – HERE
National STAR Fest South: May 8th to 10th at Brock University, St. Catharines ON
Pre-Registration Expression of Interest Form – HERE
National STAR Fest East: May 16th to 18th at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa ON
Pre-Registration Expression of Interest Form – HERE
National STAR Fest Central: May 23rd to 25th at the University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg MB
Pre-Registration Expression of Interest Form – HERE
Looking forward to staying in touch throughout 2025! Keep breaking legs!!
Cheers – Craig Wrotniak (He/Him)
Executive Director – Theatrical Arts Education Association (TAEA)
Serving Teachers – Helping Students