The Festival acknowledges its history of colonizing culture and is working diligently to understand its complicity in unjust systems that have excluded many from participating fully in the work on our stages. We are committed to continuously evolving our understanding of equity, inclusion and anti-racism and we acknowledge that the work of reconciliation is an ongoing journey. The Workshop actively seeks to partner with artists from equity-seeking groups and theatre makers whose talent, energy, commitment and creativity will shape the future of theatre, both at the Festival and across the country.
Mission Statement
The Langham Directors' Workshop seek the most promising directing talent and provides them with fertile ground to explore, play, and hone their craft. The Workshop endeavours to help cultivate the directors' interests, refine their aesthetics, and enable them in creating inspired and boundary-pushing work – not only for the Stratford Festival's stages, but across the globe.
The Program
We are committed to finding directors working in all types of theatre who wish to share their knowledge and skills at the Festival. We offer emerging and mid-career directors the opportunity to explore directing innovative Shakespeare and classical works, birthing new plays with Canada's finest playwrights, helming large-scale productions and working in a large institution. Throughout these explorations, we hope to provide mentorship opportunities, grow networks, hone artistic skills and provide space for authentic creative exploration.
- Participants will work as Assistant or Associate Directors on Festival productions. Responsibilities include working closely with Stage Management to assist on understudy rehearsals.
- Participants will attend regular group meetings, scheduled during the season, in order to meet special guest artists and talk with fellow Langham participants and program alumni. Participants can propose subjects they are interested in exploring in addition to sharing their experiences and expertise with one another.
- Participants will take part in a week-long intensive, near the end of September, curated specifically to add to their directorial "toolkit" and to expand the Festival's creative horizons. Programming will consist of masterclasses, panel discussions and other creative workshop – all devised with input from participants.
- Participant will complete the Directors' Workshop Presentations, the culminating project where directors choose and direct a scene/project that best represents their aesthetic, usually held in the Studio Theatre in October (3 weeks).
Special care will be taken in pairing Langham participants with directors of productions. The participants' specific interests and the director's requirements will be taken into account. Both the participants and the director must agree to work together. Participants will be on site full-time – from the first day of rehearsal until the opening or the understudy run of the show, whichever comes later. There will be additional design and production meetings occurring before the official residency in Stratford. Participants return to the Festival in the fall for the one-week intensive and then to direct their chosen piece (chosen with guidance from the Langham Program) at the Directors' Workshop Presentation for an invited audience.
Participants can take advantage of everything the Stratford Festival offers: tours, special events, tickets to production, the Festival's Archives and libraries, company classes taught by the Festival's coaching staff, and both formal and informal opportunities to speak with senior staff and visiting artists.
Langham Directors are paid a fee, a housing subsidy and travel expenses.
The Workshop is open to Canadian citizens and permanent residents only.
Selection Process
Directors are chosen by application and/or recruitment. This is not an introductory training to directing. The program is designed for artists who have acquired a foundational training (either from a directing program, or a non-conventional, experiential learning process) and have a minimum of two years of professional theatre experience. The Festival is open to directors from every identity, region, discipline and area of Canadian theatre. We strongly encourage applicants who identify as First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Black, People of Colour, D/deaf, disabled and the 2SLGBTQ+ community. If you have specific requirements in terms of accessibility for the application or at your time at the Festival, please reach out so we can assist you further. langham@stratfordfestival.ca
Langham Directors are paid a fee, a housing
subsidy and travel expenses. Depending on the length of the rehearsal process
and other factors, fees for the Assistant /Associate Directors range from
$8,000-$10,000. The Directors’ Workshop
Presentation fee is approximately $2,500.
The Workshop is open to Canadian
citizens and permanent residents only.