Directing

Video produced by students Amanda Verhagen and Alina Cerminara.
Music thanks to the Sunday Buckets.

We believe that students learn about the art and craft of directing by directing. Our viewpoint is that a great theatre director is an artist who has extensive knowledge of the social, political, and artistic histories of world cultures. Students of directing are strongly encouraged to gain a broad liberal arts education in art history, philosophy and English.

We offer student directors the opportunity to develop their art and craft in the three most common architectural forms found in present-day Canadian theatre: thrust, proscenium and studio.

Excellent mentorship is provided by faculty artists and by the guest directors who are invited to the department every year.

Undergraduate

Courses at the undergraduate level prepare students for the study of directing and introduce them to some of the key issues of directing text-based theatre. Students will have the opportunity to direct and present scenes and, in some cases, one-act plays. In exceptional cases, self-directed projects, under faculty supervision, will be approved.

Inter-departmental studies are encouraged and the theatre school enjoys a strong relationship with the Department of Writing. Students will be provided with directing opportunities in the annual Studio Series which is produced in conjunction with the Department of Writing.

• list of required courses for the Directing specialization in the UVic Course Calendar.

Graduate

Graduate students should already have a substantial body of work in directing and acting as well as a strong background in dramatic literature and theory. The Master of Fine Arts in Directing will expand their practical and philosophical vocabulary.

Graduate students will direct two fully-staged productions in the Phoenix season’s Festival of Innovative and New Drama (FIND) over the two years of the MFA program. Opportunities to direct two classroom projects of works from the classical and modern canons are offered, and students will receive one-on-one supervision in all the artistic disciplines combined in the art of directing.