Student Life: Making the Jump

by Christopher DiRaddo

A student’s final year at the National Theatre School (NTS) is much like the one most hope to find waiting for them upon graduation: full of steady work. Students work on a number of productions, sometimes juggling several at a time — planning, preparing and presenting. They work with professional directors, on professional stages, with real budgets and real equipment. The work is varied, ranging from classical to contemporary, and presented on stages both big and small. In many ways, the final year mirrors a professional one, giving students a taste of what is to come.

The Journal caught up with several of this year’s graduates, poised to launch into the choppy waters of the beginning of their professional careers, to see how they view their transition from student to success story.

“I’m not worried about getting a job,” says Technical Production graduate Janna-Marynn Brunnen, who has planned on taking some time off after graduation to relax. “My concern is more: ‘where do I want to work’, ‘what do I want to do. ’” Although at the time this article was written in February, Brunnen was still too busy to look for work after graduation, she was optimistic and excited about her choices as an NTS graduate. “The way the School is set up allows for stepping into the professional world. If it doesn’t happen right away you’ll work towards it.”

Brunnen hopes to find a transitional job first, preferring to work with smaller theatre companies or city festivals before landing a full-time job with a company. She feels the School has given her a good base and an invaluable versatility enabling her to hop onto any project and run with it. Also, all of Brunnen’s coaches during her years at the School have been people who work in the industry. “In a sense, we are working with people to who we will probably hand out resumes. We’ve already got our foot in the door.”

The question of whether or not to return home is on Toronto-born, Playwriting graduate Ivana Shein’s mind. “I want to move to a place where there’s a strong theatre community,” she says. “What’s so great about the School is that there are all of these people coming together who really love theatre and who have made the choice to do that with their lives. Once I graduate, I’m concerned about not having that support around me.”

Toronto and Montreal aren’t Shein’s only two options. She has been contemplating going to Africa to research her next play, Flirtation Dance, about the AIDS crisis. But Shein’s first step is to begin researching grants and to be a bit more diligent with sending out her work to competitions.

Shein has also recently begun to do some stand-up comedy, performing last year at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival. She’s excited about breaking out into the world. “I came here so I could have better chops and be better prepared for the professional world. Now I feel better prepared.”

Prepared is something graduating actor Gareth Potter also feels. Potter has already been in a number of plays outside the School, working during his summer breaks. Last year, he starred in Gravy Bath’s highly acclaimed Henry. October. 1970. After graduation, Potter hopes to continue working with Gravy Bath or do more Shakespeare.

“I really want to do classical theatre but there’s not a whole lot running throughout the year (in Montreal),” says Potter. Born in the Quebec Laurentians, one of Potter’s dreams is to train at the Stratford Conservatory. “If it all works out maybe I’ll be there in September and get to really do intense classical training for that short period of time, and then perhaps enter the company… or come back here to Montreal.”

He is excited about the possibilities he has as an NTS grad. “I think the School builds a lot of confidence,” he says. “Everything it offers us — the staff, the teachers who come in, the connections we can make — all this just opens up so many doors for the future.”

Graduating Scenography student Romain Fabre is counting on more than just his training at the School to get him work. He is also relying on an informal network of NTS grads and his classmates who look out for one another. “Alumni or other classmates often pass on contracts they cannot do,” he says. “There is an exchange system. There are also graduates who need assistance.”

If anything, Fabre is more concerned about making the right contacts outside the School. He feels that after working with all these great people during his three years at the School, he now needs to solidify his contacts in the real world, professionals like cutters and carpenters who he can bring with him to projects he is hired for. “There are some contacts we make while at the School, but they need to be taken further, renewed, and developed.”

Fabre has already lined up some small projects for after graduation. The important thing he feels he needs to do now is work as much as he can, regardless of the project. “There are different philosophies. Some people advise you not to accept everything you’re offered,” he says. “But it seems to me that the more we are known, the more we find work, and the more work we have, the better we are known.”

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