ALumni Outreach: School Pride

by Christopher DiRaddo

After more than 40 years and over 1,300 graduates, the National Theatre School will finally have an official alumni association. Still in its early days, the association’s ad hoc committee has met several times over the past few months to brainstorm and organize. Members of this committee include Stephanie Alexander (Playwriting, 2003), Raoul Bhaneja, Stephanie Belding (Acting, 1994), Alan Bleviss (Acting, 1966), Shawn Campbell (Acting, 1996), John Dolan, Kristina Nicoll and Patrick J. O’Brien.

Raoul Bhaneja (Acting, 1996)

“I think you find when you enter the profession that there is an unofficial network of alumni which already exists,” says Bhaneja, who is in touch with close to 75% of his classmates. “It’s a bit like a game of telephone where you get messages passed on to you about what’s happening.”

He believes it has now come to a time in the School’s history where it is harder to keep a connection between the numerous alumni generations and the School. “The chance to hook alumni back with the School is invaluable. When you have 40 years of working professionals who have gone on to teach and work all over the world… when you have that resource, it is a no-brainer that those people be invited and encouraged to give back however they can.”

Bhaneja believes that this is an amazing opportunity to assemble and organize that unofficial network to a degree where it could not only help the School and its alumni, but also future graduates. “There is a huge pool of people who could continue to help and give back to the School in ways I don’t think people fully realize yet. I think it could really generate some interesting options,” he says, including putting alumni in touch with their old professors.

“I think we are all excited about the possibilities,” says Bhaneja speaking for the other members of the committee. “But the other understanding is that this is something that’s going to take some time… This group is going to try to form the bones of the organization and hopefully, very soon, extend an arm to the alumni.”

Patrick J. O’Brien (Technical Production, 1979)

“I think it’s a great idea,” says Patrick J. O’Brien, “particularly because we’re a group that tends to go off and do our own thing and not keep in contact with the people we went to school with, except when we happen to work with them.” O’Brien hasn’t had much contact with his classmates, namely because he never again worked in the theatre. After graduation, O’Brien worked as a props master for 12 years before becoming a producer of documentaries and variety shows for television.

“I think there are probably a lot of people like myself who would like to rekindle some of the friendships. When I heard that the School was making an effort to try and put together an alumni association, I thought this was great because we really need to be in touch with people from all across the country.”

O’Brien also thinks that alumni are indebted to the School and can help it by raising awareness of theatre throughout the country and by lobbying governments and private corporations to help fund not just the School but the arts in general. “I think there are a lot of graduates who are probably in a position now to do that kind of lobbying. I think graduates can also help current students establish career paths and provide them with advice and mentoring.”

Kristina Nicoll (Acting, 1986)

“I believe you have to put back. You can’t just take,” says Kristina Nicoll, who came from Nova Scotia to study at the NTS. “There wasn’t a lot happening in Nova Scotia when I left to come to the National Theatre School… I’ll always remember the first day that I arrived at the School and there was a party in the courtyard. The party was thrown as a welcome and I will never forget feeling for the first time in my life that I was home.”

Nicoll found her experience of going to school in Montreal as an English Canadian extraordinary, and she is passionate about passing that message on. “An alumni association would be working for the School because alumni have a love for it and their experience at the School was fantastic; they think it was the best training and feel that there is nothing else like it because it embraces and celebrates the two cultures.”

Nicoll sees that the business has changed a lot within the last 10 to 20 years. It has gotten bigger, and there are many more schools to compete with. “The NTS sets a very high standard in terms of artistic excellence, and it is my belief that this is what we all share no matter what school we went to, and what we all should be encouraging each other to go after. I believe the Alumni Association could quite possibly open up a dialogue of that nature, and being that we are the National Theatre School of Canada, we should be more proactive in that regard."

John Dolan (Acting, 1982)

“It’s hard to explain the feeling of affection we have for the School. For many of us it was a life-changing decision, a life-changing environment on many levels because we were going down another path, a path we were going to fight for.”

John Dolan hasn’t kept many links with the School or his classmates since his time at NTS. “Initially I did, and then we all went our separate ways.”

Dolan began to think an association was essential while he was working at Stratford, seeing so many NTS alumni coming through the Festival but not feeling connected anymore to what was going on in Montreal. “My initial jump into it was a need to see if there wasn’t a way to be part of it again, know what’s been happening, and see if we can be of any use because times are tougher.”

Dolan thinks an association could be a great help in raising the School’s profile and helping out emerging graduates, assisting them with the transition from student to professional. “The thing the graduates can offer is a contact, and we know that that first contact can make all the difference in the world. To have the opportunity of an introduction can be a huge boost for somebody, especially just at that moment they decide they can’t take it anymore.”

The association’s next step is to get an e-mail address and get online. “We have a wish list of things we want to accomplish. And I think now we have to think of ways we can get the alumni association started.”

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