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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Crow’s Theatre 8th Annual RBC Rising Star Emerging Director Prize

Apr 4, 2022

Crow’s Theatre 8th Annual RBC Rising Star Emerging Director Prize

THE AWARD

Crow’s Theatre is proud to invite submissions for the eighth annual RBC Rising Star Emerging Director Prize. The prize encourages and celebrates outstanding early career directors and provides them with the opportunity to develop work and skills at Crow’s Theatre, as well as receive ongoing mentorship. 

Made possible by the RBC Emerging Artists Program, the prize supports an artist’s transition from ‘emerging’ to ‘established’ and is rooted in the belief that each new generation of artists requires support and encouragement. The RBC Emerging Artist Program reflects RBC’s long-standing investment into the arts and recognition of the role they play in creating vibrant communities and strong economies.

Launched in 2015, The RBC Rising Star Emerging Director Prize provides a $5,000 award to a Canadian emerging director, and the option to participate in a paid professional development residency at Crow’s Theatre, or access project development resources and mentorship. Three finalists will also be awarded a small cash prize in recognition of their outstanding submissions.

The award recipient and finalists will be selected by a jury of professional artists; Lucy Eveleigh, Jackie Maxwell, and Rouvan Silogix, who will consider the merits of the emerging director’s current body of work as well as how meaningful the prize and residency would prove to the director’s professional development. Past recipients of this prize are Zack Russell, Rebecca Northan, Sarah Kitz, Tom Arthur Davis and Jivesh Parasram, Alexandre Fecteau, Cherissa Richards, and Ryan Cunningham.

This prize and the Crow’s residency will recognize the creative potential of an up-and-coming theatre maker and provide the means to advance their practice.

 

AWARD GUIDELINES

Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents and practicing theatre directors for at least three years and no more than fifteen years. Directors of text-based or non-text-based work are invited to apply as well. Applicants must have at least two professional directing credits; productions at major curated theatre festivals (such as SummerWorks or The Next Stage Theatre Festival) will be accepted. The prize jury will consider the proposed residency’s level of ambition and its transformative

potential for the applicant. Equally important is the vision of the proposal and the applicant’s potential to realize the residency’s central project.

 

HOW TO APPLY:

Please fill out the application form here: APPLICATION FORM

Each applicant will be asked upload a nomination package (one pdf, 5mb limit) that should include:

  • An introductory letter that outlines the emerging director’s practice, experience, and personal vision. This letter is to be conceived as an artist statement that communicates the emerging director’s passion and the kind of art they are interested in creating. (one page)
  • A project proposal for either one or two projects to be considered for a Crow’s Theatre residency (the prize winner may ultimately choose to pursue different activities in consultation with Crow’s Theatre). The applicant should describe the proposed work-in-progress and their connection to it, its current phase of development, and in what way it could be served by the residency. (Whether the applicant chooses to put forward one or two projects, this component of the nomination package should still be limited to a total of one page.)
  • A copy of the applicant’s CV
  • One letter of support from a theatre professional
  • Contact information for a reference from a different theatre professional
  • A maximum of five pages of support material. This can include production stills, reviews, or materials relevant to the central project proposed in the application. In lieu of written materials, the applicant is welcome to submit a video link. The duration of the video should be no more than five minutes

*PLEASE TITLE ALL NOMINATION PACKAGES: FirstName_LastName_RBCEmergingDirectorPrize*

A shortlist of candidates will be interviewed by phone or Zoom in advance of a recipient being selected. We encourage applications from people of all abilities and alternate working conditions. For interested applicants who require accommodation on the application process, please contact us at info@crowstheatre.com or through any other channels including social media, our website, or by calling 647.341.7390.

The DEADLINE for all submissions is 11.59pm, May 27, 2022. The recipient will be announced summer 2022. Please direct questions to info@crowstheatre.com.

  

ABOUT CROW’S THEATRE

CROW’S THEATRE ignites passionate and enduring engagement between our audiences and artists by creating, producing, and promoting unforgettable theatre that examines and illuminates the pivotal narratives of our times. Founded in 1983, Crow’s Theatre has premiered over 50 new, daring, Canadian works, including the multiple-award-winning production of Brad Fraser’s Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love; John Mighton’s A Short History of Night, James O’Reilly’s Time After Time: The Chet Baker Project, Lee MacDougall’s High Life, Annabel Soutar’s The Watershed, and Julius Caesar and Tartuffe with Groundling Theatre Company and Canadian Stage.

In 2017, Crow’s Theatre opened the doors of its first permanent home, Streetcar Crowsnest, a new state of the art performance facility in Toronto’s East End.

Crow’s Theatre productions at Streetcar Crowsnest include The Wedding Party by Kristen Thomson; A&R Angels, a playwriting debut by Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene; The Boy in the Moon, Emil Sher’s adaptation of a beloved memoir by renowned journalist, Ian Brown; True Crime, a brilliant one man show by Torquil Campbell; Breath in Between, by celebrated Canadian playwright Anton Piatigorsky; The Emancipation of Ms. Lovely by Ngozi Paul; Ghost Quartet with Eclipse Theatre Company; The Flick with Outside the March; and a carefully curated selection of outstanding quality partner productions.

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