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Welcome to the NAC’s first radio play series: Irresistible Neighbourhoods
September 9, 2024When NAC English Theatre Associate Producer Judi Pearl approached me about co-producing a series of radio plays, I was thrilled. My love for radio drama dates back to my teenage years, when I first tuned into CHUM Radio to listen to Theatre of the Mind. What makes radio drama so…
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Honouring Walter Borden – A celebration of a Canadian theatre icon
September 26, 2023We are eagerly counting down the days until we can unveil Walter Borden’s masterpiece, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time, at the NAC this fall. You may recall that the original performance, slated for February 2022, had to be cancelled due to protests in downtown Ottawa. But Walter and the…
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Workshopping the Movement of Fall On Your Knees
January 13, 2023National Arts Centre English Theatre, Vita Brevis Arts, Canadian Stage, Neptune Theatre and Grand Theatre are preparing for unprecedented partnership that will bring the world premiere stage adaptation of the Canadian classic Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald to four cities –…
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Audition Call: Children’s Chorus of I Forgive You
November 4, 2022Deadline for video auditions: November 21st, 2022 Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland and the National Arts Centre English Theatre are looking for child/youth singers in the national capital region for the upcoming play, I Forgive You, being presented at the NAC in Ottawa in March 2023. This…
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Black Theatre Workshop’s Artist Mentorship Program Showcase
June 30, 2022On June 3 and 4, AMP (the Artist Mentorship Program) based out of Black Theatre Workshop, presented their annual Industry Showcase, in partnership with NAC English Theatre. AMP, is a six to seven-month program offered to emerging artists at the beginning of their careers. The mission is…
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A fond farewell to Heather Moore
May 18, 2022Heather Moore has always felt like she had the best job in the world. As Executive Producer of the National Creation Fund, and before that of the NAC’s biennial Scenes festivals, she got to learn about Canada through its artists. “It has been a privilege to work with so many Canadian…
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Finding Our Light - World Theatre Day
March 23, 2021On this World Theatre Day, NAC Indigenous, English and French Theatres join with artists and audiences from coast to coast to coast to celebrate the many exciting ways theatre stories have been shared during the past year of profound change. On stage and off, we are finding our…
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NAC English Theatre Brings Together Artists and Audiences to Reimagine Theatre for...
August 24, 2020As part of its response to the escalating climate crisis —and in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic— the National Arts Centre hosted an extraordinary three-day/three-country digital experiment to explore how artists and arts institutions can rethink their practice and programming in…
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The show must go on, even for an audience of six
May 13, 2020Jillian Keiley, Artistic Director of NAC English Theatre, and the cast and crew of Copenhagen were in their final days and nights of tech week. It’s an intense period when a production shifts from the rehearsal hall to the theatre. Sixteen hour days are the norm. So is adrenaline,…
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Renewing the NAC’s Performance Halls and Production Facilities
July 3, 2018A few hours after the artists performing at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award left the Southam Hall stage, construction workers began work on a project that will dramatically improve the NAC’s performance halls and production facilities. Much of the NAC’s production equipment is…
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The journey is the destination: Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified...
October 5, 2017Over the past couple of months, the name Sir John A Macdonald and the question of whether he should be revered or vilified have been widely discussed in the media, sparking numerous debates across the country in regards to one of Canada’s most important historical figures. Commissioned by…
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The Story behind the Story: Robert Chafe’s Chance Encounter
February 13, 2017Attending pre-performance chats and donor previews are one of the many benefits donors receive when they support performance, creation and learning across Canada through the National Arts Centre Foundation. On January 26, National Arts Centre Foundation supporters attended an informative…
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Belles Soeurs: The Musical - wanting it all for free
May 5, 2016Working-class housewife Germaine Lauzon wins one million trading stamps and invites family and friends over to celebrate. But pride and greed soon lead to envy. The women complain aggressively, overshare shamelessly, fantasize freely while they secretly covet Germaine’s precious…
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BOOM: the cultural heartbeat of a generation
March 1, 2016BOOM chronologically documents a historical period stretching from that first ‘boom’ of the Atomic Bomb in 1945 all the way to the Apollo 11 landing the first human beings on the Moon in 1969. These two iconic moments span 25 of the most tumultuous years in modern history, fuelled by a…
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Setting up the Play: Donor Pre-Chats
February 3, 2016One of the many benefits of supporting performance, creation and learning across Canada through the National Arts Centre Foundation is having the opportunity to attend donor pre-chats to listen to the artists discuss their craft first-hand. On Thursday, January 21, 2016, donors joined NAC…