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No Strings Theatre News!
September 2015
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In This Issue
Breaking News!
Highlights from Last Season
This Season's Highlights!
Spotlight On: An Emerging Artist
Spotlight On: NST Alumni
Music Theatre Roundup: The Buzz
This Issue's Theatre Quiz
Contact and Link
Hello


Welcome to our new newsletter!   We will not only bring you news of our programs and events, but also keep you up to date with some of our directors, students and alumni, and let you know what's happening in and around our community.

Have a look at some of last season's highlight and get a sneak peek at what is coming down the pipe.

And, don't forget that you can connect with us socially through our links below if you have not already.

See you around!

Denise Williams
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Breaking News!
 
Audition Preparation Workshop series for teens - 9 classes, November 2015 - January 2016

Take better control of your auditions, and learn how to navigate them from beginning to end!  These sessions will offer valuable assistance to any music theatre performer who is looking ahead to auditions for secondary schools, post-secondary schools, or community and professional theatre roles. 

No Strings Theatre holds an over 90% audition success rate. We will help you identify and overcome the obstacles that may be standing between you and a successful audition!

The workshop series includes:

* Technical vocal considerations

* Choosing appropriate repertoire, including contrasting selections, and building an audition binder

* How to rehearse prior to an audition, dealing with nerves

* Preparing music for an audition pianist

* How to communicate with the pianist so you are able to make better music together!

* Wardrobe and etiquette

* Assistance with choosing and preparing monologues

Each session will end with a mock audition for a panel of industry professionals.

Workshops are scheduled for: (1.5 hours) November 7, 14, 21, 27 and December 5, 6, 12, 13 or 19; (3 hours) January 10, 17.  Only $496 for the whole session!
The number of participants will be limited. (Monthly sessions are also possible.)

Highlights from Last Season

10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Thank you Kumari Sade for the glorious cake!
 
On May 3, 2015, we celebrated No Strings Theatre's 10th Anniversary with an amazing concert at the Wychwood Barns, featuring Denise Williams and friends, Susan Cuthbert, Gary Beals, Nicole Brooks, Shaina Sammone,  Quisha Wint, along with NST students and alumni and pianist William Shookhoff.  A big thank you to our sponsors, silent auction donors, and community partners, including the Canadian Opera Company (COC), Tafelmusik, Designs by Nature Gems, Tarragon Theatre, Long & McQuade, Steam Whistle, Wordplay Creative Services, Hart House Theatre, Soulpepper, Factory Theatre, the Shaw Festival.... a full list is on our website.
Stephane Gaudet as Leaf Coney Bear and Alene Degian as Marcy Parks
EAP
This past June, the members of our new No Strings Theatre Emerging Artists Program staged their first show: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  The production was a great success, selling out 2 out of 3 shows, and we were delighted to welcome all the participants to our No Strings Theatre family.  Find more pics on line.....

This year, we are excited to be expanding the EAP to include cabaret performances, two musical productions, and a staged script reading, under the co Artistic Direction of our new Associate Artistic Director and Producer, Dane Shumak.
 
PATRONS' MUSICAL GARDEN PARTY

Opera, Art Songs, Steel Pan -A very classical event for our Patrons on August 20, 2015.











Our 2015 summer show?? We did miss this and plan for it's return in our 2016 season.  Do look out for summer program and production announcements.
This Season's Highlights!       

The No Strings Theatre Holiday Festival 
December 20, 2015, 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm
Artscape Wychwood Barns

Amahl and the Night Visitors
(left-right, Lawrence Cotton, Balthazar; Mark Rainey, Kaspar; Norman Brown, Melchior)
It's official! We can now confirm that this December we will be bringing back one of our favourite events. Our production of Amahl and the Night Visitors has become a Toronto holiday tradition, and this year, our production will be even better! Amahl will now be part of our new No Strings Theatre Holiday Festival.  Our in-concert performance of Gian Carlo Menotti's beloved one-act opera will be followed by an amazing lineup of musicians and singers - including No Strings Theatre students and alumni - performing holiday favourites.  We're very excited because for the first time, we will be staging the show at our home, the Artscape Wychwood Barns ... and we have a few fun surprises in mind!

Auditions 
If you would like to be part of this production, watch our website for information about upcoming solo auditions (specific roles) and chorus auditions for all ages starting October 18th. And mark the date!
 
Tweens and Teens  
Fall Audition Preparation Workshop Series -November 2015- January 2016
Creative Writing and Free Workshops -Spring 2016
March Break and Summer Music Theatre Intensives

Emerging Artists Program 
Yes, you did read that correctly, No Strings Theatre is pleased to introduce to you this season, our new Associate Artistic Director and Producer, Dane Shumak.  Dane, an emerging artists himself, has training and experience in performing, directing, producing, and business management, and will be working alongside Denise, but specifically on expanding the EAP program.....more info on Dane will appear in our next issue.  In the  meantime, here is a peak of what Dane and Denise are cooking up for this EAP season......

Winter Production - The Last Five Years, Jason Robert Brown
February Cabaret - "Fall in Love at No Strings Theatre"
March New Work Script Reading -submissions welcome (more details pending)
May Spring Mentorship Production - TBA

Look out for Audition announcements!

Other 
Spring and Summer Pit orchestra  
 
Stay tuned for more details on these programs in our next monthly newsletter!


News on our website!

We are getting ready to launch a completely new look for our website, with a fresh, clean user experience. We'll announce the launch of the new site on our Facebook page, so please be sure to visit and check it out.
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Spotlight On: An Emerging Artist

Charlotte Knight

  This past June, the members of our new No Strings Theatre Emerging Artists Program staged their first show: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The production was a great success, and we were delighted to welcome all the participants to our No Strings Theatre family.  Soprano Charlotte Knight delighted audiences as the Spelling Bee moderator Rona Lisa Peretti. An accomplished classical singer and a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with an Honours degree in Voice, Charlotte's studies have taken her to the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, the Vancouver Summer Opera Studio, the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop, and Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, to name just a few. Recent stage roles include her work with Toronto Operetta Theatre as Cecily in Earnest, The Importance of Being and Hanna in Cousin From Nowhere; Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème with The Opera Project in Vancouver; and Le Feu in Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges with the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy.

And what has Charlotte been doing since Spelling Bee? Well, she just won the Shaw Festival's "Do Your Best Doolittle" Contest - you can click here to watch!

For her wonderful Eliza impression, Charlotte won tickets to the Shaw Festival's production of Pygmalion, with an opportunity to meet the cast, a trip to the Spa at White Oaks, and a swag bag full of Shaw Festival goodies!  
 
You can see Charlotte next in Toronto Operetta Theatre's HMS Pinafore. Congratulations, Charlotte! We hope to see you back at No Strings Theatre soon!
 
Spotlight On: NST Alumni

Many of our No Strings Theatre students go on to post-secondary programs related to theatre and music.  This September, it's back to college and university for many NST
alumni, including:

Meredith Jonatan, York University, Devised Theatre Program

Mary Askwith, Brock University, Dramatic Arts Department, Theatre Praxis

Michael Spiroff, Manne School of Music, New York, Music Composition

Anique Mercier, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Theatre

more student updates and details will be posted on line this season .....
 
Music Theatre Roundup: The Buzz



September 27, 2015, was a great day for music theatre fans in NYC, because that was the date of the very first Elsie Fest!  This brand-new open air festival showcased an
amazing lineup of Broadway performers, for one show only.  Headliners included Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal, Catch Me If You Can), Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon, Les Miserables), Laura Osnes (Cinderella), Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton), and - of course - festival organizer Darren Criss and Starkid!

Speaking of Darren Criss, on September 13 he joined fellow Hedwigs Neil Patrick Harris and Taye Diggs for the final Broadway curtain call of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, along with the amazing Lena Hall (Yitzhak).  Hedwig ran on Broadway for a surprising 76 weeks, with Andrew Rannells, Michael C. Hall, and creator John Cameron Mitchell also donning the iconic wig in the lead role.  If you missed it, you'll just have to travel a bit farther for another chance: the show will be opening again on London's West End.  No word yet on casting.
 
What our partners are up to! 
 
PERFORMANCE MASTERCLASS SERIES FOR ADULTS Tuesdays September 29-November 17 with Denise Williams and Kate Carver

Voices of Colour Music is excited to debut this Fall a Solo Performance Workshop for experienced adult singers who wish to:
  • Improve their performance skills in a safe and encouraging environment with a built in supportive audience of other singers
  • Develop performance-ready repertoire of their choosing
  • Share their progress with classmates over the course of the workshop
  • Share what they've accomplished with family and friends in an informal recital at the end of the Workshop
  • Audition for the December No Strings Theatre opera presentation (Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors) and/or solo/group performance that follows
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William Shookhoff is off to a dynamic start with Mozart's Impressario
Check out the full season......
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has just celebrated their 25th anniversary.  Stay tuned for new on 
joint programming with NST.
 
If you are one of our partners, let us know what you are up to and we would be pleased to post as we are able or link you on our website.
This Issue's Theatre Quiz

Can you tell us what character inspired the name for Darren Criss's Elsie Fest? First correct answer by email to directors@nostringstheatre.com wins 2 tickets to the No Strings Theatre Holiday Festival on December 20th 2015. 

OUR PARTNERS 

 

YOUR AD CAN GO HERE AND REACH OVER 1000 SUBSCRIBERS!
CALL US........

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No Strings Theatre, is dedicated to the education and promotion of the performing arts in the community.   Our youth music theatre programs are aimed at youths ages 13-21, to develop professional skills in singing, acting, and dancing, through working with industry professionals in the field.
No Strings Theatre
is a not-for-profit registered charity in Canada, registration number 80104 2409 RR0001.

 

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CONTACT INFORMATION 
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Phone: 416-551-2093
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Editors
Catherine Marjoribanks
Bronwen Nicolson
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