Invitation to high school drama teachers and drama students to attend our Mainstage Show, The Trials.

We are thrilled to invite you to a special invited dress rehearsal of our Mainstage Show The Trials written by Dawn King and directed by Andrew Kushnir on March 6, 2024, from 10am to 1pm at the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies(CDTPS) at the University of Toronto. The show will be performed by our fourth-year students at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse located at 79 St. George Street in the heart of downtown Toronto, the central hub for many of our classes, gatherings and performances.  

The Trials examines the current climate emergency and intergenerational conflict as a group of children act as jurors and judge the generations before them that have left a legacy of environmental issues.   

Director Andrew Kushnir is an award-winning playwright, director, and activist who lives in Toronto. He is artistic director of the socially engaged theatre company Project: Humanity, a leading developer of verbatim theatre in Canada. His work has especially been supported by Tarragon Theatre, The Theatre Centre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Summerworks, Canadian Stage, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, the Stratford Festival of Canada and Crow’s Theatre. He is a Loran Scholar and the inaugural recipient of the Shevchenko Foundation’s REACH prize. Read more about Andrew.   

By attending our Mainstage Show, we are excited for you and your senior year students to see the culmination of training, tutelage and experience CDTPS students gain during their four years within a world-class university. Our undergraduate program, with the option to gain a drama specialist, major or minor Bachelor of Arts degree, offers interdisciplinary courses and rigorous practical training. Along with courses in theatre and performance theory and history, dramatic literature, dramaturgy, technology, and practice-based lab courses, the CDTPS offers introductory and advanced studio courses in acting, production, design, directing, and playwriting. 

Additional program highlights include:   

• Specialized education in the field of performance, emerging technologies and AI; 
• International research and internationally renowned researchers;  
• Faculty members who are active creators in the theatre industry;  
• Professional networking and international opportunities;  
• Five different streams that students can pursue individually or in combination (acting, directing, playwriting, production & design, performance & technology);   
• Small classroom settings allowing for enhanced interaction between instructors and students;   
• Opportunities for students to meet some of the best scholars and artists in the world;   
• Workshops and talks with internationally renowned guest artists;  
• International theatre trips and summer courses abroad; and  
• Opportunities to get involved in campus theatre, the Hart House Drama Festival and the U of T Spotlight Playwriting competition.  

Many of our students graduate with a diverse foundation having combined majors in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences, including English, Women and Gender Studies, Cinema Studies, Sexual Diversity Studies, Art History, Classics, Religion, Anthropology, Canadian Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Human Biology, Computer Science, Cognitive Science and more. There is no better place to get your start! 

If you would like to attend this event, please respond by filling out the following RSVP form, which will ask you to include the estimated number of senior year students you plan to bring. As we have approximately 65 seats in the house, those who respond to this invitation by or before Feb. 4, 2024 will be accommodated on a first come first served basis.

If you have any questions, you can contact us by email at dramacentrecommunications.cdtps@utoronto.ca or call 416-978-7987. 

If you would like to learn more about our program, please also read our undergraduate program brochure. 

We hope to see you there! 

Kathleen Gallagher,  
Director, Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies 

Seika Boye,  
Associate Director, Undergraduate, Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies