Department of Dramatic Arts (DART) at Brock University invites you to attend and successfully complete one of two Invitationals after you receive your conditional offer of admission to the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Dramatic Arts or Bachelor of Arts (Honours)/Dramatic Arts Concurrent Education programs. The Invitationals take place in St. Catharines.

The Invitational is part of the admissions process for students interested in entering the Department of Dramatic Arts.

Whereas most drama programs ask you to prepare a classical monologue and give you a two-minute opportunity to “impress the judges,” we will be taking you through a series of workshops, which will allow you to develop some introductory skills as well as an original piece of theatre you will have created with peers.

The purpose of the DART Invitational is to attract students who are well suited to our program. You are more likely to succeed in our program if you are making an informed decision to join us based on the unique skill set our program will foster in you. DART seeks to graduate students with an integrated knowledge of all four of the concentrations we offer, while giving you the opportunity to gain specialized knowledge in one chosen area of study. Through our program’s emphasis on “praxis” – the integration of theory and practice – you will acquire the skill set to analyze, synthesize, theorize, devise, and collaborate in a broad range of situations – from the stage to the classroom to the public sphere – and move fluidly through different disciplines of theatre study.

Beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker Theatre and running to 5 p.m. (tour and information fair at 4:15 p.m.), all participants will be taken through a range of workshops, each focused around concentrations of study our program offers: Performance, Creation, Design and Production and Concurrent Education. Each of these workshops will use the play Antigone as the basis for a series of exercises. In the afternoon, you will be invited to apply the range of skills you have acquired in the morning. Using the lines, images, or objects each participant has brought in response to the play you will collaboratively create your own original piece of theatre for presentation at the end of the day.

Workshops, brainstorming, and rehearsal sessions will be broken up by snack and lunch breaks (snacks and lunch provided). You will also receive a brief introduction to the program and to the exciting opportunities available to you throughout your degree. Throughout the day’s events, you will have an opportunity to meet some of the program’s faculty and staff, current students, as well as recent graduates of the program.  The DART Invitational will be a welcoming, exhilarating, and memorable event for all participants.

No. This workshop will give you a sampling of the range of courses of study our program offers. You may find that the experience will help you identify what your interests are.

In advance of the workshop, participants will be asked to do the following:

Read Sophocles’ Antigone (442 BCE). We are recommending a translation by Ian Johnstone available on-line at:
http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/sophocles/antigonehtml.html and as a PDF file.
After reading the play, participants will be asked to bring the following three items with them to the Invitational:

1. Two to four consecutive lines from the play that are important or meaningful to the participant.
2. An image or object that resonates with the play or captures a personal response to the play.
3. A one-page reflection paper on the play that identifies a theme found in the play. After Identifying a theme, please identify three instances in the play which support your theme and discuss why your chosen theme is important to you. Please use clear, concise, concrete language and format your paper to be single-spaced, typed in Times New Roman 12 pt font.

All written work should be your own. Plagiarism occurs when you submit material, in whole or in part, that is not your own work without citing the source. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence.

You may not use Artificial Intelligence to generate your written work. We will only make offers of admission to students who express their own ideas in their own words. We are interested in reading your thoughts and experiences, not somebody else’s.

When must you give credit? You must give credit (cite), when you use another person’s ideas, opinion, theory, facts, statistics, etc., or any information that is not considered common knowledge.

For the purposes of the DART Invitational there is no requirement to include or refer to secondary sources in your written material (e.g., on-line articles, notes, reviews). However, if you do you must correctly cite these sources using the MLA citation style and use quotation marks where appropriate (see for example the MLA Style Quick guide found on this page: http://researchguides.library.brocku.ca/styleguides/mla .)

If in doubt, contact our office at dramatic@brocku.ca

Other Important Things to know:

When we schedule an Invitational Workshop Event we plan for an active day, requiring you to move around.  We ask that you wear loose, comfortable and neutral clothing including plain, black pants. You must wear a plain, white, short sleeved T-Shirt to the DART Invitational. On the FRONT and the BACK of your T-Shirt write your preferred first name followed by your last name, in Permanent BLACK Marker in letters that measure at least 6 inches. Your first name should be above your last name in 2 lines. This will help everyone to refer to you by name. You may also indicate your preferred pronoun.

We also recommend that you avoid wearing jewelry, particularly dangly earrings, rings, bracelets, etc., that could get caught on other people’s clothing as you work.

You may want to bring a water bottle to keep hydrated for the Invitational Workshop Event, but lunch and snacks will be provided. When you book your placement in the workshop, please inform dramatic@brocku.ca of any dietary restrictions.

Our program is modeled on the collaborative, ensemble framework one encounters in the professional theatre world. Successful completion of the workshop, therefore, will be determined on the basis of the criteria necessary to succeed within that framework. Attention will be paid to participants’ abilities to:

• work in a creative and collaborative way within an ensemble
• engage analytically and creatively with the assigned play
• listen well and engage thoughtfully with others’ contributions and responses to the play
• respond well to artistic and academic challenges, as well as constructive criticism or feedback
• Engage in physical theatre work with focus and awareness

We are particularly interested in students who are eager to develop themselves both artistically and intellectually in a university context. Your one-page reflection paper on the play Antigone is an opportunity for us to become familiar with your abilities to engage with and write thoughtfully on a work of dramatic literature – skills that will be developed as you work through a university degree.

Once you have received your conditional offer of admission please register and reserve your spot for the DART Invitational.

There is a registration fee of $100.00 which includes materials, snack, refreshments and lunch. Payment is made when you register online.

Even when you are preparing a monologue for an audition, you need to read the play from which the monologue is taken in order to convey that you have a rich and fully developed sense of the character you are representing. It is often glaringly apparent when a student has not read the full play, since he or she is unable to convey the broader story of the character’s conflict, circumstances, and journey in the monologue. In the case of the DART Invitational workshops, this fuller knowledge of the play and its conflicts is crucial, since the play will be the basis of the scenes you will develop with your peers, as well as the workshop exercises.

It’s also important to keep in mind that a university degree in Dramatic Arts requires that you read and write critically about works of dramatic literature, as well as historical and theoretical texts about the theatre. Your one-page reflection will allow you to convey to us your thoughts and interpretations of the play and demonstrate that you are prepared to undertake writing, reading, and critical reflection assignments required through the course of your university studies.

All participants will receive a results email from the Department within 1-2 weeks of participating in the workshop. The Department will also notify the Admissions Office of the result. The Admissions Office will extend an offer to your program as soon as you are deemed academically eligible.

Contact the Department of Dramatic Arts at dramatic@brocku.ca to book a Personal Alternate Interview.

International applicants:
You are invited to contact the department to schedule an alternate Invitational experience. This may include the submission of:

• a video portfolio,
  • an interview by Skype, Zoom or similar,
  • a letter of reference,
  • the assignments we ask students to complete at the DART Invitational.

For details please contact the Department of Dramatic Arts at dramatic@brocku.ca to book a Personal Alternate Interview.

If you are able to attend the in-person invitational, you are not required to schedule a personal alternate interview.

For those of you who cannot attend in-person and have been approved for a personal alternate interview:
We look forward to meeting you online.  In order to have a successful interview please check BEFORE the interview date that Zoom will operate properly for you. Please ensure that you have organized good illumination so that we can see you well, and that your microphone is operating properly so that we can hear you well.  Present yourself as you normally would.  Business casual attire is not required. Please contact us if you require an accommodation of any kind – we will do our best to arrange. What is most important is that we have an opportunity to learn from you, about you and your learning objectives and long-term goals in a way that accurately presents who you are and what you hope to accomplish during your studies at Brock University.  We also look forward to answering any questions you may have about us and the program.

When you request a Personal Alternate Interview, if approved, we will send you instructions to schedule and prepare for the Interview.

The interview will be scheduled at a time convenient to the Applicant and the Department. Time-zone differences will be considered when scheduling the interview.

The interview will consist of a one-hour video-conference on Zoom and will include one faculty from the DART program. A link will be sent to you prior to the interview.

To prepare for the Invitational interview you are required to:

1. Read Sophocles’ Antigone (442 BCE). We are recommending a translation by Ian Johnstone available on-line at: http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/sophocles/antigonehtml.html
2. After reading the play, submit the following five items before the interview. These will serve as discussion points during the interview.
   1. Two to four consecutive lines from the play that are important or meaningful to the participant.
   2. An image or object that resonates with the play or captures a personal response to the play.
   3. A one-page reflection paper on the play that identifies a theme found in the play. After Identifying a theme, please identify three instances in the play which support your theme and discuss why your chosen theme is important to you. Please use clear, concise, concrete language and format your paper to be single-spaced, typed in Times New Roman 12 pt font.
3. A documentation of achievements in aspects of performance or dramatic presentation. This may include a video portfolio shared through a youtube/vimeo posting or similar, an image portfolio, a recording, or similar item. You are encouraged to use your imagination and represent your achievements in a manner appropriate to your recent practice and future aspirations. The portfolio MUST be distributed (via links or digital files) before the interview event so that faculty interviewers have sufficient time to review the documents/sites.
4. A letter of reference from a current or recent educator or professional who has sufficient knowledge of you to effectively identify your aptitudes as well as articulate your ability to succeed in undergraduate studies of Dramatic Arts. Among other things the letter should speak to your ability to collaborate and participate in teamwork. The referee may be an educator, director or coach who has knowledge of your activities other than Dramatic Arts, such as language and literature, music, or sports and sport- related activities. The reference letter will normally be two pages length.

The letter should be addressed to:

Jennifer Roberts Smith, Chair,

Department of Dramatic Arts,

dramatic@brocku.ca

We understand that under the circumstances you may have difficulty contacting your referees for reference letters. These letters may be delivered AFTER your interview but must be received BEFORE a complete offer of admission will may be made by the Department

The text-based items may be submitted via email as rtf, word, or PDF format documents. Media should be submitted via links to web-posted locations (for e.g. an unlisted youtube video, or on vimeo) or in commonly read formats (for example MOV, MP4, AVI, Flash, JPEG). Please test all of your links before you send them.

All items should be sent to Dramatic@brocku.ca for distribution to the interviewing faculty.

Please contact Dramatic@brocku.ca if you have any questions.

There is no cost for the Dramatic Arts Personal Alternate Interview. You need not register for the In-Person Invitational if you have been approved to have an online Personal Alternate Interview.