Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts (DART) has partnered with the Shaw Festival to provide internships to graduating students since 2011. Internships focus on diverse aspects of production at the Festival including performance, design, technical production, directing, arts management and education. Throughout the program, individuals will receive integrated exposure to the scope of the Shaw experience.

This is an excellent opportunity to:

• observe artists, creators, and technicians who are working at the top of their game
•  network with senior and peer artists and potential collaborators
• develop an informed sense of the opportunities in the professional theatre world

The Shaw internship creates a stepping stone between the university world and the student’s future career path. Students bridge what they learn in the classroom with the processes the Shaw utilizes, while gaining experience in a professional environment and making industry connections.

DART students are eligible to apply for this intensive residency at the end of their third year.

Students have also enjoyed connecting with the Shaw Festival through DART 4P92: Text and Performance at the Shaw Festival Theatre. During the course, students attend festival performances and interact with Festival staff and artists.

Additionally, co-ops and summer contract work at the Shaw have also been available to DART students, and alumni of the program have also worked for the festival full-time.

Benoit St-Aubin

2024 Shaw Festival Intern

Image Caption: Benoit St-Aubin, 2024 Shaw Festival Intern.

While Benoit was at the Shaw Festival he worked on Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart directed by Craig Hall, and Candida directed by Severn Thompson. Benoit interned under both directors for six weeks and attended all rehearsals during that period. He was able to be part of both productions from their very first day and experienced everything from the first read-through, rigorous table-work, staging, stage combat choreography, and much more. His experience granted him the opportunity to interview members of the Shaw ensemble one-on-one such as actors Damien Atkins and Sochi Fried, where Benoit could ask all his burning questions about what it’s like to be a working actor. Not only was Benoit able to shadow actors and directors, he was also able to follow stage manager Leigh McClymont and have weekly meetings with Associate Artistic Director Kimberly Rampersad. Being at the Shaw opened many doors for Benoit which will be integral to his career in theatre moving forward.

“I put my education to the test while at the Shaw. I got to see the concepts that I had been taught in numerous classes work together implicitly through the shared knowledge of everyone working on the production.”

“By working on a show by George Bernard Shaw, I appreciated my training in language and voice. I was able to go along the journey of discovering what the text truly meant with the other company members because of classes I took with Brock.”

Ava Robitaille

2023 Shaw Festival Intern

Image Caption: Ava Robitaille, 2023 Shaw Festival Intern.

Dramatic Arts (DART) student Ava Robitaille was selected for an internship at the Shaw Festival for the 2023 season, allowing her to dive deeper into directing and add to her growing list of skills. Ava worked on The Clearing directed by Jessica Carmichael and The Amen Corner directed by Kimberley Rampersad.

“My time at the Shaw Festival has now come to a close, and while I am sad it’s over, I am inspired. I have learned so many things from my short eight weeks that I am confident will make me a better director. I’ve compiled it into a short list:”

1. Treat your script as a musical score. A wise piece of advice I received from Kimberley during one of our meetings. I set out on this internship to learn how to incorporate my voice into my directing, and I strongly believe this piece of advice will help me achieve that.
2. Details make the space feel alive. I have always been a very detail-oriented director, but seeing how the small details Kimberley and Jessica add to their shows demonstrated to me why those details are important. Especially since they make the worlds feel real and not manufactured/staged.
3. Text analysis makes the world go round. Jessica’s main advice to me was to make sure that both the directors and the actors have a deep understanding of the text. I saw firsthand in both rehearsal rooms how a deep understanding of the text assists in creating a phenomenal show, and the way to achieve that is through text analysis.
4. Influences from other art forms are important. Theatre does not need to only be inspired by other theatre allow your love for music, movies, visual arts, and dance to inspire your work. Both shows I worked on had heavy influences from other art forms, and it allowed the creative team and actors to be inspired and better informed.
5. Female directors rock!!