Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The Soulpepper Academy is Canada’s only multi-year paid professional training program for the country’s brightest talent.
The Academy is composed of actors, designers, directors, playwrights, and producers. The curriculum aims to develop theatre artists who will, upon graduation, be ready to create, contribute to, and work with Soulpepper and other professional performing arts companies. Soulpepper strives to play a significant role in the development of future generations of theatre artists through the Soulpepper Academy. This full-time, paid training program was launched in 2006.
After processing 1,148 applications, a nation-wide audition process, and an intense final round of in-person auditions, here are the 17 artists of the fifth Soulpepper Academy:
“There are so many levels on which the training that Soulpepper provides is completely unique. As part of the International Professional Development component of my Academy training I was given the opportunity to travel to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and produce a Canadian work on an international stage. This was a great learning opportunity, and being transposed into a new performance landscape served to highlight the vitality of Canadian stories and the Canadian perspective. At home, and abroad, Soulpepper nurtures an environment of creation in which administrators like myself work closely with artists to bring their work to life, from their very first spark, through to a fully executed performance” – Kelly Read, Soulpepper Academy 2013-2015
"My original intention was to pursue a career as a musician. So there were many experiences, from an acting standpoint, that I didn't have until I arrived here and one of those was being in a Shakespearean play. So at the age of 32, at the most prestigious classical theatre company in Canada, I made my Shakespeare debut!" - Mike Ross, Soulpepper Academy 2006-2008
"It's been a challenging, beautiful two years and whatever I do and whoever I become will absolutely be coloured by this experience." - Sarah Wilson, Soulpepper Academy 2006-2008
ACADEMY FACULTY
Academy Faculty
Albert Schultz, Academy Artistic Director
Leah Cherniak, Associate Head
Alan Dilworth, Head of Directing
Leslie Lester, Head of Producing
Diego Matamoros, Head of Acting
Mike Ross, Head of Music
Lorenzo Savoini, Head of Design
Guillermo Verdecchia, Head of Playwriting
Acting Faculty
Samantha Semczyszyn, Academy Administrator
SOULPEPPER ACADEMY
ALEXANDRA LORD
Designer
CHRISTEF DESIR
Actor
DAN MOUSSEAU
Actor
ELLIE MOON
Actor
GHAZAL AZARBAD
Actor
HUNTER CARDINAL
Actor
JAMES SMITH
Actor
KATRINA DARYCHUK
Director
LIESL LOW
Producer
MARCEL STEWART
Actor
MICHELLE TRACEY
Designer
MUMBI TINDYEBWA
Director
NICOLE POWER
Actor
ROSAMUND SMALL
Playwright
ROSE TUONG
Actor
SASCHA COLE
Producer
SINA GILANI
Playwright
2016-09-07
Toronto: Soulpepper announces its 2016-2018 Academy