National Theater Institute - Page 2

A signature feature of the National Theater Institute, weekly Theater Labs challenge students to put all the skills gained in classes into practice. When given just 15 hours to stage a scene, students learn to trust their creative instincts. Under the mentorship of a professional director, NTI students gain practical experience with a wealth of classical and contemporary texts as well as have the opportunity to work as actor, director, designer, and/or dramaturge each week.

Today, for RISK AGAIN!, the NTI and NMTI spring 2015 ensemble share words of wisdom they have recently received from teachers at the National Theater Institute.

Today, RISK AGAIN! introduces you to NTI Program Representatives Brittany Ayers (NTI Fall '12) and Brendan Naylor (MATS '08) who share NTI's training opportunities with students and schools across the country. NTI is currently accepting applications for summer and fall programs. The deadline to apply for the Theatermakers Summer Intensive, National Theater Institute Semester, National Music Theater Institute, Moscow Art Theatre Semester, or NTI Advanced Directing program is March 30.

With a singular schedule and unmatched breadth of training, the National Theater Institute is the nation's leading undergraduate artistic training program. In addition to a rigorous curriculum covering the theatrical greats -- Shakespeare, Williams, Chekov, and O'Neill -- NTI students are learning from today's theater artists. Since its founding in 1970, NTI has united working artists and students in education and collaboration.

For 45 years, the National Theater Institute has offered young theater artists a springboard to the professional world at the two-time Tony Award-winning Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. With a singular schedule and an unmatched breadth of training, NTI's credit-earning, semester-long programs are taught by industry professionals and master teachers like Alexander Gemignani.

Tony- and Pulitzer-winning playwright August Wilson developed six plays the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Seven Guitars, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Two Trains Running. In celebration of the PBS American Masters documentary 'August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand', RISK AGAIN! shares excerpts from The O'Neill: Transformation of Modern American Theater.

Hailed as the launchpad of the American theater, the two-time Tony Award-winning Eugene O'Neill Theater Center is responsible for developing more than 1,100 new works for the stage. Each summer, the O'Neill is home to a series of national conferences ushering in new voices in playwriting, musical theater, cabaret, puppetry, and criticism. NTI's Theatermakers Summer Intensive provides young artists the opportunity to train alongside these professional conferences and see new American plays before they hit the big stage. Plays developed during summers at the O'Neill now abound off-Broadway, as major New York theaters premiere work from the National Playwrights Conference (NPC).

The National Theater Institute is committed to diverse theatrical and educational experiences. Therefore, two weeks of each semester are spent in-residence in one of the world's most prominent theater capitals -- the NTI Semester and NTI-Advanced Programs study in London -- while the National Music Theater Institute train in New York City. In both cities, students met with alumni of the National Theater Institute who shared their theatrical experience, NTI stories, professional advice, and insight into the various ways to make a life in the theater. Today, RISK AGAIN! introduces them to you!

The National Theater Institute includes a vibrant community of over 3,500 alumni. The many talents of these actors, writers, directors, and designers can be seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in films, television, London's West End, and at every major regional theater in the U.S. Today, in an excerpt from The O'Neill: Transformation of Modern American Theater, we hear from Golden Globe Award-winning actress Jennifer Garner (Dallas Buyers Club, Alias, Juno, 13 Going on 30) about why she calls her 14 weeks at NTI 'integral to the growth of what I could do, what I could learn, what I could pursue, and what I was interested in. It was the most defining semester for me in college.' Plus, scroll down for photos of Garner in the program!

In anticipation for the year ahead, RISK AGAIN! takes a look at NTI's New Year's Resolutions!

Today, Risk Again! Notes from the National Theater Institute reflects on 12 defining moments of 2104.

The National Theater Institute prepares young artists for today's theatrical landscape unlike any other undergraduate training in the world. This week Risk Again! excerpts letters written by the fall 2014 ensemble. After 14 weeks and 16 blog posts, you should hear it from them...

Today, Risk Again! takes you into the classroom with an introduction to Droznin. This technique, which provides the actor with strength, flexibility, and courage, has been a cornerstone of the National Theater Institute's movement training for the last 15 years

Company Project is a signature of the National Theater Institute's acclaimed theater intensive. As the capstone to 14 weeks of rigorous training at the two-time Tony Award-winning Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, students are prompted with thematic material and collaborate to write, compose, produce, score, direct, design, choreograph, and perform an original production in two weeks. Company Project provides students the opportunity to practice what they've learned at NTI; to work collaboratively as an ensemble; gain confidence in their skills; and astonish us with their talent, breadth of vision, and artistic bravery.

For seven weeks, students of the National Theater Institute Semester and the National Music Theater Institute have been studying playwriting and book writing with Donna Di Novelli, paving the way for one of NTI's signature experiences: Playwrights & Librettists Week. This collaborative week supports and amplifies the voices of the next generation of American theater writers under the mentorship of professional playwrights, librettists, and composers. Scroll down for photos from this year's event!

This week students are honing their acting skills on-camera with NTI alum Matt Newton (NTI Fall '97). Matt is the founder of MN Acting Studio NYC and currently the on-set acting coach for Season 5 of the hit CBS show BLUE BLOODS. As well as teaching Auditioning and Business of the Business for NTI, he is a contributor to BACKSTAGE and the author of the book 10 STEPS TO BREAKING INTO ACTING. Scroll down for photos of Newton working with NTI, plus an exclusive Q&A for Risk Again, in which he shares his NTI memories, what it's like returning to campus as a faculty member, and his advice for young actors!

In order to best showcase the student's perspective and share what it means to spend 14 weeks 'studying away', Risk Again! asked alum Emma Miller (NTI-AD Spring '14) to write a letter to a prospective student sharing the impact NTI's Advanced Directing program had on her.

Today, Risk Again! takes a look at that 'singular schedule' in the photo gallery below! Last Tuesday at NTI featured 19 classes and 11 faculty members, all master teachers or industry professionals, who come to the O'Neill every week and share their talents with the students of the NTI Semester, NTI-Advanced Directing, and National Music Theater Institute.

These are just some of the ways NTI students have responded to working with our alumni company, The Debate Society. The Debate Society is an Obie Award winning, Brooklyn based company that creates new plays through the collaboration of Hannah Bos (writer/performer/NTI Fall '98), Paul Thureen (writer/performer/ NTI Fall '98/ MATS '00), and Oliver Butler (director/developer). The company specializes unexpected stories set in supremely intricate, vividly theatrical worlds.

This week Risk Again explores the rich relationship between the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Theater Institute (est. 1970) and National Playwrights Conference (est. 1964). Both committed to developing new work in a collaborative environment where artists are free to risk and safe to fail.