Since 1964, summers at the O’Neill have been a hotbed of creative collaboration. From August Wilson’s Fences to Avenue Q, the O’Neill’s professional conferences have developed work that has shaped the American theater.
By joining Theatermakers you become part of that tradition. In Theatermakers, the artists of the O’Neill’s summer conferences – the National Playwrights Conference and the National Music Theater Conference – become your professional mentors. You become part of the creative process that is at the heart of the O’Neill's mission.
TRAINING
This fully accredited six week SUMMER program is designed for advanced students who are self-driven and want to focus solely on their craft of acting, directing or playwriting. Theatermakers connects students to the professional artists at work during the O’Neill’s National Playwrights and National Music Theater Conferences. Students are integrated into these summer conference projects and mentored by the creative teams. Students also collaborate on their own projects, sharing works-in-progress with the professionals and guest artists in residence at the O’Neill. The program runs from 9AM to 6PM, seven days a week, with evenings reserved for performances, rehearsals, or special workshops.
CORE COURSES
THE COLLABORATIVE EXPERIENCE: THE O’NEILL PROCESS
Since 1965, The O’Neill Process has been a unique model for successful collaboration. This essential course is the core of your experience and is required for all Theatermakers. Expand your ability to work productively with a creative team through practical examination of collaborative techniques. You will be actively engaged with actors, writers, directors, dramaturgs, designers and mentors in Conference project development. You will exercise your understanding of these skills in professional projects and guest workshops, observing and analyzing individual contributions to the artistic process. You will then apply these techniques to your own work and to the work of other Theatermakers, as you dive in to the projects developed in your focus areas: directing, playwriting or acting.
DIRECTING: STAGING NEW VISION
Through daily interaction with directors, writers and theater artists, broaden your directing knowledge to encompass new techniques. You will work as an Assistant Director, attending Conference project rehearsals and performances, working intimately with the project Director and as a part of the creative team. Then apply your enhanced vision as a director and collaborator on projects developed with your peers in Playwriting and Advanced Acting.
PLAYWRITING: ADVANCED TECHNIQUES FOR THE CONTEMPORARY STAGE
Build on your established playwriting techniques through the creation of new work and daily interaction with the playwrights and producing teams of Conference projects. Immersed in the active process of new work development, you will be exposed to dramaturgy and the collaboration between playwright, designer and director. With ongoing professional mentoring you will apply these skills to the evolution of your own scripts for presentation to the O’Neill community and to the public.
ADVANCED ACTING: CHARACTER AND IMMEDIACY
Sharpen your skills, and heighten your performance-readiness through demanding physical and vocal workshops, extensive improvisational work, and exploration of techniques for cold readings, staged readings, and auditions. You will serve as the acting company for the Theatermakers playwrights and directors, and maintain a vigorous rehearsal schedule for numerous project performance opportunities, including non-equity roles in professional Conference productions.
MENTORS
For more than 40 years the O’Neill summer conferences have served as a creative resource for the nation’s most talented theater artists. With the playwrights, librettists and lyricists, directors and designers of the National Playwrights and Music Theater Conferences as professional mentors, students become part of the creative process at the heart of the O’Neill’s mission.
NATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE
Playwrights of varying experience – from those working on a first play to Broadway veterans – are teamed with emerging and seasoned directors and actors to engage in a six-day a week process of rehearsals and script-in-hand readings of their play. More than 600 plays have evolved at the O’Neill since 1965, notably John Guare’s House of Blue Leaves, Wendy Wasserstein’s Uncommon Women and Others, John Henry Redwood’s The Old Settler, five August Wilson plays (including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences and The Piano Lesson), Julia Cho’s Durango, and works by David Lindsay-Abaire, John Patrick Shanley, Kia Corthron, Adam Rapp and many more.
NATIONAL MUSIC THEATER CONFERENCE
Since its inception in 1978, the O’Neil has supported the development of more than one hundred new music theater works that have gone on to be featured in regional theaters throughout the country and on and off-Broadway. Recent Broadway shows that were developed at the NMTC: the revival of Arthur Kopit, Mario Fratti and Maury Yeston’s Nine (O’Neill 1979), winner of six Tony Awards (1982) and Best Revival of a Musical (2003); triple Tony winners Jeff Whitty, Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez for Best Musical 2004 Avenue Q (O’Neill 2002); and Quiara Alegría Hudes, Lin-Manuel Miranda and director Tommy Kale’s smash hit In The Heights (O’Neill 2005).
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, NTI
Jeff Janisheski
SEMESTER DATES & APPLICATION DEADLINES
Admission to NTI is competitive; applicants are encouraged to apply well in advance of the deadlines.
| Summer 2009 |
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June 13 through July 27, 2009
Application Deadline: April 10, 2009 |
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| Summer 2010 |
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June 12 through July 26, 2010
Application Deadline: April 10, 2010 |
ACCREDITATION
8 credit hours or 2 course credits. Theatermakers is fully accredited through Connecticut College. At the end of the summer, grades are transferred to Connecticut College where they are put on an official transcript and forwarded to the student's college or university registrar upon request.
LOCATION
O'Neill Theater Center, Waterford, Connecticut.
Get directions
PROGRAM FEES
These fees are effective as of September 18, 2008
Tuition: $4,100 (includes $500 non-refundable reservation deposit)
Room & Board: $2,800 (meals served 7 days a week)
Total Comprehensive Fee: $6,900
In addition to the Comprehensive Fee all students must remit a $50 key/security deposit prior to their arrival at the O'Neill Center.
Dates of the program and fees are subject to change.
PAYMENT POLICY
Once you have received notification of acceptance into Theatermakers, a $900 non-refundable deposit must be paid within 14 days or your position will not be held. This deposit is deductible from your total tuition charge. Payment of the remainder of your comprehensive fee will be arranged upon acceptance.
FINANCIAL AID
Check with your school’s financial aid office to determine whether your existing loans, grants and scholarships can be applied to the National Theater Institute programs. In most instances they can be transferred because of our accreditation through Connecticut College. Connecticut College is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. NTI has a limited and need-based scholarship program. Please telephone the NTI office at (860) 443-7139 if you have financial aid questions.
NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
The O'Neill Theater Center affirmatively seeks to attract to its faculty, staff and student body persons of diverse backgrounds and, pursuant to this policy, no applicant for admission or applicant for employment is discriminated against because of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, national or ethnic origin.
MEDICAL INSURANCE
The O'Neill Theater Center assumes no medical expenses for its students. All students must have medical insurance coverage either through their parents, their personal insurance, or from their college or university.
LIBRARY FACILITIES
The library contains an extensive collection of plays and theater literature. Students may also use the services of Connecticut College's Shain Library.
