Topics: creation,

Lucinda Davis speaks about The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search...

NAC English Theatre opens its 2015/16 season with Djanet Sears’ The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God, arriving after a triumphant four-week run in Montreal at the Centaur Theatre. Created by Governor General's Literary Award-winning playwright Djanet Sears, Adventures is a…

Welcoming a new maestro to the podium: Alexander Shelley begins his tenure

It’s like visiting an old friend. That’s how Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra’s new Music Director, describes the joy we feel when we listen to live classical music.  “There’s nothing that compares with revisiting pieces you know and love, and the enjoyment of having them performed…

Moments on stage: A mother’s story

Anticipating Opening Night with the NAC Orchestra

The National Arts Centre Orchestra’s musicians have been practicing for weeks in the lead-up to the opening night of the season, and to Alexander Shelley’s inaugural beginning as Music Director. Now as the final hours tick-on, and last minute adjustments to phrasing and colour have been…

A dream fulfilled: Royal Wood takes centre stage at Southam Hall

It has been an incredible journey for Peterborough singer-songwriter Royal Wood. Since being proclaimed the “Songwriter of the Year”, by iTunes in 2008, Royal has continued to evolve and hone his musical craft – maintaining an unmistakable identity while uncovering and reinventing his…

Ontario Scene Highlights

Festival season is in full swing and Canadians everywhere are gathering to enjoy cultural activities outdoors. From Vancouver to P.E.I Shakespeare is performed in parks and on beaches, music of all kinds drifts through the warm night air and during the day families gather to watch buskers,…

Realizing a fuller Canadian story through Indigenous Theatre Works and Performance Practice

Since the fall of 2012,  NAC English Theatre has been working with Indigenous artists and leaders towards the realization of The Study. Together students and professionals alike explored aspects of the Indigenous body of performance work created across this vast land.  The Study culminated…

Alice’s Looking-Glass Adventures Continues Across Canada

Director Jillian Keiley with actors playing Alice across Canada: Gwendolyn Collins (Winnipeg’s Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), Ellie Heath (Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre), Trish Lindström (the Stratford Festival) and, seated, Natasha Greenblatt (NAC and Charlottetown's Confederation Centre of…

Red carpet highlights from the 2015 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards

The Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement are Canada’s highest honour for the performing arts. This year's recipients are singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, filmmakers Atom Egoyan and Jean-Marc Vallée, actor-directors Diana Leblanc and R.H. Thomson,…

The arts are our country’s deepest expression

Earlier this spring the laureates for the 2015 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards were announced at events held in Montreal, Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto and via live stream. They were the first of many celebrations that will honour Canadian artists whose accomplishments have…

Daniel Lanois: What lives outside of measurement

For Daniel Lanois, the most important qualities of an artist not quantifiable.  "It's hard to measure imagination and original thought, instinct, intuition,” the acclaimed producer and musician said. “All those primal powers we possess as adventurers cannot be measured." Daniel Lanois…

The Summit: A vital conversation on Indigenous theatre

In the spring of 2014, NAC English Theatre, the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance (IPAA), the Luminato Festival and the Banff Centre collaborated on an initiative called The Summit. We brought together leading Indigenous artists from across the country for a vital conversation that would…

A Harmonic Storm: Daniel Lanois with the NAC Orchestra

In June 2013 Daniel Lanois visited the National Arts Centre to receive the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement. Two years later Lanois is once again backstage at the NAC's Southam Hall - this time as a performer. "It's nice to experience this beautiful edifice…

FACETS: A creative collaboration

The restless, inquiring mind of award-winning performer-creator Tedd Robinson—Artistic Director of 10 Gates Dancing, an NAC Associate Dance Artist, choreographer, educator and Ottawa favourite — has resulted in a catalogue of innovative work blazing with witty originality and extraordinary…

Governor General Performing Arts Awards: Shining the spotlight on this year’s laureates

Montreal—Winners of the Governor General Performing Arts Awards were announced at a news conference at the PHI Centre in Montreal. The 2015 laureates for the highest honour in the performing arts in Canada are: Walter Boudreau, C.M. Composer, conductor and artistic director Atom Egoyan,…