Tag Archives: National Theatre School

Playwright, Actor: Michael Healey

After graduating from Ryerson’s Theatre School, Michael Healey acted in various productions before he wrote “Kicked.” He produced and performed the one-act monologue at the Toronto Fringe Festival and toured with it, subsequently exploring playwrighting further.

Healey’s impressive career trajectory includes writing “The Drawer Boy,” one of the most-produced Canadian plays in North America. He’s also adapted works for the Stratford Festival, North America’s largest classical repertory theatre company.

In our podcast, you’ll hear Healey explain how being a member of the acting company at the Blyth Festival led to the creation of a life-changing play. It was his time at the Blyth Festival, with Miles Potter and others collaborating on the collective creation “The Farm Show,” that inspired Healey to write “The Drawer Boy.” An international success that The Guardian called “a landmark in Canadian theatre.”

It’s hard to believe now, but Healey says he was on the brink of abandoning his career in theatre when he wrote that play. Healey opens up about the depression he felt after graduating from Ryerson and how he managed to overcome it.

Also in this podcast, you’ll learn how Healey works with actors during the rehearsal process, and why he leaves a box of Tic-Tacs on the table at rehearsals.

Healey explains why he sought legal counsel after the Tarragon Theatre cancelled his play about Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, “Proud,” and how grateful he is to playwrights across the country who supported him as he drew from a personal line of credit to mount his own production.

Towards the end of the podcast you’ll hear one of the best-ever audition stories that occurred the Shaw Festival.

SHOW NOTES

Michael Healey on Twitter
Miles Potter on Twitter
Paul Wells at Macleans
John Ibbitson on Twitter
The Stratford Festival
The Shaw Festival
The Blyth Festival
Jerry Seinfeld and David Letterman in conversation at the Paley Center – on YouTube.

LISTEN TO MORE EPISODES

Charlotte Gowdy, Actor, Director


Charlotte Gowdy is a graduate of the National Theatre School in Montreal and Ecole Philipe Gaulier in Paris. As an actor, she’s played lead roles at the Shaw Festival and theatres across Canada.

These days she’s making a career transition, following her heart’s desire to direct!

As well as a career transition, Charlotte has gone through some personal transformations including quitting alcohol and becoming a vegan.

This episode is packed with great tips for actors and directors. Charlotte shares what she’s learned working with the critically acclaimed artistic directors Chris Abraham, Tim Carroll and Jillian Keiley.

Charlotte, who is also a competitive athlete, shares some of the secrets to maintaining a healthy lifestyle while working under the precarious conditions of freelance life.

She also discusses her work directing Anna Chatterton’s “Within the Glass” with Troubadour Theatre Collective.

SHOW NOTES
Charlotte Gowdy on Instagram
Charlotte Gowdy on Twitter
Troubadour Theatre Collective.
Anna Chatterton on Twitter
National Theatre School
Ecole Philippe Gaulier
Fanshawe College Theatre Arts
Sheridan College B.A. of Theatre and Drama Studies

BOOKS and THINGS. Click on the image for links:

The Plant-based Power Diet: 10 Simple Steps To A Healthier Leaner Energetic You by Leslie Beck.

Green for Life: The Updated Classic on Green Smoothie Nutrition
by Victoria Boutenko.

Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition
by Julieanna Hever and Raymond J. Cronise.

Nutribullet.

23 and Me

LISTEN TO MORE EPISODES

Gil Garratt, director, actor, artistic director



Gil Garratt is the artistic director of the Blyth Festival.

In the podcast we discuss the first time Garratt auditioned for the Blyth Festival. The director Paul Thompson invited Garratt to meet a a coffee shop, but the audition took place at a surprising location miles away. It was an audition unlike any other, one that Garratt will never forget.

Garratt shares his progressive thoughts on the Canadian dramaturgical and development process, adding that working on comedies can be the most divisive of all genres. “I have witnessed, in the rehearsal of comedy, more relationships destroyed, friendships obliterated over the course of the comedy, than I have working in tragedy.”

We also delve into Garrat’s development work, examining the process behind bringing Mark Crawford’s hit comedy “The Birds and The Bees” to the stage.

Since debuting at The Blyth Festival “The Birds and the Bees” has gone on to be performed at several theatres across Canada.

Garratt graduated from the National Theatre School’s Playwriting Program and holds an Honours BA from the University of Waterloo, and an MA from the University of Guelph.

Show Notes
The Blyth Festival
“The Birds and the Bees” at Victoria Plahouse Petrolia.
New York Times – The Pigeon King and the Ponzi Scheme That Shook Canada

Listen to Other Episodes