The artists on this call were candid and vulnerable. They spoke openly about their professional frustrations and challenges — and they weren’t shy about pinpointing the ways that mainstream anglophone Canadian theatre practices fail directors and artists more broadly. That said, I didn’t leave our chat feeling hopeless or cynical.
By Nathaniel Hanula-James /Oct 5, 2026
iPhoto caption: Headshots of Sophie Gee, Ray Hogg, Margot Greve, Leora Morris, and Jessica Carmichael.
It’s increasingly unlikely that directors will hone their craft through formal training. Relatively few post-secondary programs devoted to directing exist, and it seems to me that directing-specific mentorship programs are less common than similar initiatives for actors or playwrights. To convene a roundtable about director training, I reached out to five very different artists on a continuum of early- to mid-career.
Here at Intermission we strongly believe that providing a platform for theatre artists to elaborate on the ideas behind the work they are making is important to establish a dialogue with...
It’s just interesting that the size of the theatre and the size of the budget is a deciding factor. Stratford has yet to have a woman lead the theatre in a solo fashion. And that day will come, I have no doubt.