Directing course for D/deaf, disabled in Birmingham

Published: 15 July 2017
Reporter: Steve Orme

Nickie Miles-Wildin, associate director of The Who’s Tommy, and some of the cast of the co-production by Ramps on the Moon Credit: Patrick Baldwin

Emerging D/deaf and disabled directors in the West Midlands are being invited to join a free introduction to directing course staged by Birmingham REP and the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme.

The course will offer an opportunity for anyone who has faced barriers to pursuing a career in directing. There will be weekly workshops with professional theatre directors and practitioners who will focus on the skills needed to take work from the page to the stage.

The first workshop will begin on Wednesday evening, 13 September. The course will run for 10 weeks.

Tessa Walker, Birmingham REP’s associate director, said, “to be able to welcome new directors into the REP and nurture and support them in the early stages of their directing life is a privilege. It further strengthens our commitment to representing the diversity of our region in our theatre, in our stories and on our stages.”

Sue Emmas, RTYDS artistic director, added, “theatre needs to change. We need to create an artistic democracy where the society around us is represented both on and off stage.

“Directors can have the biggest impact. They choose the stories to tell and the collaborators they work with to tell those stories. This is the first time the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme has run an introduction to directing for D/deaf and disabled new directors.”

Priya Dosanjh, a previous participant on an RTYDS introduction to directing scheme at the REP, commented, “within a year of concluding the course I was assisting on a main house production—an opportunity I was afforded as a direct consequence of my participation on the course. It’s an invaluable programme for anybody in the foundling stages of their career.”

Further details are available at the Birmingham REP web site. Applications should be submitted by Friday 25 August.

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