Courses
Applications for our fall courses are open!
Intro to Grant Writing
Led by actor, producer, and grant writer Wayne Burns, this four-hour online workshop offers a practical introduction to the world of arts funding. If you’ve ever wanted to apply for a grant but felt overwhelmed by portals, confusing questions, or “grant-speak,” this course will break it down.
Together, we’ll cover how the funding pipeline works in Canada, how to determine what to ask for, and strategies for approaching your application with clarity and confidence. Come curious and ready to demystify the grant-writing process and leave with the tools to strengthen your next application.
Applications Open – September 29, 2025
Application Deadline – October 26, 2025
How to Enroll
Artists are invited to submit a maximum 1-page letter of interest detailing a little about themselves, their practice, and what they are hoping to gain from the course, along with a CV.
Applications can be submitted to education@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line GRANT.
For accessibility accommodations or to submit your application in an alternative format, please email or call Heather Caplap at education@tarragontheatre.com |(416) 531-1827 ext 249
APPLICATION DEADLINE – October 26
Cost
$50
Dates and Times
Location: VIRTUAL via Zoom
Dates & Time: Monday, November 24, 6:00-10:00pm EST
Instructor
Wayne Burns (he/him) is an actor, producer, director, grant writer, and host from Wagobatik/Truro, Nova Scotia.
A graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada, Wayne has helped artists secure over $350,000 in cumulative arts funding. His most recent grant writing workshop at Generator sold out within minutes, and he has led artist development sessions with UNITY Charity while mentoring emerging artists at Covenant House Toronto.
Wayne has produced over 25 projects across theatre, film, and live events with organizations such as Soulpepper Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, Factory Theatre, and the City of Toronto, as well as with independent companies including Esie Mensah Creations, LesterTrips Theatre, and Madonnaera. He has also served on juries for the Canada Council for the Arts, Inside Out Film Festival, OutACTRAto, and Impulse Theatre.
Wayne believes there is value in every idea and that funding should never be a barrier to creativity. His teaching emphasizes clarity, strategy, and confidence in articulating creative projects, empowering more artists to tell their stories and strengthen their applications.
He currently resides in T’karonto.
MASTER CLASS: Writing and Performing Solo Shows
with Diane Flacks
With the unique perspective of having written and performed 5 critically acclaimed and celebrated solos shows spanning three decades, Diane Flacks can help you develop, hone, and creatively embrace yours.
From her first shows Myth Me and By A Thread, to her latest show, Guilt (a love story) which premiered at Tarragon last season, Flacks has crafted solo work that is audacious and funny, and that has spanned styles including: multi-character, single character, fictional, autobiographical, plot-driven, and revelation-based, expanding and exploring the genre in comprehensive ways. It’s not a genre for the faint of heart, but it can be uniquely connecting and satisfying both to the artist and the audience. It is also a visceral way of finding your own voice as a writer/performer, and tapping into what matters to you as an artist. All of those goals will be explored in this workshop, which will culminate with public performances of excerpts from the solo shows in front of a live audience – the second actor for a solo show. A rare opportunity to go from page to stage. For emerging or established artists.
Applications Open – October 1, 2025
Application Deadline EXTENDED – November 9, 2025
How to Enroll
Artists are invited to submit a maximum 1-page letter of interest detailing a little about themselves, their work, and what they are hoping to gain from the course, a maximum 5-page writing sample, and a CV.
Applications can be submitted to education@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line SOLO SHOWS.
For accessibility accommodations or to submit your application in an alternative format, please email or call Heather Caplap at education@tarragontheatre.com |(416) 531-1827 ext 249
APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED – NOV. 9
Cost
Regular Rate – $860
Dates and Times
Location: Tarragon Theatre
Time: 10am – 3:30pm
Dates:
- Dec. 6 & 7
- Dec. 13 & 14
- Jan. 10 & 11
- Jan. 17 & 18
- Jan. 19 – Evening Invited Sharing
Instructor
Diane Flacks is a writer/actor in theatre, TV, radio, and print media. Diane writes and produces TV, including as a key creative on Workin’ Moms, Baroness von Sketch Show, and Kids in the Hall – for which she was nominated for an Emmy. She co-created and wrote numerous TV series for CBC, worked as a story-breaker on new series for numerous production companies, and served as supervising producer for three seasons on the APTN series Qanurli? in Iqaluit.
As a playwright, most recently, her fifth one-person play, Guilt (a love story) directed by Alisa Palmer, premiered at the Tarragon, and then toured to the Centaur and the RMTC to rave reviews, and is headed to Victoria and the Western Canadian Theatre Company. Diane also recently co-wrote and acted in a new play, PALS, at the WJT, directed by Jillian Keiley, with her
theatrical brother, Richard Greenblatt, with whom she also wrote SIBS and CARE, both for the Tarragon Theatre. Diane and Richard adapted SIBS into a film for CBC and an audio play. Also written for the Tarragon, is her play about medical risk and compassion, Waiting Room. She also wrote and starred in Unholy, her hit, critically acclaimed play about women and religion for Nightwood Theatre, directed by Kelly Thornton. Unholy was remounted twice in Toronto, nominated for a Dora for outstanding new play, and was filmed live for TV.
Selected theatre acting credits: most recently, Diane played Constance in Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet for Perchance theatre in NFLD, directed by Alisa Palmer. She also played Mayer Lehman in The Lehman Trilogy for Theatre Calgary, (nominated for a Betty Mitchell award for best ensemble and production) directed by Sarah Garton Stanley. Diane appeared in the adaptation of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Fall on Your Knees, directed by Alisa
Palmer at CanStage, NAC, Neptune and the Grand theatres. FOYK was Dora nominated, and a recipient of a number of Robert Merritt awards in Halifax. Diane played the titular role of Nathan in Nathan the Wise in Stratford. Diane also received a Dora nomination for outstanding performance in Body Politic, by Nick Green, directed by Alisa Palmer.
Diane’s four other solo shows Myth Me, By A Thread, Random Acts and Bear With Me (adapted from her book of the same name), have been critically acclaimed and remounted internationally. She played the lead in the independent queer film Portrait of A Serial Monogamist. She was CBC radio’s national parenting columnist for 7 years, and a featured columnist at The Toronto Star for four years. She has written the Dora Awards for the last 8
years. Diane is the proud mom of two astonishing sons.
Directing for the Stage
with Soheil Parsa
Directing for the Stage aims to equip aspiring theatre directors with introductory skills for theatre creation and directorial practices. Directors are responsible for every aspect of a theatrical performance, and therefore are required to collaborate closely with actors, choreographers, and a variety of designers including sound, costumes and lighting. Through discussions and a series of practical exercises, students will learn techniques for working with this diverse creative team towards the facilitation of a collaborative process. A key area of focus will be on how a play and/or its theme can inform our creative imagination, allowing us to explore and discover a play’s non-verbal, visual and physical aspects.
Applications Open – October 30, 2025
Application Deadline – November 30, 2025
How to Enroll
Artists are invited to submit a maximum 1-page letter of interest detailing a little about themselves, their work, and what they are hoping to gain from the course, along with a CV.
Applications can be submitted to nypu@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line DIRECTING.
If you are applying for a subsidy rate spot, please include SUBSIDY in the subject line.
For accessibility accommodations or to submit your application in an alternative format, please email or call Heather Caplap at education@tarragontheatre.com |(416) 531-1827 ext 249
APPLICATION DEADLINE – November 30
Cost
Regular Rate – $360
Subsidized Rate- $120* (limited availability)
*If you are applying for the subsidized rate please note it in the subject line of your application letter. You are welcome, but not required, to include a few sentences about why you would like to apply for the subsidized rate.
Dates and Times
Location: Tarragon Theatre
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Dates:
- Jan. 6
- Jan. 8
- Jan. 13
- Jan. 15
- Jan. 20
- Jan. 22
Instructor
Soheil Parsa is an Iranian Canadian theatre artist based in Toronto. He is the co-founder and former artistic director of Modern Times Stage Company and has directed over forty productions for the company since its inception in 1989. Soheil’s work has been shown in Canada as well as internationally and has been recognized with numerous awards and nominations. He has taught acting, directing, and movement at the University of Ottawa, Brock University, George Brown College, Humber College, National theatre school of Canada and Factory Theatre. He has also taught acting and directing in Colombia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba and Denmark.
Queens, Clowns, and Fools
with Justin Miller
From Shakespeare to Noh, from the Pansy Craze to Drag Race, from Dame Edna to Taylor Mac, we can’t stop playing with gender.
Queens, Clowns, and Fools is an introduction to subverting, honouring, parodying, and loving your gender expression in performance, as taught by multi-award winning drag clown Pearle Harbour (aka Justin Miller).
Pillaging from a wide breadth of influences – Pockinko clowning, bouffon, cabaret, commedia, and contemporary drag practice – students will tap into a presentational form that is both utterly ancient and entirely in the moment.
This course is geared to drag queens, drag kings, and drag things, clowns, comedians, storytellers, solo- and -interdisciplinary performers, trans-, non-binary, and cis-creators of all ages and stripes; anyone who has the courage to stand in front another person and entertain with their wit, their heart, and their gender at play.
Applications Open – December 15, 2025
Application Deadline – January 18, 2025
How to Enroll
Artists are invited to submit a maximum 1-page letter of interest detailing a little about themselves, their work, and what they are hoping to gain from the course, along with a CV.
Applications can be submitted to nypu@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line CLOWNS.
If you are applying for a subsidy rate spot, please include SUBSIDY in the subject line.
For accessibility accommodations or to submit your application in an alternative format, please email or call Heather Caplap at education@tarragontheatre.com |(416) 531-1827 ext 249
APPLICATION DEADLINE – January 18
Cost
Regular Rate – $270
Subsidized Rate- $120* (limited availability)
*If you are applying for the subsidized rate please note it in the subject line of your application letter. You are welcome, but not required, to include a few sentences about why you would like to apply for the subsidized rate.
Dates and Times
Location: Tarragon Theatre
Time: Mondays, 6pm – 9pm
Dates:
- Feb. 17 (TUESDAY)
- Feb. 23
- March 2
- March 9
- March 16
Instructor
Justin Miller is a queer performer, producer, and Fool. As his darkly comic drag persona, Pearle Harbour, he has been called “one of the most engaging and thoughtful performance artists around” (NOW Magazine).
His award-winning original works have been presented to rave critical and audience response across Canada, published in Canadian Theatre review, and featured on the CBC. As a screenwriter, he has developed work for NBC-Peacock.
As an educator, he has taught at Queens University, University of New Brunswick, Randolph College for the Performing Arts, Toronto Metropolitan University, and has been the drag consultant at the Stratford Festival for three seasons running.
Selected accolades include Audience Choice Award (SummerWorks), Outstanding Solo Performance (My Entertainment World Critic’s Award), 3 Dora Mavor-Moore Award nominations (Outstanding Performance, Outstanding Costume Design), Finalist for the Playwright’s Guild of Canada John Palmer Award, and Winner of the Jon Kaplan Legacy Fund Award for a Canadian Stage Performer.
See more at www.pearleharbour.com.
Finding Your Playwriting Style
with Marcia Johnson
Marcia Johnson (Serving Elizabeth, Binti’s Journey, Perfect on Paper) is offering a new VIRTUAL playwriting workshop focused on finding and honing your style. Playwrights who have had at least one production (including Fringe and other festivals) are eligible.
Do you have a hard time squeezing your writing into well-known playwriting practices? Maybe the problem is that one size doesn’t fit all. Marcia will work with playwrights to create the story they want to tell in their own unique ways.
Participants will arrive at the workshop with a clear story idea or a work in progress. They will work in class and be given homework. The goal is to have a new draft by the end of the course.
PLEASE NOTE: This course will be offered virtually over Zoom.
Applications Open – January 5, 2026
Application Deadline – February 8, 2026
How to Enroll
Artists are invited to submit a 300 word max bio, an outline of the play they will bring to the workshop, and a max 5 page excerpt of their writing. (The excerpt does not have to be from the piece that they wish to work on)
Applications can be submitted to nypu@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line STYLE.
If you are applying for a subsidy rate spot, please include SUBSIDY in the subject line.
For accessibility accommodations or to submit your application in an alternative format, please email or call Heather Caplap at education@tarragontheatre.com |(416) 531-1827 ext 249
APPLICATION DEADLINE – February 8
Cost
Regular Rate – $400
Subsidized Rate- $180* (limited availability)
*If you are applying for the subsidized rate please note it in the subject line of your application letter. You are welcome, but not required, to include a few sentences about why you would like to apply for the subsidized rate.
Dates and Times
Location: VIRTUAL via Zoom
Time: Mondays, 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Dates:
- March 2
- March 9
- March 16
- March 23
- March 30
- WRITING BREAK
- April 13
- April 20
- April 27
- May 4
- May 11
Instructor
Marcia Johnson is an actor/writer/dramaturg based in T’karonto.
Her play Serving Elizabeth (in which she also acted) premiered at Western Canada Theatre (co-produced with Thousand Islands Playhouse) in February 2020. The TIP production was pandemic-delayed by a full year. Other productions played at the Stratford Festival, Belfry Theatre and Theatre Aquarius and Peterborough Players in New Hampshire. Another production is scheduled for November 2025 at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg. The podcast version is available on CBC Radio and PlayMe.
Other plays include Binti’s Journey based on The Heaven Shop by Deborah Ellis, Perfect on Paper at the Toronto Fringe and Talk is Free Theatre and Say Ginger Ale. The latter two plays also had radio drama adaptations on CBC.
Marcia has performed in theatres including YES/Sudbury Theatre Centre (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time); Blyth Festival (New Canadian Curling Club, 1837: The Farmers’ Revolt) and Factory Theatre/GCTC (The Real McCoy). She also makes brief appearances in TV and Film (American Gods, American Gothic, Diggstown) and two shorts making the festival circuit (Comics, Memento Mori).
Writer's Room
with Paula Wing
The Writer’s Room is a course that will feature you, your writing, what you want to work on. The course meets once a week to write, share ideas, and talk about points of craft. The instructor brings prompts and exercises, and ideas. The majority of class time is given to writing, with some sharing of your work and discussion in small groups added. If you have a project you want to dedicate time to, this class is for you. If you want to explore your voice as a writer, this class is for you. If you want to learn a few new ways to approach your work, this class is for you. Any and all levels welcome.
PLEASE NOTE: This course will be offered virtually over Zoom.
Applications Open – TBA
Application Deadline – TBA
How to Enroll
Artists are invited to submit a maximum 1-page letter of interest detailing a little about themselves, their work, and what they would like to learn, along with a 5-page max writing sample of your work.
Applications can be submitted to education@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line WRITERS.
If you are applying for a subsidy rate spot, please include SUBSIDY in the subject line.
For accessibility accommodations or to submit your application in an alternative format, please email or call Heather Caplap at education@tarragontheatre.com |(416) 531-1827 ext 249
APPLICATION DEADLINE – TBA
Cost
TBA
Dates and Times
Location: VIRTUAL via Zoom
Time: Evenings
Dates: April / May
EXACT DATES TBA
Instructor
Paula Wing is a playwright, translator, dramaturge, and teacher. Recent and upcoming plays (on stage in 2025) are: Wicked Nix, an adaptation of the book by Lena Coakley, at Young People’s Theatre; a translation of Stefano Massini’s Intractable Woman at Brandeis University; and Roadkill, a play for teen audiences for Roseneath Theatre. Paula has been a story consultant for the Calgary Stampede Museum, and she writes program notes for productions at Soulpepper Theatre. Her teaching takes her across the province with the Gryffon Trio’s Listen Up program. She has taught playwriting at Tarragon Theatre for more than 10 years, most recently she facilitates the National Young Playwrights Unit. Paula is a Sessional Professor at the University of Windsor and the University of Waterloo and for the past twelve years she has been the creative writing instructor at the Native Men’s Residence in Toronto.
Acting for Seniors
with Nicole Wilson
More info coming soon!
Applications Open – TBD
Application Deadline – TBD
How to Enroll
Artists are invited to submit a maximum 1-page letter of interest detailing a little about themselves, their work, and what they would like to learn.
Applications can be submitted to education@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line ACTING.
If you are applying for a subsidy rate spot, please include SUBSIDY in the subject line.
For accessibility accommodations or to submit your application in an alternative format, please email or call Heather Caplap at education@tarragontheatre.com |(416) 531-1827 ext 249
APPLICATION DEADLINE – March 29
Cost
Regular Rate – $240
Subsidized Rate- $100* (limited availability)
*If you are applying for the subsidized rate please note it in the subject line of your application letter. You are welcome, but not required, to include a few sentences about why you would like to apply for the subsidized rate.
Dates and Times
Location: Tarragon Theatre
Time: Mondays, 1pm – 3pm
Dates:
- Exact Dates TBD
Instructor
More info coming soon!
Costuming
with Caroline O’Brien
More info coming soon!
Applications Open – TBA
Application Deadline – TBA
How to Enroll
TBA
Cost
Regular Rate – TBA
Subsidized Rate- TBA* (limited availability)
*If you are applying for the subsidized rate please note it in the subject line of your application email. You are welcome, but not required, to include a few sentences about why you would like to apply for the subsidized rate.
Dates and Times
Location: TBA
Time: TBA
Date: TBA
Instructor
A native of Ireland, Caroline O’Brien is a costume designer and maker, a writer and educator. In her freelance career she has worked with major ballet and dance companies collaborating with choreographers from across North America and Europe, and has a long-standing collaborative relationship with Peggy Baker, Artistic Director of Peggy Baker Dance Projects. She worked with Canada’s National Ballet School as resident costume designer and wardrobe supervisor, a position she held for almost twenty years.
In addition to costuming Caroline has worked in large-scale sculpture incorporating industrial metal textiles with fashion fabrics. Her award-winning work is represented in private collections and has been performed and exhibited across Canada and internationally, and her designs were selected for the inaugural World Stage Design, 2005. She curated Sixty Years of Designing the Ballet for The National Ballet of Canada, awarded the Richard Martin citation for excellence in costume curation by the Costume Society of America.
Caroline was appointed Chair of the School of Performance in 2019 where she also teaches courses in tailoring, corsetry, dancewear, and historic costume making. As Chair, Caroline leads the academic, creative and administrative activities within the school. Prior to taking on this role, she worked as Director of Production, with key contributions to teaching, revising curriculum and enhancing the student learning experience.
Caroline holds a PhD from The National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland where she completed her thesis on the design and making process in a professional ballet company, engaging The National Ballet of Canada as a case study. She has held artist residencies at Artscape Gibraltar Point in Toronto, Banff Centre for the Arts, several locations in Ireland and the UK, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and MEC (Maison des Etudiants Canadiens) in Paris. She has presented her work across the world, from Aalto University, UCLA, and New York in the U.S. to Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Dublin, London, Nottingham, Paris, Auckland, Osaka, to name a few. She has served as a guest instructor at University of the Arts London, L’Ecole Supérieure de Ballet du Québec, Dalhousie University and has offered numerous independent costume workshops for beginners through seasoned professionals. Caroline is passionate about sharing her experience of the creative process as it applies to textile arts and live performance. Her workshops focus on applied learning in costume making, hand finished details and movement-added patternmaking while participants are encouraged to connect with one another and share industry and personal experience.
Caroline works with Metcalf Foundation and serves as Chair of the Tarragon Theatre Board of Directors.
Other educational opportunities in our building
IN STUDIO SCENE STUDY
with Karen Ivany
A great introduction to on camera acting for theatre-trained actors.
A rewarding work out for returning and advanced students wishing to sharpen and expand their screen acting skills.
Drawing from the methodologies of SANFORD MEISNER, STELLA ADLER, LEE STRASBERG, UTA HAGEN, MICHAEL CHEKHOV and STEPHAN PERDEKAMP, scene partners create authentic interactions, internalize core emotions and follow physical impulse within master, medium and close-up frames.
Scene explorations focus on committed State(s)-Of-Being, character development through Behaviour, interaction with Objects, beat Transitions, action/dialogue/movement/
Actors create by doing. Most of class time is dedicated to acting practice with live feedback between takes. Notes focus on WHAT IS WORKING WELL and WHAT MAY BE CLARIFIED in portrayals. As well as adapting to notes in real time, participants also learn to self-evaluate their work, an essential skill for the working actors submitting selftpes to casting. After each class, students receive all their class footage with additional notes for further review at home.
How to Enroll
Those interested in registering for a class may submit a form via the website, or email directly: karen@karenivany.ca
Cost
There are 3 levels of In Studio Scene Study classes;
INTRO (4 weeks) – For Beginners with little or no previous on camera acting training – Reg FEE: $300+HST
RETURNING STUDENTS (INTERMEDIATE) (6 weeks) – Please submit resume for assessment – Reg FEE: $440+HST
ADVANCED (4 weeks) – By invitation only or submit resume for assessment – Reg FEE: $360+HST
I propose a 15% discount on all class fees above for CAEA full and apprentice members.
Dates and Times
Learn more at karenivany.ca
Instructor
Karen Ivany is a theatre-trained actor who transitioned to screen acting early in her career. Her twenty-five years of activism with ACTRA lead to her first teaching contracts for working and aspiring actors. Ms.Ivany was commissioned by The Second City Training Centre in Toronto to expand the Acting Program curriculum in 2010. During her tenure at Second City, she also established on camera acting classes and was the exclusive instructor of those popular specialty offerings. Karen has been teaching Respect On Set for both ACTRA and DGC members as well as students of the College of Makeup Art & Design (CMU) for over a decade. Ms. Ivany is a member of Acting Coaches and Educators (AACE), adhering to a strict code of ethics to keep actors safe and respected while practicing their craft.
EQ Training includes the following certificates;
Mental Health First Aid – Mental Health Commision of Canada
Emotional Intelligence In The workplace – Julie Freedman
How To Be An Effective Trans Ally – The 519 Community Centre Group, Toronto
Conflict Resolution and De-escalation Techniques – The St Stephen Community Centre, Toronto
Intimacy In The Acting Classroom – ACTRA (2018) and AACE (2022) – Siobahn Richardson, Intimacy Coordinator, Canada