Courses
Applications for our 2026 courses are open!
Pattern Drafting & Draping
This course builds upon foundational skills in professional costuming introducing students to the principles of costume design for live performance. Participants will learn about the design process, from concept development to interpreting a sketch. Through hands-on project(s), participants will gain practical experience in pattern drafting and draping, constructing basic blocks for costume development.
The course covers topics such as period styles, and fabric selection. Through hands-on workshop and projects, students will gain practical experience in creating costume elements.
*Participants should be able to operate an industrial sewing machine & basic professional costume building skills. Equivalent experience in self-taught practice is welcome.
*Please note this course will be held at TMU
*Materials provided, participants should plan to bring their own tool kit
Applications Open – March 23
Application Deadline – April 19
How to Enroll
Artists are invited to submit a maximum 1-page letter of interest and a recent resume.
Applications can be submitted to education@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line DRAFTING.
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 – April 19
Cost
Regular Rate – $430
Subsidized Rate- 220* (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: Toronto Metropolitan University
Time: 11am-4pm
Dates: May 19-22
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.
Movement: Level 2 Workshop
with Andy Massingham
This workshop is designed for the creative artist who has either attended Andy’s movement workshop previously or has substantial movement training.
Over the course of four four-hour sessions, the participants will be invited into a playful, physically expressive practice that blends improvisation, clown, and ensemble play to expand presence, creativity, and responsiveness. Beginning with body-based warmups that awaken breath, alignment, and sensory awareness, participants move into guided improvisations that explore impulse, rhythm, and spatial relationships.
Clown principles—such as vulnerability, complicity with the audience, and the joy of the ridiculous—are introduced through games and structured exercises, encouraging performers to embrace authenticity. Throughout, the emphasis is placed on play as a generative force, using curiosity and imagination to unlock spontaneity and deepen connection to self and Others.
Solo and group explorations culminate in short devised pieces that celebrate risk, physical storytelling, and the pleasure of being fully present in the moment.
Applications Open – April 1, 2026
Application Deadline – April 19, 2026
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 education@tarragontheatre.com with the subject line MOVEMENT 2.
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 – April 19
Cost
Regular Rate – $240
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, 6:00-9:00pm
Dates:
- May 4
- May 11
- May 19 (TUESDAY)
- May 25
Instructor
Andy has been teaching clown and movement for over thirty-five years. His solo movement piece Rough House (commissioned by Nightswimming theatre) toured Canada and Andy received the Dora Mavor Moore award for best performance. He continues to write, act, teach and create at a number of theatres and schools. Andy’s latest play, Any Idiot Can Face a Crisis, will be premiered this July at Theatre on the Ridge.
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 (On Camera);
INTRO (4 weeks) – For Beginners with little or no prior acting training or experience
- Reg FEE: $325+HST
RETURNING STUDENTS (RS- Intermediate) (6 weeks) – Please submit resume for assessment via contact form on website www.karenivany.ca
- Reg Fee: $495+HST
ADVANCED (5 weeks) – By invitation only, please submit resume via contact form on website www.karenivany.ca
- Reg FEE: $425+HST
EQUITY MEMBERS RECEIVE 10% OFF REGULAR FEES
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