The National Theatre School of Canada

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Fall, 1993 by Karen Bell

Montreal -- The National Theatre School of Canada, the foremost theatre training centre in Canada, is the only school in the country devoted entirely to theatre. Students receive instruction from professionals in all of the theatre arts: acting, scenography, technical production, directing and playwriting. The School draws students from across the country, though the largest number of students come from Quebec (88 Quebecers last year, compared to, for example, 24 Ontarians, 8 Albertans and 3 Newfoundlanders).

Offering programmes in English and French, the School encourages students from both language groups to mix and be influenced by one another, though classes are separate. The NTSC claims to be the only "colingual" theatre school in the world.

The instructor-to-student ratio is high -- roughly 150 students work with about 200 active theatre professionals on various projects and productions during the school year. Facilities are excellent: the NTSC Library houses a bilingual collection of 45,000 volumes and theatre archives. In addition, the NTSC mainstage is the Monument-National; at a century old, the oldest operating theatre in Canada. Recently renovated, the Monument-National now has the latest equipment, design studios and workshops, the largest rehearsal room in Montreal, an 800-seat classical proscenium theatre and a 150-seat performance studio. Both spaces will be available to theatre companies that do not have permanent stages of their own. Touring companies will also perform here.

The Monument-National, located on St. Lawrence Boulevard, is a Montreal landmark, and as such, its restoration preserves a part of Montreal's history as well as enhancing the School's facilities and improving the city's theatre venue situation. The Societe Saint-Jean Baptiste inaugurated it on June 25, 1893, and the auditorium was often packed by crowds eager to hear Henri Bourassa or Wilfrid Laurier speak.

The theatre was also home to a variety of educational lectures and shows. The public enjoyed operettas, comedy revues, religious and Yiddish plays. -- in fact, for almost 50 years, the Monument-National was the most important centre for Yiddish theatre outside of New York City. Actor/artistic director Louis Mitnik arrived here in 1897 and continued his association with the Monument-National until the end of his life. 1924 was the beginning of the Louis Sochat era -- the Montreal Yiddish impresario who was the principal tenant of the Monument-National until the end of the 1950s.

The Varietes lyriques of Charles Goulet and Lionel Daunais played here from 1937 until 1955. And Gratien Gelinas' Fridolinades played this stage annually for nine years starting in 1938.

Emma Albani sang here in 1896 and the Oriental Opera Company presented a Chinese opera in 1897. Edith Piaf graced the stage on her Quebec debut in 1948. In 1950, Henri Poitras founded the Theatre du Rire which performed at the Monument-National. Clemence Desrochers gained fame here in 1959 with her one-woman show, Qua rise donc d'elle.

The Monument-National gradually went into decline after the Second World War, until 1965, when the NTSC began renting it for the staging of its public performances. In 1965, the graduating students of the NTSC produced their first public show, featuring alumni Robert Charlebois, Mouffe and Francine Racette. In 1971, Arthur Gelber, a governor of the School, bought the building for the School's use. The School purchased the Monument-National from Mr. Gelber in 1978.