Location: Drayton Entertainment Youth Academy (145 Northfield Dr W, Waterloo)
Date: Sunday, September 28
Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Ages: 17+
Cost: $50 + HST
Led by Drayton Entertainment’s Artistic Director, David Connolly, this dynamic, three-hour workshop offers a supportive and focused environment where participants will sharpen their audition pieces, and gain insight into the audition process.
Throughout the workshop, participants will:
- Receive personalized, one-on-one coaching in a group setting
- Work with a live accompanist/music director and professional director
- Explore script and score analysis to deepen character understanding
- Develop physical awareness and gesture work to enhance performance
- Learn strategies to manage performance anxiety and stay grounded in auditions
- Balance healthy vocal technique with emotional authenticity and specificity
Students should bring an audition cut (under two minutes) of a song in any genre. Sheet music should be in the correct key, hole punched, and double-sided in a binder.
*Space is limited to 10 students to ensure individual attention. Ideal for students preparing for post-secondary theatre program auditions.
David Connolly
David Connolly is the Artistic Director for Drayton Entertainment, the recipient of the 2024 Canadian Actors’ Equity inaugural Change Maker Award, and the first amputee to have performed on Broadway.
As a Director/Choreographer, he has helmed the Drayton Entertainment productions of Shrek, The Prom, Kinky Boots, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Mamma Mia!, Newsies and ten years of beloved pantos. For the screen, he has directed several series for CBC as well as projects for Disney, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS; collaborating with artists including Katy Perry, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Elton John, Sarah Jessica Parker, kd lang, Patti LaBelle, Sarah Brightman and many others.
As an Educator, David has been an Adjunct Professor and Advisor to the Musical Theatre Performance Programs at Sheridan College, Western University, VanderCook College and most recently, The Hopkins Centre for the Arts at Dartmouth College.
David is a recipient of the Ontario Premier’s Award of Excellence and a speaker for the DEI Committee of the International Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance. For five years, David has curated and moderated a disability inclusion panel at BroadwayCon in New York to help develop actionable steps to improve disabled representation onstage.