The Acting Programme is a performer-centred, practice-oriented training with a focus on intercultural work and original creation.
Students are immersed in traditional theatre forms from Asia and contemporary techniques in actor training (such as Stanislavskian and post-Stanislavskian lessons). The programme is set up as a series of dialogues – between Cultures, Languages and Forms, and between Craft and Theory, the Contemporary and the Classical, the Technical and the Imaginative, and Structure and Spontaneity.
The programme trains professional actors and performers who can work in a range of contemporary theatre genres and forms.
On completion of the professional diploma programme, the ITI actor is expected to be skilled in stagecraft and adept at the techniques of theatre, s/he is knowledgeable about theatre, is able to maintain a personal practice, is critically aware and socially engaged, and is capable of working autonomously as a creative person or artist.
Almost 100 per cent of ITI’s alumni continue to work in the creative fields post-graduation, and many have garnered acclaim and awards, including Golden Horse Awards (Taiwan), M1-The Straits Times Life@ Theatre Awards (Singapore), ADA Drama Awards (Malaysia), Most Outstanding Zambosurian (Arts and Culture) (Philippines), Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar (India).
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
Small: Designed to cater to a select number of dedicated and gifted performers from diverse cultures. Only 12 students are selected for each cohort, with the teacher-student ratio ranging from 1:12 to 1:32.
Specialised and intensive: Packed with para-theatre, skills and technique training, and seminars on the humanities, arts, theatre theory and critical studies.
Conservatory style model: For the first two years, students undergo up to 50-hour weeks of training that include Immersions in Theatre Traditions, Acting, Movement, Voice & Speech, Taiji, Humanities and Technical Theatre, as well as Post Modular Lab. In the third year, students focus on devising and performing publicly ticketed productions.
Varied modes of teaching: These include studio work (group and individual), rehearsals, workshops, field-work and research, reading and textual analysis, exercise demonstrations, lectures, tutorials and seminars, and public, professionally-helmed performance presentations.
Intercultural & multilingual: Operates in diverse and plural social and learning environments. The medium of instruction is English but when necessary other languages are used with English translations. Work involving classical text, singing, and enunciation and diction work have to be learnt in the original language. Students with other mother tongues or adopted languages will be encouraged to use these in individual projects and presentations.
