HCM CITY — The HCM City Drama Theatre, a leading venue established in 1963, is offering free training courses in performance skills for young people.
Theatre director Nguyen Khanh Hoang, a veteran actor who spent nearly 20 years on the stage, said all of the theatre's new plays were challenging for the young staff.
"Our theatre has a small group of young artists who have poor performance skills. To maintain the theatre, one of the city's most prestigious stages, we need more young, skilled performers," he said.
Hoang said his theatre's training courses aimed to give young participants a chance to discover new techniques and ways of expressing themselves emotionally on stage.
"Offering professional drama training is part of our theatre's activities so one day we can be recognised as a speciality art centre," he added.
Before joining the training courses, candidates aged between 18 and 35, will spend selective rounds hosted by the theatre's veteran artists.
The winners will work as professional artists while attending class, and will have opportunities to perform in the theatre's serious plays and comedies.
Hoang said he and his staff felt confident in their ability to successfully train students at different levels of performance.
Hoang said the theatre was a pioneer and had not wasted time waiting for the local government to help its business.
The theatre independently found ways to develop and improve its staff of young performers, he added.
In recent years, the city's Theatre and Cinematography College has sent its best students overseas to improve their performance skills, with scholarships through various courses at prestigious theatre schools such as France's Paris 8 University and Australia's the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
"This is one way of improving the quality of our students. Through training courses abroad, we will give students the opportunity to continue their study at a higher level," rector Phan Thi Bich Ha said. Ha said her school was also working with relevant offices to organise more courses to be taught by foreign guest artists.
"We have worked with the Australian Consulate and the French Consulate in the city to sponsor directors and artists to teach and direct plays for students, and we have received excellent results."
Like Hoang, Ha believes that plans to boost the school's activities will not only be crucial to the school's development, but will also be important for the development of the city's drama scene. — VNS