Actors
GCTC operates according to the Canadian Theatre Agreement (CTA), annually presenting a subscription season of up to six productions.
We post submission information on Ottawa Arts Database and similar services, and below on our website. Please note that there is an annual deadline date for submissions to the general auditions. Auditions for specific roles are held according to the needs of our production schedule and the availability of directors, hence there is no standard timing for these meetings.
Auditions
See below for two (2) auditon calls
General Auditions
The Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) is holding its annual general auditions in May 2025. General Auditions are a way for you to introduce yourself and your work.
GCTC operates according to the Canadian Theatre Agreement (CTA), annually presenting a subscription season of up to six productions. General audition priority will be given to members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. GCTC promotes an environment of equity, inclusion and diversity. Artists from under-represented communities are encouraged to apply for a general audition time. All artists are invited to remove measurements and physical features from their CV. As we wish to see artists once every two years, artists who were seen in the 2024 general auditions are asked not to reapply.
Please note: GCTC’s 2025/26 programming has been announced.
To be considered for an audition, please submit:
Cover Letter in PDF format
Current CV in PDF format
Headshot in JPEG format
Accommodations are available upon request at any stage of the audition process.
If you would like to audition but need additional time, or if this notice puts up barriers, we encourage you to get in touch with Sarah Kitz, GCTC’s Artistic Director, before the deadline at auditions@gctc.ca.
Deadline
Deadline for audition submissions: Monday, May 5th, 2025 @ 4:00pm, Eastern Time. Please make sure that directors are listed on your CV and all information is up to date.
Location
Auditions will be held at GCTC in the Studio Theatre in Ottawa on May 29th and 30th. Equity actors will be seen on May 29th, and non-Equity members on the 30th.
Time
10am to 4pm Eastern Time.
Send all applications to GCTC’s Artistic Director, Sarah Kitz, at auditions@gctc.ca, with the subject line: Application for General Auditions. Please also add your Equity (or Actra) / Non-Equity status in the subject line.
We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only successful candidates will be contacted to arrange an audition. Please do not call or email the theatre to confirm receipt of submitted packages.
Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre
GCTC is holding auditions for one role in the season opener, Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre by Larry Tremblay, in translation by Chantal Bilodeau. This is a published play and you should read it ahead of auditioning.
If you have never been seen for a General Audition by AD Sarah Kitz you must apply to the Generals as well as applying to audition for this show. If you have been seen recently by Sarah Kitz, or she knows your work, you may apply directly for this show.
Show Blurb
Scratch the surface of any story and underneath you will find layer upon layer of fiction masquerading as fact. Mark Killman—a feared but much admired director—draws inspiration from Abraham Lincoln’s assassination to stage the psycho-social violence of America. He hires two actors to play Laurel and Hardy. Both are to re-enact the assassination, while he himself plays the iconic role of Abraham Lincoln as a wax figure.
The script is frequently self-referential, building on each of these “retakes” with further allusions to itself, telling the same story many times over in different voices from different points of view. Tremblay quite explicitly stages elements of literary theory with this play, including references to Jean Baudrillard’s concept of the simulacra and the “desert of the real,” concepts first popularized by the movie The Matrix—the idea that in our postmodern world, the imitator has become more relevant than the imitated, and that the virtual worlds we construct are becoming more “real” to us than the real world.
Absurd, hilarious and haunting, Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre is an unforgettable mystery that asks the question: How can we ever know who we are and what is true when the world we know is shifting beneath us? Its answer is simple: John Wilkes Booth was the first American star—the actor who kidnapped reality to transform it into theatre.
Role:
An actor dressed like HARDY
Male, 35 - 55
A hungry actor. Committed to his craft. He wants to be good. He will do what’s required to get it right. He contains good humour, ambition, meanness, tragedy, secrets, a temper, dedication to the task, and a deep longing to be legitimate. An excellent storyteller.
Capable of choreography – physical comedy, fights, dance.
Singing – not virtuosic - can carry a tune.
The character is referred to as fat, but the actor does not need to be fat.
To be considered for an audition, please submit:
Cover Letter in PDF format
Current CV in PDF format
Headshot in JPEG format
Deadline
Deadline for audition submissions: Monday, May 5th, 2025 @ 4:00pm, Eastern Time. Please make sure that directors are listed on your CV and all information is up to date.
Location
Auditions will be held at GCTC in the Studio Theatre in Ottawa on June 3rd and 5th.
Time
10am to 4pm Eastern Time.
Send all applications to GCTC’s Artistic Director, Sarah Kitz, at auditions@gctc.ca, with the subject line: Application to audition for "Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre". Please also add your Equity (or Actra) / Non-Equity status in the subject line.
We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only successful candidates will be contacted to arrange an audition. Please do not call or email the theatre to confirm receipt of submitted packages.
Designers
We produce at least four productions per season and provide both ADC and non-affiliated contracts to designers of all disciplines. If you’re interested in submitting your portfolio for consideration, just contact our Artistic Director, Sarah Kitz: sarah@gctc.ca
Directors
We operate under the Canadian Theatre Agreement and produce at least four productions per season.
Please note that we do not accept suggested play titles from freelance directors. This helps avoid misunderstandings in the event that a freelance director promotes a play that is already under consideration (this happens more often than you’d expect). If a director is affiliated with an existing script, we ask that the playwright pitch the project, with the director as a partner, or suggested artist. Freelance directors visiting Ottawa are welcome to contact us for complimentary tickets for any production, subject to availability of course.
If you’re interested in submitting your portfolio for consideration, please contact Sarah Kitz: sarah@gctc.ca.
OAC Recommender Grants
We are pleased to announce that we will once again participate in the Ontario Art's Council’s Recommender Grants for Theatre Creators program. This program provides funding to theatre creators, as recommended by GCTC and our peers in the professional theatre community.
How does it work?
Candidates submit an application through the OAC’s Nova portal (see below)
Applications are sent to GCTC by the OAC
After reviewing applications, GCTC makes recommendations for funding to the OAC
OAC makes the final deliberation and delivers funding directly to the selected artists
What does this funding support?
any type of theatre-based creation activity by eligible applicants
Deadline for applications:
October 25, 2024 at 1 pm ET
GCTC encourages applications from members of equity-seeking and under-represented communities.
Priorities
BIPOC and local artists, equity and opportunity for all; to provide meaningful support for under-represented communities in Ottawa's theatre scene.
Submission Instructions
You will be asked to submit the following items:
C.V. (mandatory)
Script Sample
For application access and full grant details, please click here to be taken to the OAC website.
About recommender grants
Recommenders are organizations authorized by OAC to receive applications, review them and make grant recommendations. OAC allocates a budget to each of the participating recommenders.
Within six weeks of an application deadline, the recommender will notify OAC of their grant recommendations. Funding recommendations are reviewed by OAC for applicant and project eligibility, and OAC then sends you an email letting you know that your notification letter is available online in Nova.
If recommended a grant, all grant recipients must acknowledge the notification letter in Nova. Individual grant recipients must also enter their Social Insurance Number (SIN). OAC then sends the grant cheque by regular mail.
Important
Recommender grants are outright grants to artists from OAC and cannot be represented as any form of payment to or from the recommender, or to or from any member or director thereof.
Under no circumstances should the grant be considered as a substitute for a commission fee.
Application access and information about the Recommender Grants program can be found on the OAC website:
http://www.arts.on.ca/grants/recommender-grants-for-theatre-creators.
Theatre Recommenders Program
GCTC participates as a recommender in the Ontario Arts Council’s (OAC) Theatre Recommenders Program, subject to approval each year.
Residencies
GCTC supports independent artists’ applications to the OAC and to the Canada Council for the Arts.
Shannon Reynolds Fund
GCTC is the home of the Shannon Reynolds Fund, which supports an emerging female artist each season. The fund provides support in a different discipline each year (i.e. direction, design, stage management). We’ll be posting application guidelines here annually.