Testimonials
Since the inception of Directors Lab North in 2011, over 350 directors from around the globe have participated in the Lab. We are so proud to have hosted these exceptional artists. We always end each year with a session asking the Labbies to share a reflection of their time spent with us. Here are some of their thoughts over the years.
“DLN has challenged, surprised and ultimately reinvigorated my practice not just as a director but as an artist. The connections made here have already profoundly impacted my creative world. The DLN is vital for both the local and global artistic ecology.“
Jessie Fraser, Toronto, 2016 Labbie
The Lab transformed my craft into a life’s work. That’s a very scary, beautiful and rare thing.
Samuel Wilson, Brooklyn, 2016 Labbie
An exquisite crucible of creativity and learning. Thank you so much for this life changing opportunity.
Allegra Fulton, Toronto, 2016 Labbie
“What a gift! The ability to gather with international directors having the same conversations was so special. Directing can be a lonely pursuit and building this community is vital to future theatre making. Thank you!”
Chloe Kounadis, NYC-Based
2026 Labbie
“DLN is invaluable. In the UK director development is now almost non-existent, particularly for artists over 35 years + mid-career directors.
The diverse mix of ages, nationalities, cultures, genders, disabilities, enriched the work beyond expectation. The core, skill and generosity shared by all the guest artists was validating and galvanising. SLN reaches the parts other programs fail to get close to. Thank you.”
Maddy Moore, UK, ADHD
2026 Labbie
“What a beautiful, welcoming and creative space to spend the week. The lab allowed me to show up authentically exactly as i am, and flourish in a room of directors, re-ignighting my own belief in myself and my art.”
Genevieve Wilson (she/her)
Melbourne, Australia
2026 Labbie
“Life Changing Experience — truly. 30 international directors coming together to build and strengthen the identity of Canadian theatre. A usual very solitary and isolating field, given the unique opportunity to be collaborative in our practice and learn from our boots on the ground peers to build the Craft of Directing.”
Jack Bumbala (they/them)
Vancouver, Canada
2026 Labbie
“This was a transformative week. As a young female director, my time at the lab sky-rocketed my self esteem and has left me inspired to create bolder, edgier, more creative work. Connecting with such brilliant artists from around the globe has instilled in me a dream of traveling to collaborate and work on more universal works.
Willow Funkhauser, NYC
2026 Labbie
“I have felt numb. I have felt stuck. For a couple of years I have been taking jobs that allow me to hide out in different areas of Theater and after this week I’ve experienced Joy. I’be had a breakthrough for a project I want to create and after 2.5 years of living a sober life and being confused in my own mind and body I finally feel connected to my soul again. I feel like I’m connected to my humanity. I’m ready to get back to work.
Chris Causes, Chicago, IL
2026 Labbie
“The DLN creates a space for genuine cultivation of community camaraderie, joy and passion for theatre making.”
Andrew Cameron, BC, QC, ON
2026 Labbie
“This experience came at the exact correct time for a transitional period in my career – I feel more prepared, more enthusiastic, and ready to accept whatever challenges lie ahead, and confident that these relationships will carry me forward. I couldn’t have imagined that one week could offer so much.”
Lacy Post
2026 Labbie
“As an extremely early career director (under 10 projects) and an Afro-American immigrant I am so deeply enriched by this cohort and amazingly dense programming.
The mindful curation of speakers, projects, scale, scope and expertise was unmatched by any programming or education I have ever received. With built in networking!”
Micah JD, Ottawa, ON
2026 Labbie
“This has been the most transformative week of my career. Connecting with theatre makers from all over the world is an immense privilege, and my directing practice has benefited immensely from this experience. The environment facilitated in this lab has truly been so welcoming and supporting.”
Ophelia, Germany
2026 Labbie
“This was a truly life changing career building experience. Directing is incredibly lonely and we so rarely get to learn about the practice of other directors. Coming in after stumbling around for new ideas and inspiration, the opportunity for a Global Majority, Queer director to train and learn from other directors is a godsend.”
Oli, London
2026 Labbie
“An essential training tool as well as a life-affirming experience.”
Alison P. (she/her), Toronto
2026 Labbie
“This week is a giddy of an experience that is so rare and so essential. As an Artists from the States the opportunity to learn about Canadian Theatre and connect with other directors from around the world is truly incredible. I learned things that were new to me, made valuable connections with Canadian artists that I hope to collaborate with in the future. I’m so grateful to be able to participate and will sing the praises of this program far and wide.”
Sarah Bickweat-Penner
Rochester, NY
2026 Labbie
“This Lab is wildly nurturing and fecund ground for fostering the future of other global arts.”
Allegra Fulton
“This Lab creates a space for community among people who are often in the most solitary leadership roles in theatre! It has given us each other, the greatest gift.”
Abi Sanie, Montreal
2026 Labbie
“Everything was awesome. The learning process, the way the Lab approaches Labbies. Everything was awesome.”
Amir Aram, Iran/Toronto
2026 Labbie
“This program is exactly what I needed and craved at this point in my career. I not only learned so many new skills but I left feeling inspired and supported by an international community of directors. This program opened so many new ideas and I’m excited to bring that I learned to my city.”
Claire, San Francisco
2026 Labbie
“This program has been transformational. Not only do I leave with a toolkit of useful processes and methodologies to further explore and play with in my own creative practice, but I leave with a group of future collaborators to share and create art together. This has been heart-opening, inspirational, and life-changing. A gift for my creative practice and soul.”
Mary Tooley (she/her), Toronto
2026 Labbie
“A hugely imaginative and invaluable experience of what it means to be a director and artist encountering the world today.”
Max Kirk, UK/NZ/IRE
2026 Labbie
“Life-changing – challenging, nourishing, growth-inducing, a once in a lifetime opportunity – I loved it!”
Toby Vera Barconca, Associate Professor of Practice, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH
2026 Labbie
“For an Iranian artist, having a chance to experience artistic collaboration on an international level, is usually quite difficult. But DLN provides an incredible space for artists from all around the world, like myself, to explore, learn, and collaborate. This lab is a space for artists and by artists to not only lessen the gaps of misunderstandings in the theatre world, but also create a more universal theatre family. Thank you for everything!”
Ava
2026 Labbie
“Incredible encounter. Learnt so much, loved Canadian theater, opened new doors and had deep discussions about the future of the field.
Sebastián Eddowes-Vargos, (he/they) Yale University, Perú
2026 Labbie
“An incredible way to connect with directors from around the world. A fantastic showcase and immersion of Canadian theatre and theatremakers
A hive of creative activity, development and inspiration.”
Lauren Killeen
2025 Labbie
“This is an incredible opportunity as an emerging director to meet queer theatre artists and directors from all across Turtle Island and around the world – I’m leaving feeling incredibly inspired and a lot less isolated. It is also a brave space that asks us to have difficult conversations that not only makes the work better but also our rooms and our communities.”
SE Grummett (they/them)
Treaty 6 / Saskatoon
2025 Labbie
“The Directors Lab is an extremely valuable meeting of international artists. While there is a focus on directing, the connections formed in the lab reach across the industry in artistic and political dimensions.”
Gislina Patterson, Winnipeg, MB
2025 Labbie
“I am certain that the other participants in this room are career altering peers, collaborators, and colleagues and that the shared knowledge and inspiration I have acquired will not only blossom my own artistic practices, but by extension the artistic practices of my own home community.”
Sarah Dowling, Edmonton
2026 Labbie
“There is nothing like this in world. To say it’s life changing, artistry changing is an understatement.
As someone who is not Canadian, This was such an amazing introduction to Canadian Theatre.”
Meredith Melwille, Corpus Christi, TX
2026 Labbie
“The Directors Lab North workshop is like nothing else that I’ve experienced in my training and development as a director. The facilitation and conversation surrounding the work is life-changing and will shift the course of my directing career. To be surrounded by international artists collaborating and celebrating the inclusive ways we all create art is exceptional.”
Matthew Rossoff, Toronto, ON
2026 Labbie
“I loved the diversity of participants, and experiences during the week. I feel so inspired to move forward and create new, exciting, Canadian work that the whole world can see.”
Adam Francis Proulx, Sault Ste Marie, 2SLGBTQIA
Johanna Metcalfe Protege ’25
2026 Labbie
“The value of the past week for me as an early career director cannot be overstated. I feel unmoored, overwhelmed, and completely inspired – it was a revolutionary experience for me.“
Eliza Palter, Dallas, TX / Brooklyn NY, 2026 Labbie
“The best training a director could ask for – like nothing else out there. Directors Lab North builds genuine intercultural dialogue. It builds the future of Canadian theater and puts it in context on the world stage.”
Kari Barclay, Cleveland, OH
2025 Labbie
“There is no other program like Director’s Lab North in Canada. This is an essential organization for the development and cross-pollination of Canadian Theatre.”
Mike Reinhart,
2024 Labbie
“Directors Lab North was an incredibly well-coordinated, thought-provoking week-long intensive program. My approach to theatre-making was challenged in new ways and I cannot wait to apply what I learned to my upcoming projects and overall vision as an artist. It’s been a life-changing week. Thank you. Each session was thoughtfully curated and contributed to the overall experience.”
Emilia White, Toronto
2024 Labbie
“Directors Lab North is where we track the pulse of emerging theatre practice in Canada and abroad. It is an innovative think tank, a crucible for forging new visions and new voices that will shape the future of our theatrical culture.”
Chris Jackman, Toronto
2014 Labbie
“My week with Directors Lab North was stimulating, challenging and transformative. What a rare opportunity to engage in discussion, debate and discourse with other directors. I came to this lab with my own ideas on the practice of directing and those ideas have been challenged , blown up and turned upside down- in the absolute best way possible. I’m leaving here inspired to get to work.”
Charlie Johnson, New York
2018 Labbie
“The Lab has expanded my vision of what it means to be a director in the theatre of today – the pure joy, constraint, wonder and questioning that is required of me. I leave the lab dreaming of the artist I will grow to be, one that embraces what I already know and asks “What else?”
Katrina Darychuk, Toronto
2016 Labbie
“DLN connected me with an International network of peers and equipped me with new approaches and tools for my craft. Every director should participate at least once.”
Peter Pasyk, Toronto
2018 Labbie
“The most meaningful thing I will take away from the lab is the relationships wth other directors around the world doing amazing work. The environment of the Lab was wonderful and the culture was immediately open and non-ego driven.”
Jenny Montgomery, Quebec City
2014 Labbie
“This week has been an extraordinary opportunity for professional development and connection. I feel creatively fulfilled and inspired in a way I have not in a long time. I leave with many new friends and connections, and a desire to start a similar program in my own city. I am so grateful for the work of DLN and wish every director had this opportunity.”
Olivia Munk, London, UK
2025 Labbie
“What a gift to share time and space with other directors from around the world. This week pushed me to think in many ways I’d never considered. Thank you to DLN & its wonderful founding and steering artists for bringing us all together, for your deep care, and for the diverse and inspiring programming. I will take so much of this experience with me into all of my artistic work moving forward.”
Sarah O’Brecht, Toronto
2024 Labbie
“Directors Lab North is a brilliant, inclusive, comprehensive incubator of community! DLN is incredibly unique, gathering diverse directors from around North America and beyond to celebrate the craft of directing and to experience the talents and resources of Canadian Theatre is SO VALUABLE! Thank you and may this program continue for years to come!”
Grace Bertucelli-Booth, New Orleans
2024 Labbie
“I’ve rarely felt myself grow artistically like I did in Directors Lab North.”
Eric Taylor, New York
2018 Labbie
“Amazing explosion and exchange of ideas, practices and culture that will inform the questions I ask of my craft for the next 10 years or more.”
Brendan Howlett McMurty, Toronto
2013 Labbie
“Eight days of raising the level of one’s practice in a gathering of diverse and generous colleagues from all over the world.”
Isabella Stefanescu, Waterloo
2018 Labbie
“A fantastic opportunity for directors to network and exchange ideas and nurture their own creativity. Incredibly worthwhile! I absolutely support what is being developed within the theatre community by these folks – an act of generosity and love.”
Sonia Norris, Toronto
2013 Labbie
“The organizers were masterful in their design of the event. Every workshop informed the other. This is an invaluable and vital resource for the development of theatre artistry in this nation and for global development through collaborations.”
Jill Carter, Toronto
2013 Labbie
“These four days have been truly inspirational . They have relit my desire to keep learning. Really an invaluable journey for any director.”
Alan Kinsella, Ireland
2013 Labbie
“DLN will remind, inspire, frustrate, grow, challenge, motivate and expand your practice as an artist and a citizen.”
Ann Kreitman, Chicago
2016 Labbie
“Planting seeds of practice that I will harvest for years to come.”
Yuchen Ye, Hong Kong, China
2025 Labbie
“I can now split my directing life into 2 parts: Pre-Directors Lab North and post DLN. This week has both broken my brain open about what’s possible with directing and made me more secure in my personal process. I can’t wait to get back in the rehearsal room with all this new knowledge and experience, and back into the world at large with all these new colleagues and friends.”
Alex Church-Gonzales, New York City
2025 Labbie
“This week has been such an incredible opportunity to learn about myself and about a theatre culture that was, until now, completely unknown to me. I’m definitely going to take these lessons home with me, and I am deeply grateful to my collaborators. This will, hopefully, serve as my introduction to a lifelong relationship with Canadian theatre.”
Oskar Westbridge, Chicago
2024 Labbie
“The DLN was an incredible experience for me artistically and personally, this week was jam-packed with so many inspiring sessions and meetings that I am still reeling as I try to process it all. I have formed so many new creative connections and developed so many new tools for my theatrical utility belt that I feel super charged to tackle my next theatrical project. Thank you.”
Michael Scholar Jr, Toronto
2024 Labbie
“This has been an incredible and inspiring week. As directors we can get so isolated personally and artistically in a box, and this reminds us to stay open and playful and inquisitive. There is nothing quite as valuable for directors who are actively practicing as connection.”
Kendra Jones, Winnipeg
2018 Labbie
“I was so impressed with the leadership, the schedule, the amount and variety of workshops. DLN are an amazing organizational team. I don’t think I’ve been to such a well thought out and engaging conference or workshop.”
Christine Brubaker, Toronto
2013 Labbie
“A way to grow, to get wonderful and interesting contacts. Something I’ll bring and keep with myself for a very long time.”
Gianna Formiacione, Italy
2013 Labbie
“Without a doubt, this is exactly what I needed at this point in my career: to be with other directors, to work and learn together intensively and support one another collaboratively has been fanstastic. Hope to stay connected with these good folks for a long time.”
Laureen Smith, Washington, DC
2013 Labbie
“This Lab was incredibly well planned and conceived and balanced. Great sense of community and amazing group of directors! I am so looking forward to working with some of the artists I met here – very wonderful –thank you so much!”
Alisa Matlovsky, New York
2013 & 2014 Labbie
“Through the work this week I have decided it is much more important to create the art I truly believe in. It really revitalized my “want” to create and contribute to this art form.”
Kristy Chambrelli, Connecticut
2014 Labbie
“DLN was a most valuable experience for me to professionally connect to peers on an international level. This is, at times like these, when the world is in a critical state, existential. Theatre is a place of creation for community, society, and political thinking. I hope that programmes like this will be able to expand – Let’s imagine a better world together!”
Sina Heiss, Austria
2025 Labbie
“As an emerging and new in craft director, this experience of meeting diverse directors of different generations and regions has been so useful in giving me perspective and resources as I move forward in my career. The combo of peer-led conversations, workshops facilitated by guest artists, and field trips to local shows has been an enriching experience that I’ll carry with me forever. I wish this was longer!”
Rinchen Dolma, Toronto
2024 Labbie
“I wish there were more opportunities like Director’s Lab North out there for artists. This is truly a very special experience, led with dedication, passion, and care by all the facilitators. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this intensive, and cannot wait to carry the skills I acquired and the relationships I’ve made, into the next stage of my creative process. PS- I would be interested in bringing this workshop to London, UK- we need it!”
Kay Battan, London, England
2024 Labbie
“The depth of process work and the sharing of fresh, contemporary ideas in the theatrical direction are fully realized at DLN.”
Lois Hunter, Boston
2013 National Artist Teacher Fellow
Centre for Arts Education (Boston Arts Academy)
2013 Labbie
“The expansive toolkit of possibilities- the exercises, the systems for creaton and the dynamic community of peers created in this Lab cannot be overestimated. I feel much richer and more enlivened, connected, focused in my curiosity and supported than before.”
Sarah Kitz, Toronto
2014 Labbie
“Participating in DLN has given me the confidence to continue my practice as a theatre maker and opened up my understanding of how other artists and countries approach the craft. From a spiritual standpoint, I will now include land acknowledgement when practicing my work.”
Antonio Minino, New York
2018 Labbie
“I never would have had the opportunity to travel to Toronto, a new city in an unknown country, without Directors Lab North. What I’ve learned in a totally new environment, surrounded by a supportive yet questioning group of diverse peers will stay with me as I develop my practice back in the UK. In this way, the theatre sector- Ontario- will help grow and influence the cultural sector in the UK, leading to a lasting legacy and greater connection between me, Directors Lab North, Canada and the UK.”
Catherine Paskell, Wales, UK
2018 Labbie