National Theatre School of Canada (NTS) DramaFest is , connecting secondary school students and educators through district, regional, and provincial showcases each spring. Now in its 80th year, NTS DramaFest continues to emphasize student鈥慸riven collaboration and participation, with opportunities for students to engage on stage and behind the scenes.
Through NTS DramaFest, students are supported to explore theatre as a tool for learning, expression, and connection. With a strong commitment to accessibility and inclusion, the festival encourages students from diverse backgrounds to collaborate, take creative risks, and engage in meaningful storytelling.
NTS DramaFest 2026 opened with 19 District Festivals in February, supported by a province鈥憌ide network of teachers, volunteers, artists, and community members. From there, productions move on to six Regional Festivals, with selected schools advancing to the Ontario Provincial Showcase, taking place May 20 to 23 at York University.
This year, many TDSB students, staff, and schools have been recognized at the district and regional levels. Readers can explore the full list of , which is updated as festivals continue.
Lisa Morneau, drama teacher and Assistant Curriculum Leader at Don Mills Collegiate Institute, has been part of NTS DramaFest for 11 years, with multiple award-winning students and performances along the way. This year, she guided students through one of the festival’s productions, Augustus. Here’s what Lisa had to say about NTS DramaFest. Be sure to scroll to the bottom for photos!
This year marked the 80th Anniversary of NTS DramaFest. Why do you think the festival has remained relevant to students for so many decades?
The festival used to be called the Sears Ontario Drama Festival. I have only been a part of it for a relatively short while, but there are teachers in this Board who have been involved with the festival for more than 25 years. My colleague, Jordan Tzouhas, was one of the district coordinators last year and has been directing NTS shows for the past five years.
With that in mind, students continue to be involved because teachers have fostered a safe space to create, to be heard, and to celebrate their experiences within this amazing drama festival.
Additionally, students want to participate because the festival honours student voice and encourages them to tell their stories. Although it does not have to be the case, most productions are created by students. Productions can be student-written, collective creations, works developed with a teacher, or published pieces that are shaped into something meaningful for the students involved.
The festival asks students to create a professional theatrical production with lights, sound, set, and costume, which is adjudicated in front of a public audience and an accomplished adjudicator, so the stakes are high. Students can receive awards for their productions and may be among the few selected to move on to the next level of the competition. I always call it OFSAA for theatre kids.
There are so many students who have been positively influenced by this festival because of the sense of community and artistic expression it fosters. They get to meet other students from schools across the GTA, whether from the TDSB, Catholic schools, or private schools. It is a chance to tell their stories in an authentic way. For some students, it is a space where they truly get to be themselves.
What did that look like at Don Mills this year with Augustus, from preparation to performance?
Grey Kuzman, who wrote the play, presented me with an idea in September. She really wanted to write a play, as it was her last year participating in the festival and she has been involved every year since Grade 9. She shared a few pages of dialogue that were so well written that I encouraged her to keep going.
The play was a dark comedy, and the characters, who were outcasts, came alive. We worked with deadlines, but along the way we workshopped the play with trusted individuals. Once the script was nearly complete, we invited designers and actors to join the process, and everyone found their place.
This play was heavy on design, so students explored what it would look like visually. Grey is a student in Cyber Arts and had a strong vision for the production. She shared that vision, and everyone became inspired and worked together to bring those ideas to life. We used projections, sound, lighting, side lighting, costumes, artwork on canvases, and more. We even had to create a lot of donuts.
The process was not without challenges. We had to recast one role in the final three weeks. We performed at our school at the end of February, with Leaside and North Toronto also in attendance and performing that evening. It was a magical night of student-written work, with about 250 people in attendance from all three schools.
At the end of the night, we gathered to listen to the adjudicator’s notes. They shared what could be strengthened and what they appreciated about the work. There was so much talent and a strong sense of kinship in the room. Later, students attended a district awards festival, where they received recognition for various aspects of the play and learned whether they would move on to Hart House Theatre for the regional festival.
How does DramaFest’s commitment to including students from different backgrounds and experience levels translate into real growth? What does that look like for the students you’ve worked with?
I have seen many schools’ performances over the years, and every time I watch a student show, I am blown away by the authenticity of student voice. I have seen productions that explored the inherent racism in photography, specifically yearbook photos and beauty standards for racialized individuals. I have seen plays about what gun violence felt like in students’ schools. I have seen work that explored what it means to be Filipino-Canadian and to immigrate to Canada, leaving everything behind. The list goes on.
Each of these stories is important because they are stories we do not often hear, and they are stories that need to be told.
Earlier in my career, I did a lot of collective creations, which remain my favourite medium for theatre. Over the years, many students with diverse identities have joined these productions. One example that stands out involved several Chinese international students. One student in particular, Lucia Kang, joined us in Grade 9 and spoke very limited English, but she desperately wanted to act. Her monologue was so powerful that we were all blown away.
Lucia remained involved in the festival for the next four years and encouraged other international students to participate. By Grades 11 and 12, she was leading the festival at our school. She explored what it meant to be Chinese and Canadian, telling stories through Chinese mythology and artistry. She found creative ways to use lighting, film, projections, and shadow work. Lucia later went on to study design in London, England.
Another student shared a deeply personal story about the loss of his father to cancer less than two years earlier. His father was Korean-Canadian, and the play was performed partly in English and partly in Korean. He honoured his father’s memory through humour. I have never seen so many people cry during a performance.
In another production, a Sri Lankan-Canadian student spoke about getting her first period at the same time her grandmother passed away. She later shared that her father cried when he watched the performance, as he had never been able to properly mourn the loss of his mother.
This year, a student whose parents are from Afghanistan performed on stage. His mother cried throughout the performance because she had never seen him express himself in this way before. He had always been very quiet and shy.
Before NTS took over the festival, I used to jokingly call it “Tears for Sears,” because so many students opened up and shared their stories, and there were often tears. They were always cathartic tears, and students felt supported. I do not think we get that kind of space anywhere else.
Do you have any advice for fellow educators who might be on the fence about their school participating in NTS DramaFest?
This festival is run by teachers who love theatre and who love supporting student voice. Educators do not need to be theatre experts to participate. Schools must be at the secondary level, and in Toronto, performances take place at a school within your district at the end of February.
Productions can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 50 minutes. The festival can be run as an extracurricular activity or embedded into a class as part of an assignment. There is an information session in the fall, and educators can always reach out to colleagues for guidance.
DramaFest is a powerful way to engage students. You do not have to worry about being “good.” In fact, it can be a wonderful learning experience if both you and your students are new to theatre. There are many people available to support you, and the current leaders of Toronto NTS DramaFest would be more than happy to help you get started. They offer strong resources and are generous with their time.
A huge shoutout to all of the teachers who have been involved over the years. It truly is a labour of love.
Thank you to Lisa Morneau and the Don Mills Collegiate Institute drama community for sharing their experience. Congratulations to the many TDSB students, staff, and schools recognized through NTS DramaFest 2026 at the district and regional levels!
For more information about local NTS DramaFest opportunities, .
