Registration will begin soon.

Please note: the $150 registration fee for the 2027 Wisconsin Directors Lab covers the cost of all sessions, breakfast and lunch on both days, and materials. Scholarship funds are available to anyone for whom cost is a barrier.

The deadline to register is Wednesday, November 25th.

REGISTER

Span of Day (including breakfast and lunch breaks)

Saturday, January 9, 2026: 10:00 AM – 6:15 PM
Sunday, January 10, 2026: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM
 

Scheduled Sessions Include:

• Career Paths. A panel of Wisconsin legends compare their histories and paths to directing and leadership.

• Business of Your Career. Organizational leaders discuss today’s industry standards, unions, pitching, higher education, and more.

• Auditions and Casting. Self-select your breakout room! Three directors offer up their process for auditioning and casting, from hearing a piece to practicing re-directs with actors in an audition room.

• Building a Relationship with Designers. How do you achieve a shorthand and build a working relationship? Self-select your breakout room! Three teams of directors and designers discuss their processes and best practices with each other.

• Emerging in Today’s Ecosystem. A full conference discussion centers emerging artists’ experience. What first steps, roadblocks, successes, discoveries, and questions do directors entering the field have in 2027?

• Working with a Stage Manager. A breakout discussion session for all! What are the foundations of a director’s relationship with a stage manager at any organizational level? What are best practices as our field continues to evolve?

• Consulting Specialists. A breakout discussion session for all! Often a production calls for specialists in dialect, fight direction, intimacy direction, choreography, cultural experts, and more. What questions and resources do we have in our ecosystem? What are best practices for hiring, partnering, and honoring their work?

• Amplifying Accessibility. A breakout discussion session for all! From artists in the room to audiences in the house, what might a director keep in mind and put into practice to continue to evolve our ecosystem’s access?

• Script Analysis/Production Prep. Self-select your breakout room ahead of time, and do a little homework on a play! You’ve been hired to direct a play (contemporary, classical, or musical). What’s involved in your early prep? Three directors share their process prior to meeting with a design team and facilitate a discussion on others’ approaches.

• Open Rehearsals. This year’s open rehearsal capstone affords an afternoon of drop-in observations of three pieces: contemporary, Theater for Young Audiences, and musical work…

• …along with scheduled and open networking time.

The Wisconsin Directors Lab is supported by funds from Forward Theater Company, and grants from Diane Ballweg, and Nancy Ciezki & Diane Kostecke.

Madison College is the Lab’s in-kind sponsor.