PGC Members’ Playwright Readings & Play Productions

Mark your calendars:

Playwright Readings

All of the following readings are free.

January 17th – 8 pm – Clem Martini at the University of Regina, Regina

January 17th – Sandra Dempsey – 3 Readings in Strathmore, AB, at the Royal Canadian Legion, Strathmore Seniors Drop-In Centre, and the Strathmore Municipal Library

January 19th – 7 pm – Linda Griffiths at TheatreBooks, Toronto

January 25th – 6:30 pm – Gary Kirkham at Tyndale University College,
Toronto, ON

January 27th – 7 pm – Rex Deverell at the Assembly Hall, Toronto

January 30th – 2:30 pm – Colleen Curran at the Performing Arts Lodge, Toronto

Professional Productions

Morris Panych’s play Lawrence and Holloman will be starting on January 19^th-February 2^nd at Persephone Theatre.

Sonja Mills’ play The Bird will be running from January 8^th-30^th at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

John Gray and Eric Peterson’s play Billy Bishop Goes To War will be playing from January 27th-February 5th at Western Canada Theatre.

Nicholas Hanson and Jeremy Mason’s play Marooned With Munsch is based on the books by Robert Munsch, and will be running from December 26th -January 8th at New West Theatre.

John Gray and Eric Peterson’s play Billy Bishop Goes To War will be playing from January 18th- 22nd at Theatre Calgary.

Kenneth Brown’s play The Complete Spiral Dive Trilogy will be running from January 6th-23rd at Workshop West Theatre.

David S. Craig’s play Having Hope at Home will be starting on January 26th- February 13th at the Globe Theatre.

Colleen Murphy’s play The December Man will be running from January 27th- February 13th at Prairie Theatre Exchange.

Susan Coyne’s play Kingfisher Days will be playing from January 18th- February 5th at The Grand Theatre.

David S. Craig and Robert Morgan’s play The Book of Miracles will begin its run on January 24th, touring elementary and middle schools until April.

Nicolas Billon’s play Greenland will be playing from January 27th to January 28th at the Tarragon Theatre Extra Space.

Community & School Productions

Daniel MacIvor’s play Marion Bridge will be performed by the Rainforest Productions in West Vancouver, BC, between January 1st and January 31st.  Also by Revelstoke Theatre Company in Revelstoke, BC, between January 14th and January 22nd.

Peter Colley’s play I’ll Be Back Before Midnight will be performed by Dundas Little Theatre in Dundas, ON, between January 27th and February 12th.

Dave Carley’s play Two Ships Passing will be performed by Domino Theatre in  Kingston, ON, between January 13th and January 29th.

Morris Panych’s play Girl in the Goldfish Bowl will be performed by the University College of the Fraser Valley in Chiliwack, BC, between January 19th and February 7th.

Michael MacLennan’s play Beat the Sunset will be performed by Marietta College, in Marietta, Ohio, between January 14th and January 16th.

Morris Panych’s play 7 Stories will be performed by McGill University in Montreal, QC, between January 19th and January 21st.

Daniel MacIvor’s play You Are Here will be performed by Rosebud School of the Arts in Rosebud, AB, between January 29th and January 31st.

Daniel MacIvor’s play Here Lies Henry will be performed by Number 20 in Studio Blr Theatre, Toronto, ON, between January 12th and January 20th.

Eleanor Albanese’s play Power of One will be performed by Saugeen District Secondary School in Port Elgin, ON, between January 1st and January 30th.

New Plays From Canada for Germany

For the fifth year running, the Embassy of Canada, in close cooperation with the Québec Government Office, held the competition “New Plays From Canada”. Material was sought that would also appeal to an audience outside Canada.

46 plays in English and 40 in French were submitted, all of which had been written within the last three years. While some had already premiered, others were still undiscovered. As in the previous competitions, the diversity of subject matter was impressive, as was the courage of many authors in taking a socio-political stance. What particularly stood out this time, though, was the high quality of the plays for children and young people. This is also reflected in the jury’s choice, with two children’s plays and one play for a youth audience among the four selected.

This year’s jury comprised Remsi Al Khalisi (dramaturge, Hans Otto Theater Potsdam), Frank Heibert (translator), Anette Kührmeyer (radio journalist, head of literature and radio drama, Saarländischer Rundfunk), Jörg Vorhaben (head dramaturge, Oldenburgisches Staatstheater) and Andrea Zagorski (dramaturge, German Centre of the International Theatre Institute).

The following plays were chosen:
Isberg by Pascal Brullemans (Quebec)
Wide Awake Hearts by Brendan Gall (Ontario)
The Forest in my Room by Thomas Morgan Jones (Ontario)
Rouge Gueule by Étienne Lepage (Quebec)

All the selected plays will again be translated into German by acclaimed translators.

A special thanks goes to the Canadian partners and sponsors, in particular the Canada Council for the Arts in Ottawa, the Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine du Québec, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Centre des Auteurs Dramatiques (CEAD) in Montreal and the Playwrights Guild of Canada in Toronto.

 

The Nominees/Recipients are…

With the awards season rolling in all over Canada, members of Playwrights Guild are very well represented this year! Canada-wide, our members continue to produce excellent quality of work that is honoured and recognized at various prestigious ceremonies.

Here’s a round up of nominations and recipients amongst the PGC membership.

Ken Cameron on the Nature of Contemporary Touring

Ken Cameron, playwright and Artistic Producer of Magnetic North Theatre Festival

Recently, Playwrights Guild of Canada interviewed Ken Cameron to discuss his experiences as the Artistic Producer of Magnetic North Theatre Festival. Magnetic North runs from June 9th to June 19th in Kitchener Waterloo, coinciding with Playwrights Guild of Canada’s AGM on Sunday June 13th. Try and make both.

PGC As the Artistic Director of Magnetic North Theatre Festival and a playwright yourself, what are your thoughts on the process of touring a play?

KC There seem to be two divergent paths that lie in front of playwrights these days: the traditional model where the playwright writes the play and, after its first production, attempts to find a second production at a friendly and willing theatre; and a more recent model where the theatre that developed and premiered the play attempts to find like-minded theatres willing to present the work they have invested in.

Helen Weinzweig (1915 – 2010)

By Dave Carley

Of all the writerly adjectives that could be attached to Helen Weinzweig, ‘prodigious’ is not one of them. Her oeuvre was mighty, but it was also mighty small. Nevertheless, her death in February marked the passing of one of this country’s most inventive writers of fiction, a woman who was a muse and inspiration to many, and a talented writer who was a goad to our received notions of story and character.

Vlogcasting: Or How I Learned To Stop Whining and Love New Media

By Don Bapst

I’m guessing everyone in the arts has spent more time discussing “new technology” in the last few years than they ever expected or cared to. At best it’s a sore spot…downright overwhelming on a good day. On a bad day, it’s just plain scary. Well, at the risk of sounding like a corporate motivation poster, I’ve finally decided to embrace it. No, I’m not going to pretend I don’t miss the days before I needed an iPhone app to fart (pardon my français), but I’m tired of fighting it. Plus, I’ve discovered vlogcasting. Look, up on the Internet, it’s a video, it’s a blog, it’s a podcast, it’s a vlogcast!

Writing Plays and Ruffling Feathers

Playwright Sky Gilbert

Is the reluctance to produce challenging work leading to a crisis in Canadian theatre?  Sky Gilbert believes so.  In this essay, drawing from his own experiences and observations, Sky examines the threat to theatrical vitality that’s created when Artistic Directors refuse to present plays that explore controversial territory.

I’ve often written against Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Rent.  “What have you got against megamusicals?” people always ask. Hey I’m as much of an entertainment junkie as anyone (these days, my favorite TV program is Flowers Uncut!) but that it seemed to me the Phantom was creating a whole new generation who would not understand that theatre isn’t defined by special effects – helicopters or chandeliers falling on their heads. Well, I think I can safely say that the philistines have won; the megamusical has vanquished Canadian theatre. We are now reaping the rewards of generations of schoolchildren being taken to see Phantom and Miss Saigon instead of Passe Muraille’s Farm Show. Torontonians don’t know what real theatre is. And when they do, they don’t want to see it.

PGC Member at Work: Talia Pura

Multi-talented artist Talia Pura.

So many of our members are creating and taking part in some pretty amazing stuff. Why not share and celebrate that with the world? Every month we’ll be dazzling you with the varying artistic talents and pursuits of our members.

Talia Pura, a member from our Manitoba caucus, is literally flying through the air with ideas and initiatives. Robin Sokoloski recently interviewed Talia about her recent and upcoming endeavours.