PLAYWRIGHTS THEATRE CENTRE

Thinking of attending LMDA's annual conference June 27th-30th? Can't make it for the whole weekend?

Single day registrations are now available.

For single tickets to Speaking of Change, click http://speakingofchange.bpt.me
For singe day registration for the LMDA Conference, click   http://lmdavancouver.bpt.me

Local theatre makers - playwrights, artistic directors, and dramaturgs - have an opportunity to meet practitioners from all over the continent. Confirmed attendees include playwright Erik Ehn, NAC Associate Artistic Director Sarah Stanley, NEPA AD Tara Beagan, and more.

Hosted by PTC, SFU's School for the Contemporary Arts, and LMDA Canada, with the support of the Canada Council, the CIty of Vancouver, SFU Faculty of Communications, Art and Technology, VP Academic, and School for the Contemporary Arts.

PTC is pleased to announce that applications are open for our newest program Write Space, made possible through the support of the Vancouver Foundation.  Write Space is a flexible residency opportunity for emerging to mid-career playwrights, with residencies ranging from one week to one month, serving up to 15 writers in its pilot year.  It is a new strategy to match playwrights to writing space, with a stipend to support the work. Our first deadline for applications is May 15, 2013.

Write Space addresses practical issues in our community: a lack of affordable work space for writers; the need for living wages for artists; and through cross-sectoral partnerships and readings, the need for connection amongst Vancouver’s citizens.

Our writers have told us about the kinds of space that best support their practices, in response to email surveys, group discussions, and one-on-one process talks. There is no one formula that suits them all. Some need  “a room of their own,” preferably with the door closed, some need to get out of town, and some write from 10 – 3 while the kids are at school. Primary to the Write Space program is the freedom for the artist to define their project or program of work, and for PTC to help them match it to the best space resource.

Our Write Space partners include:

Joe Creek Artist Retreat with The Only Animal http://www.theonlyanimal.com/artist-retreat-centre) – a cottage for 1-3 people in Robert’s Creek.  One-week sessions. Writers have the option for conversations with the Only Animal theatre company (Kendra Fanconi and Eric Rhys Miller), response to a 5 acre wooded site, and potential readings in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast. On site dramaturgy at the end of the week can be requested from PTC. Only an hour and a half away from downtown Vancouver, the Joe Creek Residency is ideal for mid-draft revisions, or early research and thinking time with minimum distraction.

Historic Joy Kogawa House – a family home in Marpole owned by the Land Conservancy, the house is situated in the former home of the Canadian author Joy Kogawa (born 1935), where she lived until age six. It stands as a cultural and historical reminder of the expropriation of property that all Canadians of Japanese descent experienced after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. One month for one writer. Includes opportunities for intimate living room readings and meetings with other writers. Scheduled for August 2013.

Upcoming, we will have a partnership with a design company for a 3-day per week, 3-month residency. If you would like more information about this residency, please tick the box and we will send more information as it is confirmed.

The writer receives: accommodation, valued at $550 per week, plus a $500/wk stipend.   To apply, click here.

Thank you to all our guests, artists and volunteers for making PTC's 40th Anniversary a lively evening of music and words.

To see documentation of the event, visit our Facebook page and twitter feed @ptc_playwrightstheatre

Welcome Block D participants Catherine Ballachey, Kelsey Blair, Dennis Bolen, Rohit Chokhani, Kaylin Metchie and Veronique West who will meet with PTC's Heidi Taylor and Kathleen Flaherty to discuss theoretical and practical processes of dramaturgy. The first of eight sessions is March 27th.

Past Block D participants have joined the reader pool for PTC's Dramaturgical Reading Program, our by-request play report service.

Touchstone Theatre, PTC and the Firehall Arts Centre have selected Briana Brown’s play The Concessions as the 2014 Flying Start project. The playwright Briana Brown, Touchstone’s Artistic Director Katrina Dunn and PTC’s dramaturg Kathleen Flaherty will collaborate on the development of The Concessions in preparation for its premiere at the Firehall Arts Centre in June of 2014.
“Briana has crafted the beginnings of a truly powerful piece of Canadian gothic, with characters that leap off the page with great clarity and humanity. We’re very excited to support her at this stage of her career.” says Katrina Dunn, Artistic Director of Touchstone Theatre. PTC’s Kathleen Flaherty agrees: “It’s an atmospheric play centred around an inexplicable act of violence in a rural community. Briana is exploring ideas like belief and social responsibility in the context of a small town tragedy.” This will be the first professional production for Briana Brown who says, “I’ve been carrying this story and these characters with me for a long time, and the idea of this play finally being realized on stage, especially in such good hands, feels pretty unbelievable.”

Flying Start is a two-year development cycle for an emerging writer that brings a new play from early draft to production. The Concessions is the fourth Flying Start project since the program’s inception in 2007. In 2012, Peter Boychuk’s play Shelter from the Storm drew praise for the program from Jo Ledingham of the Vancouver Courier, “If Shelter from the Storm is any indication, the program [Flying Start] has real merit.”

The first public opportunity for a taste of The Concessions will be at a reading as part of BC Buds, the Firehall Arts Centre’s spring arts fair May 10 -12.

Originally from rural Ontario, Briana spent several years in Toronto after
graduating from York University (B.A. Honours, Theatre Studies). Her plays have been workshopped through Factory Theatre’s LabCab Festival, Tarragon Theatre’s Spring Arts Fair, and Nightwood Theatre’s Write from the Hip program. Her onewoman show, Cassandra, toured Fringe Festivals across Canada, was remounted as part of Winnipeg’s FemFest, and had a second production at the London Fringe Festival in 2010. It was recently included in One for the Road, an anthology of one-person performances, edited by Kit Brennan (Signature Editions). Her one act comedy, Almost, Again (Toronto Fringe, Best of Fringe, 2010) was included in the anthology Out on a Limb, and is now being developed into a feature film through the Producing Program at the National Film and Television School in London, UK. Also a theatre director, Briana has directed productions at Theatre Passe Muraille’s Buzz Festival, the Next Stage Festival, the Paprika Festival’s Tenth Anniversary Celebration (2010), and assisted Brad Fraser on the Canadian premiere of True Love Lies (Factory Theatre). She is currently completing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.

PTC and the Vancouver International Fringe Festival are pleased to announce that Ingrid Hansen and SNAFU Dance Theatre’s project Kitt & Jane is the winner of the inaugural Fringe New Play Prize.    The Prize includes a free spot at the 2013 Vancouver Fringe and the design and execution of a development process for the play with PTC’s Dramaturg Kathleen Flaherty.

“Kitt & Jane” was chosen for its intelligent yet cheeky approach to difficult subject matter.   Two Grade 8 students hold the school assembly (audience) hostage while they explain the apocalypse to them using science experiments, dance, and puppets.   “It’s fresh and funny, topical with a light touch.  Plus, it employs some low-tech, high-impact effects of traditional theatre,” says Flaherty.

For both the Fringe and PTC, SNAFU’s commitment to intense development of their work was an important factor in the choice.   “There were several very appealing projects, but SNAFU’s constant push toward refining their work was a deciding factor,” said Heidi Taylor, PTC’s  Artistic and Executive Director when she announced the winner.   “This is the kind of work we encourage at the Fringe – refined, theatrical, professional and entertaining,” added Fringe Artistic Director David Jordan.

A development plan for “Kitt and Jane” will be created and begun by mid-January.     It will be on the stage at Fringe 2013, Sept 5 – 15.