zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz SASKATCHEWAN PLAYWRIGHTS CENTRE EZINE zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz In this issue: * SPC Public Playreading - FREE! * SPC's 24-Hour Playwrighting Competition & Volunteers * Call for Submissions * Your News Here * SPC Board Members zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *SPC Public Playwreading - FREE! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz This Sunday March 29th, SPC will present readings from three new works. WHERE: La Troupe Du Jour 914 20th Street W TIME: 7:00pm Featuring plays by Curtis Peeteetuce, Julianna Dunn and Simon Moccasin. Admission is free!! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz * SPC's 24-HOUR PLAYWRIGHTING COMPETITION * zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz The SPC 24 Hour Playwrighting Competition is in Regina this year, May 1 to 3, 2009. There are two Competition Categories: Student (highschool/university) and Open (everyone else). Registration is on a first come, first serve basis. For further info, please visit our website: www.saskplaywrights.ca or contact Sheila Angelstad, SPC Administrator at (306) 665-7707 or email: sk.playwrights@sasktel.net ***Volunteers are needed for the 24 Hour Playwriting Competition*** May 1&2, 2009 - University of Regina! 2-4 hour shifts available Please contact Jodi at jdsadowsky@hotmail.com zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS* zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz FEMFEST 2009: Herstory Winnipeg’s 7th Annual Festival of Plays by Women for Everyone Sarasvàti Productions is proud to announce that their seventh FemFest will take place in the fall of 2009. The festival will run at the end of September in Winnipeg. We are currently seeking submissions of scripts, proposals of work in progress, or finished productions ready for presentation. Subject matter is wide open, as long as the piece is written by a Canadian female playwright and has a running time of no more than one hour. Technical and set requirements must be minimal due to the festival setting. A reading committee will assess submissions for their individual quality and in order to program a balanced festival. Each selected playwright will be paid royalties and offered the opportunity to work with a dramaturge in order to further develop the script. Touring companies will be paid a performance fee. Please include: 1. A cover letter -expressing why you feel your project should be a part of FemFest 2009 -detailing any production history of the script 2. Include one copy of the script or detailed script proposal. 3. If it is a production being offered for presentation please include press clippings, videotape, photos or other material documenting the production; as well as a clear list of requirements and fee expectation. In addition, we are seeking short performances for our Cabaret evenings. The Cabarets are interdisciplinary so we welcome submissions by musical groups, comedy troupes, dancers, visual artists, film-makers and multi-media work. The main creative force must be female. Groups or individuals interested in the Cabarets can simply forward information on the work they would like presented as well as a bio. All submissions must be received in the office by April 15th, 2009. Submissions can be mailed or e-mailed to: FemFest 2009 Sarasvàti Productions 242 Cathedral Avenue Winnipeg, MB R2W 0X3 info@sarasvati.ca For more information please contact us at (204) 586-2236 or info@sarasvati.ca . To view details on past FemFests check out our website www.sarasvati.ca . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Scriptwriting Challenge - 30 days. 100 pages. April. GO! www.scriptfrenzy.org Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April. As part of a donation-funded nonprofit, Script Frenzy charges no fee to participate; there are also no valuable prizes awarded or "best" scripts singled out. Every writer who completes the goal of 100 pages is victorious and awe-inspiring and will receive a handsome Script Frenzy Winner's Certificate and web icon proclaiming this fact. Even those who fall short of the word goal will be applauded for making a heroic attempt. Really, you have nothing to lose-except that nagging feeling that there's a script inside you that may never get out. Who: You and everyone you know. No experience required. What: 100 pages of original scripted material in 30 days. (Screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, and graphic novels are all welcome.) When: April 1 - 30. Every year. Mark your calendars. Where: Online and in person (if you want!). Hang out in the forums, join your fellow participants at write-ins, and make friends by adding writing buddies online. Why: Because you have a story to tell. Because you want a creative challenge. Because you'll be disappointed if you missed out on the adventure. Because you need to make time for you. How: Sign up. Tell everyone that you are in the Frenzy. Clear your calendar. (US participants: Get your taxes done now!) Start some wrist exercises. Have fun! The 5 Basic Rules of Script Frenzy 1) To be crowned an official Script Frenzy winner, you must write a script (or multiple scripts) of at least 100 total pages and verify this tally on ScriptFrenzy.org. 2) You may write individually or with a partner. Writing teams will have a 100-page total goal for their co-written script or scripts. 3) Script writing may begin no earlier than 12:00:01 AM on April 1 and must cease no later than 11:59:59 PM on April 30, local time. 4) You may write screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, comic book and graphic novel scripts, adaptations of novels, or any other type of script your heart desires. 5) You must, at some point, have ridiculous amounts of fun. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz The Canadian Stage Company 2009 Festival of Ideas and Creation The Canadian Stage Company is pleased to announce a call for submissions to its second and now annual Festival of Ideas and Creation to artists who are currently working on new projects of any length and in early phases of development who would like the opportunity to publically share their work in a festival context in June 2009. Interested Applicants Please Submit: 1. a cover letter which addresses: a. How you approach creation and your practice as an artist (250 words max) b. Ways in which you are interested in expanding your practice or artists you are inspired by (250 words max) c. History and description of your project (250 words max) 2. 10 pages (Max) of the Project’s Script or, for more physical works, a Synopsis 3. a Brief Bio or Cv 4. Applications can be dropped off or mailed to: FESTIVAL OF IDEAS AND CREATION The Canadian Stage Company 26 Berkeley Street, Toronto, ON M5A 2W3 DEADLINE: 5 P.M. ON MONDAY MARCH 16, 2009 (Applications must be received by this date. No exceptions. ) For more information, please contact Festival Director Natasha Mytnowych at 416-367-8243 x277 or nmytnowych@canstage.com zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz BBC World Service Radio Drama Playwriting Competition Location: UK Deadline: 31 March 2009 Entries are invited for the eleventh biennial BBC World Service playwrighting competition, which offers a first prize of £2,500 cash and the chance to have your play professionally produced and broadcast on the BBC World Service. The competition is open to anyone who is resident outside Britain and entrants are invited to write a sixty minute radio drama with up to six central characters. Plays must be in English and must not have been previously produced in any medium. For information regarding competition rules and entry forms please visit the website www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice or e-mail radioplay@bbc.co.uk zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *OPPORTUNITIES* zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Interactive Scriptwriting Spring 2009 Wilfrid Laurier University Starts: March 30, 2009 Cost: $123 Note: Internet access is required Details: www.wlu.ca/coned Register: conted@wlu.ca or 519.884.0710 x6036 The Course • online course introduces students to the craft of writing script for film, television and the theatre • course enrolment provides student with a password that allows access to the first level of writing challenges; successful completion of each level results in access to the next level • student determine pace of submissions and approaches to script writing • writing assignments to be submitted for feedback as the course progresses • course fees purchase a set number of feedback opportunities • course designed and administered by Dr. Leslie O'Dell (feedback provided by Dr. O'Dell or by freelance professional writers under her supervision) • course begins March 30, 2009; first login must occur by April 20, 2009 • six month time frame to complete course zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *MEMBER NEWS* zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz SPC MEMBER - KELLEY JO BURKE Kelley Jo Burke is the 2009 City of Regina Writing Award winner. She received the award for her new one woman play "Special" . The City of Regina Writing Award provides $4,000 to a Regina writer to reward merit in writing and enable a writer to work on a specific writing project. The Award is funded by the City of Regina Arts Commission and is administered by the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. In her judges comments' poet Di Brandt said of Burke's play "It's ever so difficult to capture the sweaty anxious adoring pleasurable mix of giving birth and mothering young children in words. In this vivid monologue, Kelley Jo Burke manages that impossible task with verve and panache. The child in this case is not only young and demanding, but extraordinarily so, an autistic toddler, who can't sleep through the night without falling out of bed and injuring himself, who can't let go of his mother's hand or skin for even a second. The mother in this case is energetic and articulate in her response to the child, taking us through the swirl of emotions and ambivalences, the sorrow, guilt, weariness, anger, wonder and joy of mothering such a needy but also eerily gifted child, an increasingly common challenge in our time. This is sharply delineated human drama at its most tender, most vulnerable, most courageous. Excellent theatre." and judge Susan Ouriou said: "Kelley Jo Burke's proposed one-woman show is an unflinching look at one mother's hard day's night bringing up her autistic child. What we have seen so far is full of wisdom, wit, brutal honesty, and a willingness to challenge and be challenged. She gives voice to the fear, despair, love, and wonder of "special" mothering and a demonstration of the courage it takes, day after day after day, to drill into the hard rock of love, patience, creativity, and combativity that bringing up Noah requires. Thanks to Burke's gifts as a playwright, we anticipate a theatre piece that allows us to share in the triumphs and tragedies of the Noahs and Noahs' families of the world." Special opens with Curtain Razors theatre company at the end of September in Regina, and then visits at Dancing Sky Theatre in October. Dates to be announced. FMI contact Curtain Razors or KJB Congratulations, Kelley Jo! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *YOUR NEWS HERE* zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Share your latest triumph with your fellow SPC members! Spread your name and fame across every aspect of the SPC Communications Empire - the SPC newsletter, website, discussion group, and Ezine. If you have events, workshops, articles, calls for submissions for inclusionin SPC publications, put all the details into an email and send them to jshebelska@sasktel.net. *Please note - I am trying to limit the scope of the ezine to informationregarding playwrighting. There are other organizations to promote screenwriting, poetry, and otherliterary pursuits* WE NEED YOUR CURRENT CONTACT INFO! If you have a new email or street address, let us know. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *2009 BOARD AND STAFF* zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz President: CHERYL JACK cheryljack@sasktel.net Vice-President: JAMIE LEE SHEBELSKI jshebelska@sasktel.net Past President: WILL BROOKS williamallenbrooks@yahoo.ca Members-at-large: PAM HAIG-BARTLEY pamela.haigbartley@usask.ca JAMES TRETTWER wormwer@yahoo.com ROB VAN MEENEN getnthevanmeemen@sasktel.net MIKE THOMPSON GILLIAN HARDING-RUSSELL russell@accesscomm.ca IAN MCWILLIAMS Staff: Heather Inglis (Dramaturg) hdi1@telus.net Sheila Angelstad (Administrator) sk.playwrights@sasktel.net SPC Phone Number: (306) 665-7707 SPC fax number: (306) 244-0255 Mailing address: PO Box 3092 Saskatoon, SK S7K 3S9 email: sk.playwrights@sasktel.net on the web: www.saskplaywrights.ca