Subverting the canon: Writing plays as though race, class, gender and sexual orientation mattered

Now accepting applications for our next training session with Corrina Hodgson.

Dates: December 11, 12, 18 and 19, 2017
Time: 4PM to 8PM
Location: PWM
Fee: $45 (Fee is not a barrier to anyone who might be interested/eligible)

“The well-made play holds a mirror to society and in so doing it mirrors the very forces that oppress those of us who are not straight, white, able-bodied, men.

As a disabled, fat, queer playwright, I am obsessed with exploring ways to break that mirror through breaking traditional three-act structure.

In this workshop we will look at a number of different scripts and scenes that are utilizing Epic Theatre techniques in a variety of ways to accomplish a subject position for marginalized voices. We will look at our own work, and see if these techniques can be applied, and how our characters benefit from these applications. As such, participants should come with a completed piece that they are willing to work on and share with other members. This can be a one-act or full-length piece.” – Corrina

Familiarity with recent Montreal productions such as Tragic Queens, The Mountaintop, Angelique, and Intractable Woman is beneficial but not essential.

Familiarity with the following texts would be appreciated, as we will probably be referring to them frequently throughout the workshop:

  • Venus, Suzan Lori Parks
  • Peeling, Katie O’Reilly
  • You for Me for You, Mia Chung

There is also a certain presumed familiarity with the works of Tony Kushner, Brad Fraser, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Caryl Churchill, Sarah Daniels, and Sarah Kane.

Application guideline: To apply for this training,  please submit a bio, a short (1-2 paragraph) statement of why this particular approach to playwriting is of interest to you, the piece that you intend to work on, and a couple of sentences about your familiarity with Epic Theatre.
Please send applications to emma@playwrights.ca
Subject line: Exploring Practice with Corrina Hodgson
Application deadline: December 1, 2017 at 5PM

Instructor:

Corrina Hodgson holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. Her plays have been produced across Canada and in the US as well as on CBC Radio One. She is the past winner of the Jane Chambers International Playwriting Competition, Theatre BC’s Playwriting Competition, and has been Playwright in Residence at the University of Lethbridge, as well as on the Antechamber Writer’s Unit at Buddies in Bad Times and the Groundswell Writers Unit at Nightwood Theatre. She is one of the co-founders of the Rose Festival.

“The well-made play.
So very entertaining.
And so very dangerous.
So we can change the characters in our plays.
And we can change the orientation of those charactersAnd can “crip up” those characters.
And diversify the race and gender of those characters.
But unless and until we break the mirror, we will continue to reproduce the social forces that marginalize and deny a subject position to minority voices — even when we position them as protagonists in our dramas, reimagine the context of those dramas, or repopulate those dramas with the bodies and peoples we want to see onstage.” – Corrina

Training made possible by

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