CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
The Gros Morne Playwrights’ Residency is a Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal (PWM) and the Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD) program, created with the participation of Artistic Fraud, and in partnership with the Cole Foundation, Creative Gros Morne, and the Bonne Bay Marine Station. It is a dual-lingual residency that will welcome writers from across the country to Gros Morne, Newfoundland.
ABOUT THE GROS MORNE PLAYWRIGHTS’ RESIDENCY
The Gros Morne Playwrights’ Residency will bring together seven Canadian playwrights over a twelve-day period, from October 13 to 24, 2022. This unique dual-lingual residency is offered by two pan-Canadian organizations, PWM and CEAD, with the participation of Artistic Fraud of NL. It will take place at the Bonne Bay marine station in Norris Point, located in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador.
English language playwrights are asked to apply through PWM and French language playwrights through the CEAD. These two organizations will assess submissions from all across the country and select three English and three French applications. A seventh spot is reserved for a playwright from Newfoundland and Labrador.
The residency will be led by Fatma Sarah Elkashef, artistic director of PWM, Emma Tiabldo, dramaturg at PWM, and by Sara Dion, dramaturg at CEAD. The residency is an opportunity for solo writing, punctuated with moments of exchange and reading of texts as a group. The Gros Morne Playwrights’ Residency provides playwrights with transportation, accommodation, meals, an honorarium of $800.00, and dramaturgical support.
Applications for this residency are now closed.



HOW TO APPLY
Submission deadline: May 20th, 2022 at 11:59 PM
Please send English submissions by email to: residency@playwrights.ca
With the subject line: 2022 Gros Morne Playwrights’ Residency
Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Selection will be made by an internal committee set up by PWM and CEAD. We will only notify the selected applicants. The selected playwrights will be informed no later than July 8, 2022.
For more information about the residency, please contact residency@playwrights.ca
Eligibility:
- Be a playwright, writing in English, and having at least one dramatic work workshopped, published, or professionally produced;
- The play would ideally be in the early stages of development (first draft or slightly beyond);
- Be available for the whole residency;
- Be willing to participate in all activities prepared during the residency;
- For playwrights writing in French please see link to CEAD here.
PWM welcomes all applications to our programs. While recognizing that the identity of each person is fundamentally plural, multidimensional, changing and evolving, we strongly encourage applications from artists who are: Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit), Black, POC, racialized (including recent immigrants), 2SLGBTQQIPAA+, neurodivergent, disabled, living with chronic illness and/or chronic pain. PWM is strongly committed to supporting a wide range of cultural identities and lived experiences, therefore we encourage applicants to self-identify in their application if they are comfortable doing so.
Your submission package must include:
- A statement of your interest in the residency and how it will benefit your process;
- A description (PDF, video or audio) of the play (maximum 1 page/2 minute video or audio) with an excerpt of the play in progress (minimum 10 pages, maximum 12 pages);
- A CV (2 pages maximum) and a short bio (100 words maximum);
- A copy of your last published, workshopped or produced play.
Please submit all of the above as a single PDF file including links to the audio or video description if relevant.
If you need assistance with this application, please contact Heather Eaton at heather@playwrights.ca.
IMPORTANT
The holding of the residency is dependent on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in Québec and in Newfoundland and Labrador. The residency and its parameters could be reassessed or postponed prior to the residency.
PLACES TO CREATE DURING THE GROS MORNE PLAYWRIGHTS’ RESIDENCY

Bonne Bay Marine Station
Since 2002, the Bonne Bay marine station, located on the magnificent west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, has had the primary mission of expanding knowledge in marine ecology. In addition, the station also engages in community and artistic activities. Nestled in the small coastal community of Norris Point and with breathtaking views, it is equipped with laboratories, offices, a library, a multimedia theatre, an aquarium, and a building with individual rooms.
The residence is wheelchair accessible. However, the library and theatre space at the Bonne Bay Marine Station which is used often by the playwrights requires the participant in a wheelchair to leave the residence, travel across the parking lot, into the main lobby entrance to access the library/theatre space.

Gros Morne National Park
Soaring fjords and moody mountains tower above a diverse panorama of beaches and bogs, forests and barren cliffs. Shaped by colliding continents and grinding glaciers, the ancient landscape of Gros Morne national park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
SCHEDULE FOR THE GROS MORNE PLAYWRIGHTS’ RESIDENCY
October 13, 2022
Travel via plane and car to Norris Point, Newfoundland and Labrador (anyone departing West of Ontario will have to add a day of travel).
October 14-23, 2022
- Unstructured writing time at Bonne Bay Marine Station;
- Individual sessions with residency dramaturgs as requested by the playwright;
- Daily ninety minute group meetings to read and discuss the process;
- Possibility of a public activity with the community.
October 24, 2022
Departure for home.

A PDF of this call is available here: