Author: Harris Frost

Posted on

Spatial Dramaturgy: Developing an Urban Performance Practice with Shauna Janssen

Image of Shauna Janssen inside a spotlight at the end of a graphic beam of light. The Image has text which reads "Exploring Practice."

Spatial Dramaturgy Application deadline: April 6th, 2022

Although the deadline to apply has passed, there are still a few spots available. If you are interested please apply as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, or need assistance with your application for Spatial Dramaturgy with Shauna Janssen, please contact the program coordinator Harris at harris@playwrights.ca.

This multi-day workshop led by Shauna Janssen (interdisciplinary artist and curator) will focus on exploring performance creation methods for developing site-specific/ responsive and urban performance works.

Participants will be engaged in “hands-on” activities taking place in the city, including site-writing and performative mapping workshops.  Each participant will realize a prototype for an urban performance project, as well as have an opportunity to engage with critical texts on interdisciplinary approaches to spatial dramaturgy and creating site-specific performances in the built environment. The workshop is open to playwrights, interdisciplinary performance makers and storytellers, scenographers, and dramaturgs.

PWM is committed to creating an environment where all individuals are treated with dignity and respect.  We are continuously working to make all of our programs accessible and inclusive. 

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.

Schedule:

(multi-day workshop)

Part 1: Thursday, April 21st, 6-9pm
Part 2: Saturday, April 23rd, 12-5pm
Part 3: Monday, April 25th, 12-5pm
Part 4: Tuesday, April 26th, 6-9pm
Part 5: Thursday, April 28th, 6-9pm
Part 6: Friday, April 29th, 6-9pm
Part 7: Sunday, May 1st, 12-5pm

Location:

The workshop will take place in-person and primarily in PWM’s studio. Some sessions will consist of in-situ writing sessions in various locations around the city.

If you have any questions, or need assistance regarding this application, please contact the program coordinator Harris at harris@playwrights.ca.

Application Instructions for Spatial Dramaturgy with Shauna Janssen

  • Send applications to harris@playwrights.ca with subject line: Exploring Practice with Shauna Janssen.
  • Please attach a bio and/or CV as well as a brief paragraph detailing your interest in the workshop.
    • We also accept alternative methods of application if requested, including video and audio applications.
    • If you have any questions, or need assistance regarding this application, please contact the program coordinator Harris at harris@playwrights.ca.
  • Apply before  5 PM on April 6th, 2022.

About the Workshop Leader

Shauna Janssen is an interdisciplinary artist and curator. She specializes in making site-specific performances, public art installations, and urban interventions. Her projects and collaborations have been staged in Montreal, and in various cities in Europe and Australasia. For over twenty years Shauna worked professionally in the theatre on the development of new works for theatre, opera, and dance. She is currently Professor in Performance Creation in the Department of Theatre at Concordia, where she holds a research chair in Performative Urbanism.

Presented in collaboration with
This workshop is financially supported by
Compétence Culture Logo

Posted on

APPLY NOW: Script Analysis with Maureen Labonté

Note:
This workshop will be held physically in accordance to PWM’s COVID-19 safety procedures. Contact harris@playwrights.ca for any questions about the workshop.

This five-day workshop led by Maureen Labonté is an introduction to a script analysis method based on the belief that it is of supreme importance to take the time to read and analyze the play text well, and know it thoroughly before jumping to interpretation. 

It is essential to take the time to dig, to investigate, to question and to ponder what the playwright wrote before jumping to conclusions or interpretation. Maureen uses the term “archeological” to describe it. This investigative work is fundamental to a sound and imaginative take on the work. It is objective and detailed, but also visceral.

Participants will have the chance to : 

  • Learn how to slow down, be curious and enjoy discovering what makes the play work, what is really there versus what you might think is there or what you want to be there. It’s a way to free the imagination.
  • Put opinion on hold, at least temporarily, and grapple with what the playwright has put on the page. Cultivate curiosity and a spirit of inquiry. 
  • Develop a spirit of investigation. Learn to ask good questions in order to get at the mystery that’s at the heart of the script and discover its beauty, magic, musicality, passion
  • And finally, after a detailed analysis (micro) learn how to pull back (up) in order to arrive at a synthesis of your discoveries (macro) and move into pre-production and eventually the rehearsal hall and the stage. 

“The vision of a great play is inextricably bound up with the exact words of the text.”

Robert Benedetti

Schedule:

(5-day workshop)

Session 1: Monday, November 8th, 2021 10AM to 2PM

Session 2: Tuesday, November 9th, 2021
1PM to 5PM

Session 3: Wednesday, November 10th, 2021
10AM to 2PM

Session 4: Thursday, November 11th, 2021
10AM-2PM

Session 5: Friday, November 12th, 2021
10AM-2PM

Possibility of an extra 2-hour session on Saturday, November 13th, 2021.

NOTE: Participants will be assigned a play to read between the first and second sessions. This assignment is mandatory and central to the workshop.

Location:

PWM Studio
7250 Clark St., #103
Montreal, QC
H2R 2Y3

Application Instructions

  • Please send us a bio and/or artistic CV as well as a brief (1-2 paragraph) statement explaining why this workshop interests you, how it is relevant to your artistic practice, and what your expectations are.
  • The workshop is open to playwrights, dramaturges and other theatre creators with some professional experience.
  • Send applications and any questions to harris@playwrights.ca with the subject line: Exploring Practice with Maureen Labonté.

Apply before 1PM EST on October 4th, 2021 to ensure that your application will be considered.

About the Workshop Leader

Photo by Nasuna Stuart-Ulin

Maureen Labonté is a translator, dramaturg and teacher. She has translated over forty Quebec plays into English. And Slowly Beauty (Talonbooks) her translation of Lentement la beauté by Quebec City playwright, Michel Nadeau, was a finalist for the 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award in Translation.

Maureen has worked as a dramaturg and coordinated play development programs in theatres and play development centres across the country. She was the Co-Director of the Playwrights’ Lab at the Banff Center for the Arts from 2006 to 2012 and has taught at the National Theatre School of Canada since the mid-90’s.

Quebec Logo
Compétence Culture Logo

Posted on

APPLY NOW: Building Your Grant Proposal with Jesse Stong

Note: due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this workshop will now take place remotely. The schedule, structure of the workshop has been modified accordingly. The application deadline has also been extended to 1pm on April 13, 2020. Contact harris@playwrights.ca for any questions about the workshop.

Using innovative and interactive activities, Jesse Stong (Art Educator/Playwright)will support emerging artists as they develop strong applications for their own future project grants. From seeding and exploring initial ideas to developing dynamic writing samples, participants will have the opportunity to elaborate and articulate project outlines with realistic timelines and budgets. By the end of these hands-on sessions, each participant will leave with their own completed first draft of a grant proposal, as well as strategies on seeking diverse sources of funding, independent fundraising strategies, and guidance on partnerships-building strategies for the future life of their proposed project.

Revised Schedule:

(2-part group session)

Part 1 – Tuesday, April 28: 12pm-2pm

Part 2 – Thursday, April 30: 12pm-2pm

In addition to the group sessions, individual or smaller group calls will be scheduled based on the participants’ availability.

Location:

The workshop will take place remotely via video-conferencing software.

Fee:

$45 
(Please contact us if this fee would be a barrier to your participation)

Application Instructions

  • Please attach a bio and/or CV as well as a brief paragraph detailing your interest in the workshop.
  • Send applications to harris@playwrights.ca with subject line: Exploring Practice with Jesse Stong.
  • Apply before  1 PM on April 13, 2020
  • Due to the revised format of the workshop, the number of participants may be limited to ensure that each participant gets the most out of the workshop.

Topics Covered

  1. General grant writing tips/cautions
  2. Stress and time management/infusing grant writing into your artistic practice
  3. Hands-On Project Proposal Building (developing treatment, describing project)
  4. Creative Activities (exploring innovative grant writing processes)
  5. Expressing authentic need and attracting support
  6. Group Brainstorm Sessions (exploring ideas, developing proposals further in the workshop)
  7. Editing and Increasing Impact (How to sharpen your grant)
  8. Action planning/specific measurable steps towards grant submission
  9. Ongoing Discussions/Group Sharing of Resources/Sources of Funding

Expectations

  • Please come to the workshop with a project/residency idea they are genuinely interested in developing a grant proposal for (the idea can be fully developed or a seed of a new project)
  • Be prepared to support the ideas of others/contribute to the group discussions.
  • Expect to leave with a clear plan to complete your grant application.

About the Instructor

Jesse Stong is a proud father of twins, a graduate of Playwriting from the National Theatre School of Canada, and received his Master’s in Art Education from Concordia University. He is an award-winning artist, dramaturg, and educator.

Over the years, he has supported over 100 emerging Canadian storytellers as director of our Young Creators Unit. He also leads our New Stories Project Unit for artist with different abilities.

Jesse was recently Manager of Children’s Programming for Watchmojo.com, Associate Curator for the National Arts Centre Disability Summit, and Host of the Montreal English Theatre Awards. He is currently developing an intermedia puppetry project launching fall 2020.

Presented in collaboration with
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is QDF-Logo.jpg
This workshop is financially supported by
Emploi-Québec and Compétence Culture Logos
Posted on

APPLY NOW: Re:Shaping Borders with Naïma Kristel Phillips

A devised creation workshop

Dates: February 29th & March 1st, 2020 (2-day workshops)
Time: 10 AM – 5 PM Both days
Location:  PWM (7250 Clark, Suite 103)
Fee: $42 (please contact us if this fee would be an obstacle to your participation)

What borders do you encounter, challenge, confront, travel through or around in your artistic practice? Are these concrete, imagined, welcome or imposed?

These questions will serve as the basis for the latest workshop in our Exploring Practice Series. Led by Naïma Kristel Phillips, Re:Shaping Borders invites participants to take part in a devised creation process built around the theme of borders.

Devised theatre, also known as collective creation, is a theatre-making practice in which an ensemble of performers (often actors or dancers) ”write” a piece collaboratively. This workshop is designed to give artists a hands-on introduction to this way of working. The group will be made up of roughly 8 artists with a variety of artistic backgrounds and experiences.

Application Instructions: To apply, please send us your artistic CV/bio and a brief (1-2 paragraph) statement explaining why this workshop interests you, how it is relevant to your artistic practice and what your expectations are for this workshop.

Please send your application and any questions to:  harris@playwrights.ca using the subject line: Exploring Practice with Naima Kristel Phillips


Application deadline:  February 5, 2020 at 11:59 PM

About the Workshop Leader:

Naïma Kristel Phillips is a playwright, librettist, and stage director committed to finding innovative ways to portray human existence. Her interdisciplinary works have been presented across Canada, France, and the United States. As a performer, Naïma practised extended vocal techniques and choreographic theatre at the Roy Hart International Centre and Pantheatre with co-founders and directors Enrique Pardo, Linda Wise, and Elizabeth Mayer. Her interdisciplinary approach is also inspired by studies with playwright Charles L. Mee and director Anne Bogart as well as mentorship from choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. 

Naïma is currently writing the libretto for an opera with composer Margareta Jeric. She is also directing and co-creating High Z, an immersive performance exploring the 2011 Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the accelerating universe. As a concept writer, she collaborated with scenographer Julie Vallée-Léger and GSM Project on the critically-acclaimed “Life of Sally Hemings” exhibit at Monticello. 

Her playwriting credits include Le bon gars d’à côté (Festival Jamais Lu) Suite d’une ville morte (Tapestry Opera and Canadian Opera Company) Birthday Triage (Horace Mann Theater), My Artichoke Heart (Dream Up Festival), and Night Spell (Nextfest). A recipient of the Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes, the Gloria Mitchell-Aleong Award, and the Shubert Presidential Fellowship, Naïma was in the 2014-2016 Interdisciplinary Unit at Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University.

This workshop is financially supported by

Emploi-Québec and Compétence Culture Logos
Posted on

Apply Now: Interdisciplinary Dramaturgy Lab

Dates: January 27th-31st, 2020 (5-days)
Time: 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM Each day
Location:  Studio 303, 372 Saint-Catherine St W, Montreal, Quebec H3B 1A2
Fee: $60 (please contact us if this fee would be an obstacle to your participation)

PWM and Studio 303 invite dramaturges, theatre artists, dancers, circus performers and interdisciplinary artists the second edition of the Interdisciplinary Dramaturgy Lab. Led by Kathy Casey (dance), Dana Dugan (circus) and Fatma Sarah Elkashef (theatre), the lab is a space for artists working across various disciplines to exchange their dramaturgical tools, challenges and experiences.

Application Instructions: To apply, please send us your artistic CV/bio and a brief (1-2 paragraph) statement explaining why this training interests you, how it is relevant to your artistic practice and what your expectations are for this lab.

Please send your application and any questions to:  harris@playwrights.ca using the subject line: Interdisciplinary Dramaturgy Lab
Application deadline: January 5, 2020

About the Workshop Leaders:

Born in North Carolina, Kathy Casey began her dance career in 1979 with the Chicago Moving Company. Settled in New York in 1980, she danced for many choreographers before joining the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 1984. In 1989, she became a member of Susan Marshall & Company, with whom she had collaborated since 1981. From 1985-1989, she also assisted Mr. Lubovitch and Ms. Marshall in creation. Kathy Casey has danced in Europe, Asia, and North America and continues to give numerous workshops across Canada and the United States. Welcomed by Montréal Danse in 1991, she was appointed Artistic Director of the company in March 1996. A major portion of her work now is collaborating with choreographers on the dramaturgy of the works created for the company. In addition to her work with Montréal Danse, she also works as an artistic advisor with independent choreographers in the city.

Dana Dugan is an American circus artist, performer, pedagogue, and scholar based in Montreal. She was a founding member, programmer, project manager, and producer of the Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival and CirqueOFF. Dana recently completed her Master’s Degree at Concordia University under fellowship researching the circus body and its embodied knowledge. She is currently continuing her research explorations and performance of the circus body and speculative performance narratives as a PhD student at Concordia University. Dana’s work reflects an agenda that advocates for socially conscious performances and alternative, queer, feminist, political narratives that cultivate agency on the circus stage.

Fatma Sarah Elkashef is a theatre artist, primarily a dramaturg, working in new play development and interdisciplinary creation. At Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal she leads the Interdisciplinary Writer’s Lab in addition to various other projects. At the National Theatre School of Canada she often works across programs as a dramaturg, creator, and teacher and in 2016 received their Bernard Amyot Award for Teaching. Sarah recently co-created a circus show for families Eat Sweet Feet, and continues to work on High Z, an immersive performance installation for planetariums based on the 2011 Nobel prize winning discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe. Prior to settling in Canada she was the Senior Reader at Soho Theatre in London, U.K. Sarah has also been an associate producer, company manager, literary associate and more in New York City. She is a graduate of Warwick University in English Literature and Theatre (U.K.), has an M.A. in Theatre from Hunter College (CUNY, NYC), and a Graduate Diploma in Communications from Concordia University (Montreal, Canada).

Presented in collaboration with

Studio 303 Logo

This workshop is financially supported by

Emploi-Québec and Compétence Culture Logos
Posted on

Apply Now: Introduction to Theatre Translation

A one-on-one mentorship opportunity

For years Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal (PWM) and the Centre des Auteurs Dramatiques (CEAD) have worked to forge links between French and English language theatre communities and foster the art of theatre translation.  To this end, the two organizations have once again partnered together to offer an individualized mentorship meant to familiarize a playwright to the craft of theatre translation.

How the mentorship works:

  • PWM will select 1 participant with an interest in French to English theatre translation.
  • Over a period of several months, the participant will translate excerpts (roughly 10-12 pages) of two contemporary Québécois plays selected by the CEAD. 
  • Over several weeks, the participant will receive a total of 12 hours of dramaturgical support from an established translation dramaturg.
  • The participant will  have the opportunity to discuss their translations with the original playwrights.
  • The mentorship will culminate in two 4-hour workshops during which professional actors will read and discuss the newly-translated excerpts.
  • After the workshops, the participant will submit their final drafts of the translated excerpts to the CEAD.

Who can Apply?

  • Montreal-based playwrights with a strong interest in French-to-English theatre translation.
  • The candidate must have excellent writing skills in English and have fluent comprehension of Québecois French.
  • Playwrights with little to no experience in theatre translation are encouraged to apply.
  • Applicants must have a minimum of two professionally produced pieces or Fringe productions. 

Please note: If you are a member of the CEAD and are interested in applying to the English-to-French component of this project, please visit the CEAD’s website for application details. 

Application Guidelines

Send your application to documents as well as any questions you may have to Harris Frost at harris@playwrights.ca.

The deadline to apply is Friday, November 8th at noon.

Please include the following documents  in your email:

  1. Your artistic CV and/or bio.
  2. A brief cover letter outlining your interest in this mentorship and in French-to-English theatre translation more generally.

Tentative Schedule:

  • November 8th: Application deadline.
  • November 13th: Participant selected and provided with exceprts
  • November – March: Several meetings with translation mentor, translation of excerpts and meetings with playwrights.
  • Before March 6th: 2 x 4 workshops of translated excerpts
  • Before April 5th: Translated excerpts of texts submitted to CEAD.

This mentorship is presented in partnership with:

CEAD LOGO
Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD)

With financial support from:

Emploi-Québec and Compétence Culture Logos
Emploi Québec and Compétence Culture


Accessibility Tools
English (Canada)
Français du Canada English (Canada)
Skip to content