Category: Announcements

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2021-2022 PWM + MAI joint support for artists* interested in working with a dramaturg

Applications are now closed.

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The Artist

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal and MAI (Montréal, Arts Interculturels) are thrilled to announce that the PWM + MAI  Joint Support for Artists will feature Jamila ‘Jai’ Joseph with her work Wild Roots!

Learn more about Jamila and her project here.

The call

IMPORTANT:
Applicants can apply to more than one partnership program at Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal, but can only be the recipient of one partnership program.

PWM is an English language minority company and therefore the work with PWM will take place in English. The application must be completed in English.

Artists who have already applied to the MAI’s artist support program Alliance can also apply to this partnership program, but CAN ONLY BE THE RECIPIENT OF ONE MAI ALLIANCE ALLOCATION AT A TIME.
We are thrilled to announce that PLAYWRIGHTS’ WORKSHOP MONTRÉAL AND MAI (MONTRÉAL, ARTS INTERCULTURELS) have joined forces again to Bring back our joint support program for artists* interested in working with a dramaturg! 

The following artists are eligible to submit proposals: Indigenous artists (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit), racialized artists (including racialized recent immigrants), members of the 2SLGBTQQIPAA+ communities, Deaf artists, disabled artists, neurodivergent artists, and artists living with chronic illness and/or chronic pain.

*We accept applications from artists in theatre, performance, dance, circus, interdisciplinary arts and visual arts (with a performance component) if they are interested in collaborating with a dramaturg from theatre and performance.

PWM logo

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal (PWM) is a national new creation centre for theatre and performance led by a team of dramaturgs and arts administrators. While playwriting has been at the core of what we do for over 50 years, our work now strives to include devised and interdisciplinary forms of creation. In addition to seeking collaborations across diverse artistic practices, we are strongly committed to supporting work which reflects a wide range of cultural identities and lived experiences. 

Hosting 10-15 artists, collectives and companies per year, MAI’s Alliance program is a unique artist support initiative conceived for practitioners from all fields who encounter systemic and structural obstacles. The program strives to eliminate barriers to their full participation in the arts by offering financial allocations and guidance that are adapted to the learning and creative needs and desires of each participant. 

What is dramaturgy and what do we do? 

Dramaturgy is an exploration of all the elements that make a work, how they are brought together to create meaning, and what the process for developing that work might be. PWM primarily works on projects that centre text and narrative but also on pieces where text and storytelling are not the primary components or concerns.

PWM’s work centres around the artist and our dynamic collaborative process is tailored to meet the needs of their project. We listen deeply to understand who an artist is, what they are making and how they want their work to evolve. We offer feedback and reflection through questions and conversation and often accompany the artists from draft to draft or iteration to iteration. We work one-on-one, but also through workshops and residencies.

PWM understands that the work of playwriting and performance making is not created in a vacuum, but that it interacts with society. Theatre can be impactful, and therefore PWM considers not only how a piece is made and by whom, but also its effect and meaning beyond the walls of its creation studio.

Refer to the Artist’s guide (PDF) for more details about what this joint mentorship includes, eligibility criteria and other conditions.

APPLICATION TOOLBOX

Artist’s guide (PDF)

MAI’s allocations: How they work (PDF)

Alliance’s intercultural vision (PDF)

Budget example (EXCEL)

SUPPORT
PROVIDED

Personalized project coordination support

$5,000 fund allocation (refer to “MAI’s allocations: How they work” for more information)

Training and collective reflection opportunities

Access to the MAI rehearsal studios

30 hours with a dramaturg, including a 20-hour residency

The PWM + MAI joint support for artists* interested in working with a dramaturg is not a grant program. It offers an allocation of funds  ($5,000) for the artists to establish mentorships and collaborations, supporting their learning and creation process (for example, to work with a mentor, a sound designer, a choreographer, a grant writer, or other experts and collaborators). Please see the toolbox’s document ‘MAI’s allocations: how they work’ for more information about what is eligible and ineligible.

project supported by the City of Montreal, the Government of Quebec, and the Canada Council for the Arts
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Working Online: What We Learned

With the onset of COVID-19, Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal quickly shifted gears to move its operations online in order to maintain the safety of the organization’s staff, artists, and audience. In the time since, we’ve learned a few key things as a dramaturgical centre, and want to share our findings with you. This is a fairly broad overview, and as time and resources permit, we will be adding to this blog post. 

Online day by day: maintaining community.

Staying connected while upholding a sense of community was a priority very early on. The PWM’s team was lucky as we had just started using Slack regularly, which facilitated the transition to working from our separate homes immensely. While not working together from the same physical space continues to have its challenges, the continuity of regular day-to-day real-time exchanges between staff was ensured. A regular morning and evening check-in for staff via Slack was also quickly established in order to keep consistent lines of communication. While attendance at these check-ins is not mandatory, they have been a pleasant way for employees to not only discuss work-related topics, but also to connect on a personal and social level. For employees who appreciate sharing a social space together, these daily check-ins have been a fantastic way to encourage a sense of community, regardless of one’s level of active participation. And like most theatre companies, we also held weekly Zoom staff meetings to keep projects and planning moving forward. 

Unexpectedly, working remotely has brought a sense of freedom for some. As dramaturgs, we no longer felt constricted to meeting with artists on a schedule predetermined by availability of the creation studio. We finally released ourselves from the deep-seated feeling of our work needing to be witnessed by others, in order for it to be real.   

We did however recognize that working remotely created anxiety in other areas of operation. It became harder to distinguish urgent work from time-sensitive work. Whether this feeling of anxiety was/is due to inhabiting the same space for both work and personal life, or because we are experiencing a recurring perspective when speaking to others (i.e. a head in a box), or simply because it’s all more complicated to juggle everything all the time – the truth is – it’s been overwhelming.  Our unverified conclusion: shifting your physical space makes it easier to separate events and compartmentalize tasks. 

Digital staged readings: a very different beast from live play readings!

Providing our audience with quality digital staged readings has been a giant learning experience. Engaging a virtual audience is very different from engaging an in-person audience. Visual aesthetics and design inevitably have an important role in engaging an on-line audience for a play reading, which is not a primary concern for in-person, in-process play readings. The camera has a crucial role in the overall storytelling process, and it must be considered. The camera is the portal to the audience, With this in mind, setting aside adequate time to rehearse with a camera, film, review, film again, and edit more is absolutely crucial. Be mindful of incorporating accessibility prep into your timeline of tasks, closed captioning needs to verified and edited. 

Digital workshops: preparation is crucial

Over the last year, PWM learned a lot about the inner workings of running a successful digital workshop. While the experience was not without challenges, we had the pleasure of reaching artists from far and wide! Our platform of choice is Zoom, because it is easily available, fairly simple to navigate, and quite stable.

Development workshops: We have found that  a successful workshop via Zoom requires a clear but simple instruction guide for participants. We created a tutorial that used screenshots and graphics, instead of text. This became a great tool to help participants less acquainted with Zoom understand how to download and manipulate the software. Moreover, we offer the option of a scheduled tutorial before the workshop if an individual requires further assistance. It is a great way to ensure that all participants have access to what they need to be comfortable. Moving forward, we plan to include a video tutorial.

Scripts are sent as PDFs and, we suggest, using a split screen Zoom option so that participants can view the active speaker while following the script with minimal interruptions. 

We have found that workshops should be capped at four hours per session. We generally found that energy levels waned past that length. Lastly, emphasizing the importance of good headphones with an external mic doesn’t hurt!

Exploring practice sessions: In setting up our professional development digital workshops, we have discovered that a crucial step involves integrating the facilitators/invited artists technical and/or software preferences. If the facilitator does not have experience using digital platforms, we introduce them to the programs we use: Miro, Zoom including breakout rooms, gather.town, wonder.me). Connecting workshop facilitators with technical staff, in our case, potatoCakes_digital, ahead of time and offering training sessions has ensured that the workshop runs smoothly and with confidence. When requested, the sessions receive unlimited technical support by potatoCakes_digital.

When planning an online workshop we have found that using more than one platform helps to break up the day. Frequent breaks throughout the workshop are also a great way to retain the attention, engagement, and overall morale of the participants. However, it remains difficult to engage participants for more than five hours at a time, even with interactive elements.

Include a longer time for introductions in the online workshop’s schedule. This is an important step in ensuring trust and comfort. See this link for useful ideas on how to set up healthy Zoom environments from Offers and Answers.com. 

The little things we learned working online

A lot of us are now well versed with working online. But, if you are exploring working creatively online for the first time, below are a few things we learned along the way. We hope there is a thing or two in there that will be useful to you! In no particular order:

  • Have your webcam ready, facing you directly in a space that is well lit, and not backlit;
  • It is best to use a neutral backdrop that is not distracting when workshopping a play with actors;
  • Ensure that you are in a quiet room. It’s best if you are not near an open window;
  • Use earbuds/headphones with an external microphone if possible;
  • If you are using earbuds with integrated microphone, avoid wearing clothes that interfere with your mic;
  • Use a hard line Ethernet cable connection for your internet and do not use Wi-Fi (if possible). If you live in a home with multiple internet users, ask if it is possible to be a lone user. If someone in your home is streaming while you are on Zoom, it may make your internet connection unstable; 
  • Consider changing it up! Integrate interactive activities, and regular breaks. 

Creating with Digital Technology

In the coming months, potatoCakes_digital will be filming our studio set up so anyone interested can access information on the equipment we determined necessary to take us through isolation and into a hybrid model. We are committed to offering greater accessibility to our programming.

In addition, we will be launching the Digital Dramaturgy Initiative Website, created in partnership with PTC, MAP and Blyth Festival. The website will showcase a number of digital experiments initiated by theatre artists in Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver. The site will feature case studies, presentations by digital experts, and process documentation collected during our DDI residencies. The purpose of the DDI residencies is to explore and expand our collective vocabulary around artistic interactions with digital technology.  

PWM has also been holding community consultations with seven incredible artists, working to identify specific actions to expand accessibility to our programming, our digital platform, and physical space. The gathering of knowledge will be shared with the theatre community in early fall.

PWM would like to thank the following funders, who, without their support, we would not have been able to adapt to the digital sphere in the way we have. 

This initiative is funded by the Foundation of Greater Montreal covid-19 collective fund and the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers.

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Introducing the Cole Foundation Mentorship Emerging Translators

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal and The Cole Foundation are thrilled to announce the participants to this year’s Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators, Rhiannon Collett and Elaine Normandeau.

THE ARTISTS

Rhiannon Collett

Headshot of Rhiannon Collett
Photo credit: Yuula Benivolski

Rhiannon Collett (they/them) is an award-winning non-binary playwright, performer, director and translator based in Montreal and Toronto. Their work explores the ritualization of grief, gender performativity, queer/trans identity and the psychological effects of sexual objectification.

Selected playwriting credits include Miranda & Dave Begin Again / Miranda et Dave recommencent encore (2016 Playwrights Guild of Canada RBC Emerging Playwright Award, presented in French at the 2019 Festival du Jamais Lu, and the 2020 Festival les Petites Formes, Martinique); Wasp (commissioned by Nightswimming, presented at the 2019 Rhubarb Festival, and developed at the Stratford Festival Lab), The Kissing Game (commissioned by Youtheatre and Young People’s Theatre, developed at the 2018 Banff Playwrights Lab, produced by Youtheatre, awarded the META for Outstanding New Text 2019); Tragic Queens (commissioned and devised with CABAL Theatre/Wildside Festival 2018); There Are No Rats in Alberta (created as a part of the 2017-18 Buddies in Bad Times Emerging Creators Unit, presented at the Rhubarb Festival 2018 ), and the English language translation of Chienne(s) by Marie-Eve Milot and Marie-Claude St-Laurent (in development with BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective). Rhiannon’s work is funded by the Toronto
Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Rhiannon was a guest artist at the LungA festival in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland and artist-in-residence at the Mauser Eco House in Costa Rica. They are a graduate of Generator’s Performance Criticism Training Program, Buddies in Bad Times Emerging Creators Unit, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal’s Young Creators Unit and Black Theatre Workshop’s Artist Mentorship Program.

Rhiannon is a settler in Toronto, on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, the Huron-Wendat and the Haudenosaunee peoples, and in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), on the traditional, un-ceded territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka people.

Play in translation: Ces regards amoureux de garçons altérés by Éric Noël

Elaine Normandeau

Headshot of Elaine Normandeau
Photo credit: John Lederman

For 25 years, after studying law and then theater, Elaine Normandeau has worked as an assistant director and stage manager in French and English theatre.

During these years, she had the privilege of working on landmark productions such as Le Procès and Siegfried by Wagner directed by François Girard, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Le misanthrope directed by Michel Monty, Belles-Soeurs directed by René Richard Cyr, Intérieur and Au coeur de la rose directed by Denis Marleau, Variations énigmatiques, Un fil à la patte and Equus directed by Daniel Roussel,  Une musique inquiétante/Old Wicked Songs directed by Martin Faucher, Waiting for the Barbarians and Amadeus directed by Alexandre Marine and Top Girls directed by Micheline Chevrier. In 2017, Elaine Normandeau participated as linguistic director in the film  Hochelaga, terre des âmes by François Girard, immersed in Mohawk and Anishnaabe cultures. She also works as a translator and creates surtitles for the theatre.

Play in translation: Muliats by Charles Bender, Charles Buckell, Marco Collin, Xavier Huard, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine et Christophe Payeur (le collectif)

THE PROGRAM

The translation of new work for the stage is a core part of our programming. Since its inception in 2013, the Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators (formerly Cole Competition for Emerging Translators) has been guiding the next generation of translators from French into English. 

With the expert guidance of acclaimed translator Maureen Labonté and in partnership with the Cole Foundation, PWM has built a program that mentors emerging translators through every stage of the process. The successful candidate receives a $1,000 honorarium and an eight-month mentorship with Maureen Labonté which includes a workshop with actors and a public reading.

More details about the program available here.

This program is a partnership between
Logo of the Cole Foundation
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Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal announces the upcoming departure of Executive & Artistic Director Emma Tibaldo

It is with gratitude for her dedication to the organization and the theatre community, that our Board of Directors announces the upcoming departure of long-standing Executive and Artistic Director Emma Tibaldo. After 13 years at the helm of the organization pushing the boundaries of dramaturgy, Emma will make way for a new generation of leadership.

“Emma’s impact on the Canadian theatre stage is immeasurable. At Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal, she has collaborated with hundreds of artists and spearheaded the development of innovative works across the nation. Her tireless dedication to supporting artists and bringing unheard stories to life is a true inspiration,” says Board President Naïma Kristel Phillips. “I particularly appreciate Emma’s ability to build community and make artists feel at home. Along with the team at PWM, she has created a space that welcomes and celebrates the voices of creators who might otherwise be overlooked. We see this leadership transition as an opportunity to build on Emma’s legacy and continue to delve deeper as PWM leaps into the future.”

Emma stepped into the Executive and Artistic Director role in early 2008. During her time at PWM, she successfully transformed the organization from a member-based service organization to a nationally-mandated theatre development centre, further expanding its mandate to support interdisciplinary performance. Emma has worked with playwrights from across the country, building lasting dramaturgical relationships, and bringing countless new Canadian works to life. She continued to grow PWM into an organization dedicated to discovery and experimentation. 

  • Emma with past general manager June Park at PWM’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2013
  • Carol Libman and Emma Tibaldo
    Emma with PWM’s founding member Carol Libman in 2017

As Artistic Director, Emma established the Gros Morne Playwrights’ Residency, in collaboration with the CEAD, bringing French and English playwrights together to write, dream, share and create, and the EstérELLE residency, focused on the development of new plays by English Language Québec female playwrights. Emma is a staunch supporter of theatre translation, further developing the Glassco Translation Residency in Tadoussac which, to date, translated 63 plays for the stage, and launching the Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators, set up to identify and mentor the next generation of translators. 

“Sometimes you just need to leap into the unknown—now is that time for me.” Emma says, “I made this decision knowing that the organization was ready for new leadership. The company has grown, the process of dramaturgy has deepened, and the studio has finally come to completion. The relationships I have developed while at PWM have inspired and sustained me. I am incredibly grateful to our General Manager Lesley Bramhill, Dramaturgs Fatma Sarah Elkashef, Jesse Stong, and Maureen Labonté, our incredible staff-current and past, tireless board, and the innumerable artists and community members who have all carried PWM with me. Thank you. Deeply. PWM is the sum of the incredible humans who have called it home. I can’t wait to see what happens next. Magic exists, because creators dare to dream.”

  • Emma in 2017 at PWM’s then-new office and studio space
  • Emma and general manager Lesley Bramhill holding the 2019 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and Unsung Hero of the Theatre (UHOT) META Awards, respectively.

Just last year, Emma was the recipient of the Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy. This prestigious accolade demonstrates that the international community, too, took notice of the work she accomplished during her tenure at PWM.

On Emma’s time at the organization, Lesley Bramhill, PWM’s General Manager says: “Emma’s dedication for emerging and established artists alike is remarkable. I will continue to be inspired by her leadership, passion and care. As PWM’s GM, I witnessed the impact she made on our local and national theatre community. The organization Emma nurtured for over a decade is growing strong, and we at PWM are so grateful and honoured to continue the legacy of her work.”

Further details about the next stage of Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal’s leadership will be announced in the coming weeks. A leadership search is currently scheduled for late spring-summer 2021. The Board of Directors is working together with Emma on a transition plan taking into account her current dramaturgical relationships at PWM, and providing for moments for her to return as a dramaturg in 2021-2022, and beyond. 

In the meantime, a huge thank you to Emma and the staff for their commitment to PWM, their accomplishments, and the growth we experienced under her leadership. She has all of our love to carry into the next chapter of her career. 

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Our position against anti-Asian racism

Stop Asian Discrimination

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal condemns anti-Asian systemic racism and all forms of racist violence against Asians, Asian-Americans, Asian-Canadians.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Asian rhetoric has escalated in North America, as we witnessed racially-motivated hate crimes all over Canada and the U.S. In Montreal alone, police recorded 22 crimes specifically targeting Asian people between March and December of last year — 19 more than the year before. In Vancouver, anti-Asian hate crime incidents rose by 878% compared to last year, from 9 to 88. And this does not take into consideration the cases of aggression against the Asian community that have not been reported to authorities. 

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal joins the thousands of people who marched in downtown Montreal last Sunday to honour the lives and grieve the losses of Xiaojie Tan, Delaina Ashley Yuan, Paul Andre Michels, Daoyou Feng, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim and Yong Ae Yue.

We stand in solidarity with our Asian community members – artists, workers, audiences and friends, whose contributions make our work possible. We express our unwavering support for the work needed to create a safe and inclusive environment in the Montreal theatre community, and stand with all creators fighting for social justice and equity.

Finally, Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal condemns the Quebec government’s continued denial of systemic racism in Quebec, as voiced by Premier Francois Legault in 2020 and recently by the newly appointed Minister Responsible for the Fight Against Racism, Benoît Charette. PWM will be following the work of Quebec’s anti-racism committee critically.  

We also encourage our community members of all backgrounds, but especially those who benefit from racial privilege, to educate themselves on the long history of systemic anti-Asian racism in Canada. Folks wishing to learn more and contribute to local resources are invited to look at the list below.

Report a racist incident, consult anti-racism education resources, and celebrate Asian-American people at Act2endracism.

Visualize the spectrum of experiences felt across Asian Canadian communities during the COVID-19 pandemic by visiting covidracism.ca. The documentation collected through the project will inform future efforts for collective action against anti-Asian racism and xenophobia.

Read the resources put together by Project 1907, a grassroots group made up of Asian women seeking to elevate underrepresented and undervalued Asian voices in mainstream political, social and cultural discourse, including amplifying the voices of women.

Peruse the Represent Asian Project, a website celebrating, advocating and elevating Asian representation in various fields.

Participate in the bilingual Facebook group Groupe d’Entraide Contre le Racisme Envers les Asiatiques au Québec, a platform for mutual aid. The group advocates informative and constructive exchanges.

Scaffolded Anti-racism resources (an extensive list of resources organized by stage).

Anti-racism resources for white people (another comprehensive list of resources).

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Introducing PWM+MAI joint support artist Tanha Gomes

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal and MAI (Montréal, Arts Interculturels) are thrilled to announce the inaugural season of PWM + MAI joint support for artists interested in working with a dramaturg with artist Tanha Gomes and her project Wreaths of Ashes!

THE ARTIST

Headshot of artist Tanha Gomes
Photo by Daniele Barroso

Visual artist and cultural worker, Tanha Gomes has worked in several artist-run centres and art galleries in Montreal. Since 2011, she has been involved in initiatives that bring art to communities with people of all ages.

Born into a multicultural family in Brazil, she moved to Canada as a teenager and has since lived between these two worlds. Her immigration experience leads her to explore the links between displacement, death and memory. Fascinated by the traces of personal history on people’s bodies and trajectories, she uses photography in order to conduct intimate and delicate explorations of identity. She seeks to create contemplative works using time as raw material, often with long exposures that require bodies to remain still. Tanha’s images are marked by a performative aspect, through simple imprints or a promise of movement. Recently graduated from a master’s degree in Arts Education, she aspires to develop her artistic practice around cultural identity.

THE PROJECT

A sensitive exploration of the links between memory, absence, ritual and mourning, Wreaths of Ashes will consist of a video and photo installation nourished by a series of creative workshops with the public. The installation plunges the spectator into a multi-channel video lasting over an hour, played in a loop, alongside by a photo mural of the objects produced during the workshops. 

History of the wreaths

The project is inspired by a story told to Tanha by her mother. Following the death of a young cousin in the 1950s, the women of the family started to regularly pay tribute to their deceased loved ones by making funeral wreaths from plastic flowers. A few days before the Day of the Dead, they would gather around a table during tea time to weave these wreaths, which became portraits of the deceased, displaying their favourite colours and referenced their lives and some of their features. 

Tanha is the first artist supported by the PWM+MAI joint support for artists program. Over the duration of the program, she will benefit from personalized support for her project, a $5,000 fund allocation, training and reflection opportunities, access to the MAI rehearsal studios, and 30 hours with a dramaturg.

THE PROGRAM

The PWM + MAI joint support accompanies creators on their journey to develop a project and explore their practice. It is aimed at artists encountering structural and systemic obstacles to their full participation in the arts because of their claimed identity and/or perceived identity in society. 

More details about the program available here.

We are so proud to support the development of Tanha’s project, and wish her a fulfilling creation process!

This program is a partnership between
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Project supported by the Government of Quebec as part of l’Entente sur le Développement Culturel and the City of Montreal, and by the Canada Council for the Arts
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