Digital Archives - Playwrights' Workshop Montréal

October 19, 2021March 25, 2022

APPLY NOW: Experimentation in Digital Creation

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal is introducing a new micro-residency program focusing on digital dramaturgy.

Applications are now closed.

Building upon months of online workshops, and various forms of digital theatrical experimentation, PWM is excited to introduce our new micro-residency program: Experimentation in Digital Creation!

This program is open to any theatre project that has digital elements to explore— whether the plan is to present them virtually, in-person, or disseminated in a hybrid-fashion (partly online and partly in-person).

We will be inviting selected artists from across Canada to experiment with us for 3 to 5 days, depending on the needs of their project. Residencies will take place at some point between January and August 2022.

Artists will will have access to our studio, equipment, and PWM’s dramaturgs— including digital dramaturgs and multi-media creators potatoCakes_digital, who are leading this exciting project!

Together, we will create a digital dramaturgy process centred on our resident artists and their exploratory questions.

PWM promotes equity and encourages applicants to indicate if they self-identify as belonging to one or more equity priority groups: women, racialized persons, 2SLGBTQQIPAA+, Indigenous persons, refugees, recent and first-generation immigrants not belonging to the dominant cultures in their areas, d/Deaf persons, neurodivergent persons, disabled persons, emerging artists, persons living with chronic illness, persons living with chronic pain, if they feel comfortable doing so.

This program was created for folks who are interested in experimenting with new digital art forms. The projects are ideally in the early to mid-stages of development and are in a place to benefit from exploration with different tools and form.

PWM is a versatile blackbox studio equipped with:

Video Equipment (Cameras, switcher, projectors)
VR equipment (Vive Pro2 & Oculus Quest 2)
Lighting
Podcasting microphones
Virtual conferencing
Greenscreen
Other equipment will be sourced by PWM depending on each project’s individual needs

For our full tech rider and available equipment, click here.

Given the knowledge-sharing component of this initiative, prospective participants should be aware that there will be documentation of the digital dramaturgical process that will be shared publicly on our website.

APPLICATION PROCESS

To apply, please complete the online application form. During the application process, you will be asked to include the following:

A description of the project (max. 500 words);
An artistic statement in relation to the integration of digital tools;
The names of the project’s collaborators, and their creative disciplines;
The stage of the work in progress;
Your dramaturgical questions being investigated, or what you are investigating;
The technologies you are presently using for the project (if any);
The technologies you wish you had access to for this project (if known);
The knowledge gaps (if you know them) in relation to transforming the work to a digital platform;
Any documentation you deem appropriate to the project, sending video files as links.

Audio or video applications are welcomed.

APPLICATIONS NOW CLOSED

PROJECT SUPPORTED BY

THE DIGITAL DRAMATURGY CLINIC IS FUNDED BY THE SECRETARIAT FOR RELATIONS WITH ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS

February 8, 2021February 8, 2021

Digital Dramaturgy Initiative — Apply to the Montreal residency

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal is now accepting applications for a week-long residency, within the Digital Dramaturgy Initiative, to take place from April 26th to May 1st, 2021

WHAT IS THE DIGITAL DRAMATURGY INITIATIVE?

Following the first iteration of the project at the Blyth Festival pre-pandemic, the Digital Dramaturgy Initiative (DDI) is a collaboration between Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal, Playwrights Theatre Centre, Manitoba Association of Playwrights and the Blyth Festival.

The pandemic has accelerated our use of digital tools. However, knowledge and financial gaps are still with us. With this reality in mind, we designed three locally based residencies designed to investigate and expand our collective vocabulary with digital technology.

These three distinct week-long residencies have been designed to allow for a deep investigation and articulation of two main questions:

Where are the literacy gaps in managing the processes and systems in the integration of digital components?
How to best organize creative relationships to maximize expertise in the collaboration process?

THE MONTREAL RESIDENCY

Covid and its impact on live arts : how do we share and grow work in process.

APRIL 26 – MAY 1, 2021

Creating theatre inside a pandemic – how to use the tools available, what is possible, and what have we learned so far? How can we use this knowledge to create a more accessible platform for theatre? What can we take back into live theatre?

Organized by Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal, the Montreal residency is looking for theatre performance projects that were conceived for the stage but that now need to be transformed for a digital audience; as well as projects conceived for the new Digital reality. The project may be at any point in the process of creation.

The residency will focus on working with collectives or individuals to discover the possibilities available for the transformation of the work through technology, to a digital platform. This project is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Literacy Fund, as such, an important component of the work is the dissemination of knowledge and expertise. To this end, applicants must be willing to share parts of their creative process and knowledge gained through the residency. DDI and participants will negotiate fair Intellectual Property rights for educational, non-commercial dissemination of exploratory work undertaken during the residency, an example of which can be found here.

Auxiliary programming over the course of the workshop week will include collective investigations into both traditional and emerging digital tools and technologies, exploring the vocabulary needed to collaborate in digital integration and exploration, and looking at case studies from Canadian and international initiatives.

Each participating artist will receive a $750 honorarium and is expected to be available for the 5 days of the residency.

We are continuously working to make all of our programs accessible. We recognize that the identity of each person is fundamentally plural, multidimensional, changing and evolving.

We are committed to working with artists to create spaces within which Indigenous artists (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit), racialized artists (including recent immigrants), members of the 2SLGBTQQIPAA+ communities and/or neurodiverse and disabled artists as well as artists living with chronic illness and chronic pain can create.

APPLICATION PROCESS

To apply, please complete the online application form. During the application process, you will be asked to include the following:

A description of the project (max. 500 words);
An artistic statement in relation to the integration of digital tools;
The names of the project’s collaborators, and their creative disciplines;
The stage of the work in progress;
Your dramaturgical questions being investigated, or what you are investigating;
The technologies you are presently using for the project (if any);
The technologies you wish you had access to for this project (if known);
The knowledge gaps (if you know them) in relation to transforming the work to a digital platform;
Any documentation you deem appropriate to the project, sending video files as links.

Audio or video applications are welcomed.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

The deadline to submit applications is March 8, 2021 at 5:00PM EST. All applicants will be notified of the results.

This project is a partnership between

PROJECT SUPPORTED BY THE CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS

November 6, 2020May 21, 2024

Welcome to our Digital Dramaturgy Clinic!

Do you have a performance piece you have been working on for some time, with concepts you want to fold into your work but do not know how to accomplish technically or digitally?

Perhaps you are at the early stages of your next creation, and want to gather information and knowledge on what is possible on a technical and digital level?

Or maybe you had a piece originally intended for live performance, and want to carry it over in a digital format?

“I want to write holograms into my piece, how would holograms work on stage?”

This digital dramaturgy “first-aid” program offers creators a free, one-time session (up to 2 hours) with tech and digital specialists Emily Soussana & Andrew Scriver (otherwise known as potatoCakes_digital), to discuss their creation and the technical questions they might have.

After learning about your goals, Emily and Andrew will help you brainstorm and offer possible technical or digital solutions to your needs. They can discuss the technical processes required, as well as potential story-driven digital concepts to best translate your piece digitally.

HOW IT WORKS

The Digital Dramaturgy Clinic is an ongoing program, artists in need of assistance should contact Emily & Andrew at potatocakesdigital@playwrights.ca with a short synopsis of their work and the question they wish to address, so that the session can be prepared in advance.

Further consultation can be scheduled if appropriate. This program is set up to help you identify the expertise and technology you need to realize your vision.