The Board has decided to change the way Workshop Play entries are chosen
so that we can make the Workshop Play series at MAINSTAGE available to all zones and all
clubs. In the past, a Zone Festival must have had a minimum of 6 entries before a play
from that Zone could be invited to attend MAINSTAGE as a Workshop Play. This was intended
to recognize the quality of plays in larger Zones, where, a very good production, while
not chosen as Best Production, could still be eligible to workshop and showcase their play
at MAINSTAGE. Unfortunately, this process eliminated many of the ten Zones each year from
being eligible to take part simply because they did not have 6 or more entries in their
Zone Festival.
It has been our experience that the Workshop Play series has been
tremendously valuable to the cast and crew of those who have taken part in them and we
want all Theatre BC members to have access to this opportunity. In 2004 any play in any
Zone that enters a Zone Festival can apply to Theatre BC for the opportunity of attending
MAINSTAGE 2004 as one of three Workshop Plays. If selected as Zone Festival ‘Best
Production’, any entry would no longer be eligible for the Workshop Plays Series -- you
cannot do both!
The criteria the Festivals Committee will use are:
1. We will take into account the opinion of the Zone Festival Adjudicator
as to whether or not he or she believes that a production will benefit from the Workshop
Play experience.
2. We will consider which clubs sent plays to last year’s Workshop
Play Series, and may use this history to allow plays from other clubs to attend.
3. The venue size and configuration may be considered, as some plays may
not be suitable for the Workshop Play venue at MAINSTAGE.
This process offers participants the opportunity to enjoy both performance
and workshopping by a theatre-professional instructor.
Each Workshop Play performs in a secondary venue, workshops for a day and
a half and performs the reworked show a second time. All performances are scheduled in the
afternoon and each series is three days long.
