Theatre BC's 19th Annual Canadian National Playwriting Competition

CALL FOR ACTORS & READERS

Are you interested in a rewarding and exciting workshop weekend, collaborating with award-winning Canadian playwrights and professional dramaturges?

Theatre BC invites community, student and non-Equity actors to submit an acting/reading resume and a recent photo for the New Play Festival, held April 18-20, 2008 at the Pavilion Theatre in Kamloops, BC. Applicants will be considered for roles required to workshop the three national award-winning (Re-working Sessions), and five Finalist (Round Table Session) scripts from Theatre BC's 19th Annual Canadian National Playwriting Competition.
Please note that participants will not be paid. Theatre BC offers this as a workshop session and an opportunity to give back to Canada's playwrights.

All Actors and Readers will be expected to register for the New Play Festival at our minimal all-access 'Festival Pass' weekend rate. This covers hospitality and admission to all other activities during the weekend, including the Playwrights' Reception and the Staged Public Readings.

To be considered for a role, please submit a photo and bio to:
Theatre BC's New Play Festival
PO Box 2031, Nanaimo, BC V9R 6X6

Electronic copies can be sent to: info@theatrebc.org. If you are submitting electronically, your photo must be in jpg, tif, or pdf format.

The deadline is 5:00 pm, Friday, February 22, 2008.

Re-Working Session Roles:
(Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday, Staged Public Readings on Sunday afternoon)
* For synopses of the plays, please see the Playwriting Competition results on the preceding pages.

Full Length Winner
“Before Play” by Janet Rothman and Howie Siegel, Victoria, BC

Synopsis: A college couple reconnects after 35 years. 'Before Play' tells what happens when they renew their romance through their past, culture, pain and sex, using modern technology to inflame the oldest passion.

Characters:  
Jo Ann Kaufman
Benny Silver
Thirty years after they met at college.

One Act Winner
“Perriott and Mr. Grump” by Michael L. Poirier, Vernon, BC  

Synopsis: Mr. Smith is a widower with a chip on his shoulder. Perriott is a 10 year old who sees life as it really is and isn't afraid to share his thoughts.

Characters:
Mr. Smith a 70 year old retired lawyer
Wendy Pineault 30 year old waitress and single mother
Perriott Pineault 10 year old hyperactive child
Philip Pineault Wendy's 35 year old ex-husband who's a crook and a drunk

Special Merit Winner
“Black & Blue” by Ron Fromstein, Toronto, ON (One-Act)

Synopsis: A man who has assaulted his wife attempts to make good.

Character: Tom

4-Hour Round Table Session Readers:
Public Readings TBA

FINALISTS (alphabetical order by title)

“All Changed” by Klaas van Weringh, Ottawa, ON (Full-Length)

Synopsis: A play about the Dutch resistance, and the problems in the relationship for a young Dutch couple who emigrated to Canada after the war.

Characters:
Anneke 38 (1956), and 25 (1943), Dutch woman
Piet 39 (1956), and 26 (1943), Dutch man, Anneke's husband
Mike (1956) about 30, Canadian-born man
Margriet (Grietje) (1943) about 20, woman in the Dutch Resistance
Jan (1943) middle-aged Dutch Jewish man
Saar (1943) Jan's wife, about the same age as Jan
Henk (Hendrik) (1943) 24, Anneke's brother
SS Man (1943) about 30
Menke (1943) about 50, mother of Henk and Anneke
Johannes (1943) at least 50, a farmer, father of Henk and Anneke
German Policeman (1943) any age
NOTE: The following groups of characters can each be played by a single actor: Johannes and Jan; Saar and Menke; Mike, the SS Man, and the German Policeman

“History” by Michelle Turner, Toronto, ON (One-Act)

Synopsis: Sandra, a woman in her late forties, and her taxi driver Al, a man in his late twenties, meet weekly. Together, they explore the building and breaking of relationships between people, their city and their histories.

Characters:
Sandra woman, mother in her 40s
Frank her husband
Al taxi driver in his late 20s
Tara Al's ex-girlfriend
Up to 7 Children Up to 8 Women
Up to 3 Girls Up to 8 Men
Zahara Kholoud
Khaled Mohammed
NOTE: For this second group some doubling up will occur

“In the Dark” by Mort Ransen, Saltspring Island, BC (One-Act)

Synopsis: An electrician, who may or may not have magical powers, throws some light on a marriage gone stale.

Characters:
George early thirties
Jean-Claude French-Canadian electrician
Jen late twenties, wife of George

“Panels” by Dawn Kennedy, Vernon, BC (One-Act)

Synopsis: Panels is the story of five First Nations women from the same family; it is a peek at the intergenerational reverberating effects of the aftermath of colonization.

Characters:
Charlene woman in the 30s, mother
also girl in her late teens 17-18
Vanessa Charlene's 15-16 year old daughter
Margaret Charlene's mother
Brenda Charlene's younger sister
Agnes Margaret's mother

“Simply Told” by Corrina Hodgson, Orillia, ON (One-Act)

 Synopsis: Deceptively simple in structure, Simply Told is an eerily accurate psychological portrait of two equally resilient and resistant individuals, desperate to make contact with one another. Their conversations - equal parts chitchat and story- circle the truth, until it can no longer remain untold.

Characters:
Joseph Early 50s, Janice's father
Janice Early 30s, Joseph's daughter