This year, the festival will run in conjunction with the MAINSTAGE 2010 Festival July 2nd- 10th in Kamloops    Come join us in the Tournament Capital of Canada
What Is It? /  Brief History / Goals /  Event Components & Highlights / Contact Info
What is It? Theatre BC's New Play Festival is a national level event that features the three category-winning and up to seven finalist plays in workshops and readings as "Part II" of Theatre BC's Annual Canadian National Playwriting Competition. Re-working sessions for the three category-winning plays and 4-hour 'Round Table sessions for the Finalists are open to 'Auditors' for a very reasonable daily or weekend registration fee. Join us for the Playwrights' Reception, with Guest Playwright Reading, and Staged Public Readings and help support the development of new Canadian scripts.
Brief History   Introduced as part of the Theatre BC hosted "Canadian National Theatre Festival" in July 1989 (Victoria, BC); As the "New Play Workshops", ran as its own "summer institute in Vancouver (1991-1993); Added to Theatre BC's annual provincial BACKSTAGE workshop conference (1994-1998); Re-designed as Theatre BC's New Play Festival and relocated to Victoria, (1999); With the support of Western Canada Theatre and the City of Kamloops, the New Play Festival moved to Kamloops for the Spring of 2000, providing the BC's Southern Interior with an annual event; Addition of Public Readings for Finalist Plays (2003); Plans to introduce a Youth new play workshop component for 2007, featuring a winning selection(s) from the Association of BC Drama Educators' (ABCDE) Youthwrite program.
Goals To provide a professional, development opportunity for the winning and finalist playwrights from Theatre BC's Annual National Playwriting Competition; To continue to build Theatre BC's New Play Festival as an annual event in Kamloops with the support of Western Canada Theatre and the City of Kamloops; To continue to build opportunities to promote all scripts, with a goal of creating a "Script Fair" for directors, companies looking for new works for production consideration; To promote Theatre BC's Canadian National Playwriting Competition with firm dates for entry deadline (fourth Monday in July) and the New Play Festival (early April annually).
Theatre BC's New Play Festival - Highlights:
Meet & Greet the Playwrights:  (schedule TBA)
A chance to meet the winning (and possibly some finalist) playwrights in an informal gathering for a light reception and some brief readings from excerpts of their previous works by each playwright. Join us for a fun opportunity to meet each other and find out more about the upcoming activities for the New Play Festival weekend.
Winners' Re-Working Sessions: (schedule TBA)
12-15 hours of development with a professional dramaturge, registrant actors and playwright for the Full-Length, One Act & Special Merit category-winning plays (Open to Auditors).
Finalists Round Tables: (schedule TBA)
4-hour round table readings with registrant readers and a professional dramaturge to provide Playwriting Competition Finalist playwrights vital developmental feedback (Open to Auditors). Public readings for the Finalist plays have been scheduled for this year's event.
Public Readings: (schedule TBA)
Finalist Play Readings approx. 30 minutes each;
Staged Public Readings, 45-minute presentations for each of the three Playwriting Competition-winning plays, the culmination of the workshop process.
Contact Info:
For information call Theatre BC at (phone) 250-591-0018 (fax) 250-591-0027; or email: npf@theatrebc.org
NPF Home / Theatre BC Home
Theatre BC would like to thank our sponsors for the New Play Festival.
Western Canada Theatre www.westerncanadatheatre.bc.ca venue sponsor	the City of Kamloops www.city.kamloops.bc.ca event sponsor
Executive Inn, Kamloops www.executiveinn.kamloops.com accomodation sponsor	kamloops players event volunteer sponsor