THE 2010 YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL Every year The Cultch's Youth Panel recruits young playwrights, directors and actors who work to bring three original one-act plays to the stage. Currently entering it's 11th season, The Young Playwrights Festival brings dozens of creative young people together every year. This year, we've combined the YPF with our mentorship program to make the experience even more rewarding. We are currently seeking directors, actors, and playwrights between the ages of 12-24. Direct a play! The 2010 IGNITE! Directing Mentorship allows young aspiring directors the opportunity to work with a world-class mentor to bring a fully realized theatrical production to the stage. The 2010 Directing Mentors are: Marcus Youssef, Adrienne Wong, and Kedra Fanconi. Three participants will be selected by jury and will work directly with their mentor who will help them through the process of casting, rehearsing, and preparing their show for the stage. Along the way the participants will meet with some of the city's top arts administrators and industry professionals for skill building workshops in areas such as media relations, grant writing, and professional theatre standards. These workshops are specifically designed to assist young artists who want to pursue a career in the arts. Click here for full application and program details. Application deadline is February 2nd, 2010. Act in a play! This is your opportunity to perform on The Cultch's stage! You can become part of our youth-driven theatre company and perform at one of Canada's premiere performing arts venues. Please email Youth Program Manager Corbin Murdoch before March 16th, 2010 to sign up for an audition. Email: corbin@thecultch.com Write a play! 1st prize- $600; 2nd prize- $250; 3rd prize- $150 Write a one-act play and you could win cash, receive help editing and redrafting with a professional playwright, and have your play performed as part of the 2011 IGNITE! Youth Festival at The Cultch. Click here to learn more and to download an application form. Deadline for submissions is May 1st. Good luck! If you have any questions about any of these opportunities, please contact: Corbin Murdoch Youth Program Manager The Cultch 604-251-1766 ext 105 corbin@thecultch.com The Winners of the 2009 Bottle Tree One Act Play Competition for Writers Have Been Announced 12th Annual Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition Regular deadline March 5 Why should you submit your script to Scriptapalooza? •Grand Prize: $10,000 •All the reading is done by 90 production companies •Entertainment Weekly Magazine calls us 'One of the Best' •We promote the winners, runners-up, finalists and semifinalists for a full year •We are considered one of the best screenplay competitions by agents, managers and producers www.scriptapalooza.com 2009 WINNER OF THE SAMUEL FRENCH CANADIAN PLAYWRIGHTS CONTEST ANNOUNCED InkTip Call for Scripts>>> Ryga: A Journal of Provocations, a quarterly dedicated to honouring the legacy of one of Canada's greatest playwrights, is seeking plays for upcoming issues.  It's a new journal committed to publishing plays alongside prose and poetry. Details may be found at www.ryga.ca/journal.html and questions can be emailed to sjohnston@okanagan.bc.ca " Sean Johnston Editor, Ryga Dept. of English Okanagan College 7000 College Way Vernon, BC V1B 2N5 Tel: 250-762-5445 (ext. 4672) Toll Free: 1-877-755-2266 (ext. 4672) Second Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition. (Deadline for submission: March 31st,2010) Canada’s national playwriting competition on sustainability run by youth for youth, this initiative engages young people across the nation to learn, evaluate, innovate and act with a splash of creativity. Open to youth ages 14 - 26, this event synergistically challenges young people to think critically, leverage the power of both arts and sciences, and unleash their creativity. As well, the competition provides a unique platform for youth to voice their innovative ideas towards sustainability and kick start whatever career or dreams they have to make the world a better place! Our current competition partners consist of diverse groups across Canada, including the Playwrights Guild of Canada, Shad Valley, and the University of British Columbia Sustainability Office. Winning plays will be performed locally across Canada to an estimated audience of 10,000 and aired on Sustainability Television. To reflect the intricate links of sustainability to topics ranging from international development, policy, environment, access to opportunities, technology, to health, we put together a judging panel of dedicated community leaders from many different walks of life. They include: Jennifer Corriero (Co-founder, TakingITGlobal), David Diamond (Artistic and Managing Director, Headlines Theatre), Kevin Kerr (The Electric Company Theatre, Governor-General Award winning playwright), Bill McKibben (Co-founder, 350.org, Environmentalist and award-winning author), Parker Mitchell (Co-CEO, Engineers Without Borders), and Dr. Bonnie Schmidt (Founder and President, Let’s Talk Science).   2009 Playwrights Colony Participants Announced Playwrights Theatre Centre is pleased to announce the playwrights who will congregate on Granville Island in November for the fourth annual PTC Colony. This year’s playwrights are Jan Derbyshire, Dave Deveau, Nicola Harwood, Gordon Pengilly, and Jeremy Waller. The writers join guest dramaturg Don Hannah November 16-25 in residence at PTC and the Lord Stanley Hotel. “Our Playwrights Colony is part of the Research and Development wing of the national theatre ecology,” said PTC’s Executive Director, Martin Kinch. “It’s essential to maintain our investment in new work, especially in the face of diminished support from the province. We are committed to helping BC’s theatre community to maintain its place on the national stage.” PTC will support the work of over 20 playwrights this autumn through the Colony, our Writers Blocks, ongoing dramaturgical meetings and workshop processes. The Colony is our most substantial investment of dramaturgical resources to assist in the development of plays in mid-creation. A company of actors brings the written word to life for in-house readings. The writers will work with Kinch, PTC Dramaturg Heidi Taylor and Guest Dramaturg Don Hannah. Group residency opportunities for Canadian playwrights are comparatively rare, and offer an invaluable opportunity for a writer to focus on a script as it nears completion. Below is a list of the writers and their scripts. Jan Derbyshire (Vancouver) Funny in the Head Dave Deveau (Vancouver) My Funny Valentine Nicola Harwood (Nelson) Buffalo Girls Re-Mix Gordon Pengilly (Calgary) Flesh and Ghost Jeremy Waller (Vancouver) Trunk For more information contact Heidi Taylor: heidi@playwrightstheatre.com 604.685.6228