PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES C.E. GATCHALIAN PLAYWRIGHT IN RESIDENCE

Vancouver, BC....The Playhouse is pleased to announce the appointment of C.E. Gatchalian as Playwright in Residence for the 2007/08 season. Previous Playhouse Artists and Playwrights in Residence have included Aaron Bushkowsky, Kevin Kerr, Johnna Wright and Kevin Loring. Mr. Gatchalian's residency is supported by a grant from the City of Vancouver's Diversity Initiatives Program.

"We are excited to welcome Chris to the Playhouse team and are grateful to the city for their support of the projects he will be undertaking while in his residency," says Playhouse Artistic Director Glynis Leyshon. "We are thrilled they share our commitment to the development and nurturing of a culturally diverse theatre ecology in our community."

C. E. Gatchalian is an award-winning, Vancouver-born and based playwright whose plays include Crossing, Claire, Motifs & Repetitions, and the Jessie-nominated Broken. His work has appeared on stages in Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg and New Zealand, as well as on television and radio. The author of three books and the recipient of the 2005 Gordon Armstrong Playwrights' Rent Award, he was previously Playwright-in-Residence at the Firehall Arts Centre and a resident writer at the Berton House Writers' Retreat in Dawson City, YT.

During his residency at the Playhouse, Mr. Gatchalian will be working on a play about Broadway legend Laurette Taylor, one of the outstanding stage actors of the twentieth century. A workshop and reading of the play is scheduled for late 2008 as part of the Playhouse's Write Now Reading Series.

Mr. Gatchalian will also facilitate a playwriting unit involving high school students from diverse backgrounds. The programme, now accepting applications, is designed to encourage a new generation of playwrights, one reflecting the wide range of cultural heritages in Vancouver.

"I truly am excited about this residency," says Mr. Gatchalian. "As BC's regional theatre, the Playhouse will be the largest company I've worked with so far. I've been bred mostly in the independent theatre world, so I look forward to seeing and learning how work is developed on a larger scale, and to working with the many esteemed artists who will be working at the Playhouse this year.

"I'm also excited about writing my new play. It's always a challenge to find time, space and money to create new work, so I'm grateful to the Playhouse and to the City of Vancouver for giving me this opportunity