ArtSpring’s 2018 Artistic Residency: The New Play Development Workshop
Presented by ArtSpring and generously supported by The Quercus Foundation and the Salt Spring Arts Council.
Come play with us!
Aug 1 & 2, 4 pm – 6 pm – $40
Public Workshop
Writing Dynamic Scenes for the Stage with Pamela Halstead
Max 10 Participants
Register Now
Guest director/ dramaturge Pamela Halstead will run a two-day workshop for local playwrights and those interested in trying their hand at writing a scene, monologue or short play. Come with an idea and polish it, or write a fresh scene on site. Pamela will discuss what it takes to bring a play to a professional debut on Canadian Stages. You will also have a chance to try your hand at stage writing and receive feedback from Pamela on how to make your scene dynamic and playable for an actor. Finally, you will have a chance to read a selection of your work at the wrap up on August 3 which is free and open to the public.
August 3, 6:30 pm – Free
Rough Cut & Talkback
Award-winning playwright Natalie Meisner’s Boom Baby & Workshop
Featured Play: Boom Baby by Natalie Meisner
Iona is a young Maritimer who has been drawn out west for work in the mining camps. She is a loader operator, a strong young woman and fits into the working environment without complaint, striving to be “one of the guys.” That is until she becomes pregnant after a casual sexual encounter with a friend. Unwilling to have an abortion, and not seeing a way out of her situation, she meets Brooke: A PR woman for an oil company who is unable to have children herself. In Canada, prospective birth mothers cannot be paid, but under the assumptions of altruism. And yet everything in a work camp environment is measured in dollars and cents. The deal the women contemplate raised the question of what can and can’t be given a dollar value. A new human life? An existing one? A river? A water table? The future?
CAST: (Local Salt Spring Actors, TBA)
Pamela Halstead (Halifax) is an award-winning director, dramaturg, actor, teacher, and arts consultant.
Natalie Meisner (Salt Spring Island) is a widely produced playwright award-winning multi-genre writer.