Banff Playwrights Colony 2010

"The Banff Playwrights Colony was a gift. It offered community, inspiration, and craft. It provided me with an environment that facilitated my process and allowed me to be productive without feeling overwhelmed. I would not have finished my play without it."

— Julian Doucet, 2009 Banff Playwrights Colony participant

From emerging playwrights to seasoned professionals, the participants at the Banff Playwrights Colony represent the richness and variety of contemporary Canadian theatre writing from all across the country. The Colony is a five-week residential program that focuses on text-based theatre. Because the objective of the Colony is to serve the specific needs of each playwright and his or her project, plays may be at various stages of development, from first draft to final polish. Playwrights may select the dramaturge with whom they wish to work, or chose to use a program dramaturge. The Colony also provides a small resident company of professional actors who are especially skilled in reading new work.

Eligible submissions include works proposed by:

• emerging or established playwrights,
• theatres and play development centres, and
• translators who are translating Canadian and international plays into English.

Self-directed Writing Week

The Banff Playwrights Colony will be offering a self-directed writing week for playwrights from May 24 to 29, 2010. This week is designed to offer playwrights the chance to complete work on their play, prior to the arrival of their dramaturge and the resident acting company. Applicants must specify in their application that they would like to be considered for this week, as space is limited.

Quebec Translation Exchange

The Banff Playwrights Colony and the Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD) have a reciprocal Residency agreement for Canadian artists working on projects in translation. Through this new initiative the Banff Playwrights Colony supports a two-week residency for a Quebec playwright and his/her translator at the Colony, and reciprocally, CEAD hosts an English-Canadian playwright and his/her translator during its International Translation Residency in Montreal, which includes a translation workshop and public reading.

The 2010 Banff Playwrights Colony/CEAD Translation Exchange will be held in Montreal in early September. Applications are due February 19, 2010. Read more about this program and application details.

The Banff Playwrights Colony is a partnership between The Banff Centre, The Canada Council for the Arts, and Alberta Theatre Projects.