Friday
Mar052010
Count our lucky stars
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 4:31PM
By Col
Lately there's been a flurry of blog posts & comments/twitter streams/summits swirling around indie theatre in the States (mostly Eastern seaboard area) and the state of new play development in those areas. I got turned on to the meam by Simon's The Next Stage in Vancouver, who's research far exceeds my own. Here's one of the many links that I've pouring over.
There's a lot of anxiety about new play development in American Theatre right now, much of it hinging on this idea that new play's are instantly held up to the American cannon, and if it isn't judged to be an instant classic then its no good. One comment points out that writers like Mamet cut their playwrighting teeth when the regional theatre system in the States was still in its infant stage and were more open to new plays.
I don't envy the position of writers south of the border, especially from a Calgary vantage point. Last season I was working a new script at Lunchbox through their Stage One new play festival, and there I had a nice brief chat with John Lazarus who was working on a new script of his own. He was a bit shocked by the amount of play development happening in one city at one time. I believe the word Utopia was used. At the same time we were working at Lunchbox ATP was off at The Banff Centre for their playwrights colony, TC were doing readings for their Fuse playwrights circle, and the kick-ass-indie writers The Citizens of the Whimsy State were holding readings of their own. That was one hell of a week in May. A few weeks later Downstage and Ghost River were premiering Bus(t) and Something to do with Death respectively, two new creation projects that were years in the making. If you look through this season list from local companies you'll see world premiers from writers from around the city, province, and country, as well as great work from Calgary-collective-creators.
I don't mean to be too much of a cheerleader, Calgary isn't prefect when it comes to new work being done. More could be done to have Calgary producing its own playwrights for example, and it'd be great to see our audiences and media celebrate the talented writers in town more as well, but nevertheless, when compared to a lot of other theatre center's we're at least a relative utopia, to use Mr. Lazarus's word.
What is it about Calgary theatre that makes us so willing and eager to develop all this new work? In part, Canadian theatre doesn't suffer from the plight of always being compared to our theatre cannon because our cannon is still being built; many of the pioneering Canadian playwrights like Sharon Pollock and John Murrell are still writing. The APN has been a quiet and driving force for local playwrights for years, and we have a number of dedicated dramaturges in town who swing pretty hefty influence within their respective companies.
Are those the answers? What am I missing?
Lately there's been a flurry of blog posts & comments/twitter streams/summits swirling around indie theatre in the States (mostly Eastern seaboard area) and the state of new play development in those areas. I got turned on to the meam by Simon's The Next Stage in Vancouver, who's research far exceeds my own. Here's one of the many links that I've pouring over.
There's a lot of anxiety about new play development in American Theatre right now, much of it hinging on this idea that new play's are instantly held up to the American cannon, and if it isn't judged to be an instant classic then its no good. One comment points out that writers like Mamet cut their playwrighting teeth when the regional theatre system in the States was still in its infant stage and were more open to new plays.
I don't envy the position of writers south of the border, especially from a Calgary vantage point. Last season I was working a new script at Lunchbox through their Stage One new play festival, and there I had a nice brief chat with John Lazarus who was working on a new script of his own. He was a bit shocked by the amount of play development happening in one city at one time. I believe the word Utopia was used. At the same time we were working at Lunchbox ATP was off at The Banff Centre for their playwrights colony, TC were doing readings for their Fuse playwrights circle, and the kick-ass-indie writers The Citizens of the Whimsy State were holding readings of their own. That was one hell of a week in May. A few weeks later Downstage and Ghost River were premiering Bus(t) and Something to do with Death respectively, two new creation projects that were years in the making. If you look through this season list from local companies you'll see world premiers from writers from around the city, province, and country, as well as great work from Calgary-collective-creators.
I don't mean to be too much of a cheerleader, Calgary isn't prefect when it comes to new work being done. More could be done to have Calgary producing its own playwrights for example, and it'd be great to see our audiences and media celebrate the talented writers in town more as well, but nevertheless, when compared to a lot of other theatre center's we're at least a relative utopia, to use Mr. Lazarus's word.
What is it about Calgary theatre that makes us so willing and eager to develop all this new work? In part, Canadian theatre doesn't suffer from the plight of always being compared to our theatre cannon because our cannon is still being built; many of the pioneering Canadian playwrights like Sharon Pollock and John Murrell are still writing. The APN has been a quiet and driving force for local playwrights for years, and we have a number of dedicated dramaturges in town who swing pretty hefty influence within their respective companies.
Are those the answers? What am I missing?
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