How to be a Playwright in Alberta

Oct 23, 2010
Toby Welch

Long Live the Theatre - Petermilli

It takes perseverence and hard to work to be a successful playwright in Alberta. Here's some tips on how you can get started.

How do aspiring playwrights get their plays produced? Elyne Quan, a playwright from Edmonton who now lives in Toronto and sits on the Playwrights Guild of Canada board, advises, “Join APN ( Alberta Playwrights’ Network), get to know the playwrights in your community, and look for opportunities at festivals and competitions.

"Learn the craft of playwriting and keep working at it. See and read a lot of plays. There are playwriting units that are usually attached to a theatre and that's a great way to introduce your work. Theatres are not the same; they have different mandates and types of plays they're looking for so it's important to do research and find a theatre where you'll fit in. Aspiring playwrights can also find mentors. Playwrights are generally a friendly bunch and, as long as you don't pester, most are happy to offer one-on-one advice. Find out which theatres take play submissions and submit your plays. Do your homework and send them only what they are interested in.”

But what if you live in rural Alberta? David Belke has been a playwright in Alberta since the 1970s and gives us some tips, “Independent production is not a bad place to start out. Investigate community organizations which many small towns in the province do have like community and locally based theatre companies. Some of them are willing to try out new plays and playwrights. Send your plays to organizations in other cities.

"Just because you are living in Hinton or Okotoks doesn’t mean you can’t send your play to an organization that interests you in Edmonton or Calgary. Both Edmonton and Calgary have festivals that are actively soliciting plays so take the chance while it’s offered and who knows what may come out of it. The worst they can say is NO.”

How to Get Your Play Produced

Make these options a part of your Get My Play Produced repertoire:

Read and attend plays.
Join playwriting organizations.
Make connections in your local theatre company or playwright organization.
Participate in workshops.
Enter playwriting competitions.
Submit your play(s) to theatres.
Self-produce your play.
Partake in fringe festivals.
Invite Artistic Directors to attend your play.
Never stop marketing yourself and your work.

Supporters of Playwrights in Alberta

A multitude of organizations and institutions in Alberta support playwrights. The list includes:

Alberta Playwrights’ Network - They hold professional workshops and readings, offer one-on-one dramaturgy, host benefits, conduct play development programs, and administer the longest running and richest playwriting competition in Canada. They service the entire province with a head office in Calgary and a representative in Edmonton.
Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) - This organization encourages playwrights via grants. They provide funding to individual artists and arts organizations in the visual, performing, and literary arts and cultural industries.
Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP) - This company operates playRites every year which workshops and showcases new plays from around the country. The rest of the year they showcase recent Canadian and international successes and develop and produce original material.
Banff Playwrights Colony – This residential program accords playwrights the opportunity to develop a work with tremendous encouragement. The Colony is a five-week 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.
University of Alberta Drama Department – This is considered one of the superior theatre programs in Canada. Since its inception in the 1940s, the U of A Department of Drama has been committed to the training and education of the future artists and visionary leaders of Canadian Theatre.

Good luck getting your play produced!