research/creative opportunity - a Community Play Project in Grande Prairie, Alberta

[Smith, Annie]

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to bring the Grande Prairie Century Play project to your attention.  As the Artistic Director of this project, I am seeking researchers and participants who would like to be involved in any aspect of this 2 year project.  This project is my sabbatical creative/research project.

The GP Century Play follows the tradition of the Community Plays developed by the Colway Theatre Trust (now Claque Theatre) in the 1980's in the UK.  The occasion for the Century Play project is Grande Prairie's 100th Anniversary.  We are mobilizing to create an original community theatrical celebration that will be performed outdoors  June 12 to 15, 2014.  This is the first community play project in Alberta (following the Colway Theatre Trust model) though Canada has seen community plays produced in Ontario (Jumblies Theatre), Saskatchewan (Common Weal), and BC (Vancouver Moving Theatre,  Runaway Moon Theatre).

I particularly hope that graduate students might be interested in becoming involved as researchers or interns in various aspects of the project –  design, music, choreography, acting, directing, dramaturgy, stage management, technical …  the possibilities are open to explore.  We will  be entering Phase 3 of the project in September, 2013, which is focused towards script development and community capacity building in terms of performance skills, which will include puppet building, stilt walking, lantern making, voice, movement, to name a few.  Phase 4, the production phase, will begin in January, 2014.

There will be three outdoor stages and the performance will be processional in nature.  The play is connected very much to the site of the performance in Muskoseepi Park which is the centre of the community, ancestral land, and has seen many historic events.  Our focus also goes to the people who are arriving daily in Grande Prairie – from other parts of Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America.  We have an increasingly multi-cultural population and the mean age of Grande Prairie residents in 27 years.  There are a lot of youth here and the performance styles will reflect this reality.

I am happy to answer all inquiries. Please visit www.gpcenturyplay.org to see what is happening as the project progresses.

Many thanks,
Annie
Artistic Director
GP Century Play
anismith at telus.net
780-357-1503

Annie Smith, PhD
Professor of Drama
Grande Prairie Regional College
10726 – 106 Avenue
Grande Prairie AB  T8V 4C4
Office: L222
Phone: 780-539-2882
Email: asmith at gprc.ab.ca

“It is interesting to ask:  what are the limits you have set for your life?  Where are the lines of these limits?  Why do you think you cannot go beyond them?  How real are they?  Did you construct these limits out of anxiety and fear?  If you were to go beyond your most solidly set limits, what difference would it make to your life?  What are you missing by remaining confined?” John O’Donohue.

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