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For Immediate Release
June 12, 2006

 

AFRICANADIAN PLAYWRIGHTS' FESTIVAL 

In Partnership with

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DRAMA PROGRAM, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

 

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

 

University College, at the University of Toronto, has partnered with the
AfriCanadian Playwrights' Festival to host the conference component of the
AfriCanadian Playwrights' Festival, August 22-27, 2006: Featured lecturer:
Harry J. Elam Jr., Stanford University.


The History: Inspired by August Wilson's groundbreaking speech, "The Ground
on Which I Stand," the first AfriCanadian Playwright's Festival in 1997
gathered nearly 50 Canadian playwrights of African decent for a celebration
of Black playwriting in Canada. The festival included a Keynote Session with
Ricardo Khan: Crossroads Theatre: USA; Yvonne Brewster: Talawa Theatre: UK;
and George Elliot Clarke: Playwright, Poet, and Professor: Canada. There was
a week long playreading series, as well as panel discussions and a
celebratory evening where all of the nearly 50 playwrights in attendance
read a brief excerpt from one of their works for the stage. The millennium
edition of the AfriCanadian Playwrights' Festival was much larger in scope
and featured a keynote dialogue with noted Canadian born, Tony Award winning
director, Lloyd Richards and Nobel laureate Derek Walcott.  The millennium
edition also saw the addition of Workshop Productions which showcased a
number of new works in the later stages of development by presenting them
with production elements (set, costumes and lights).  Moreover, Playwrights
Canada Press published:  Testifyin':  Contemporary African Canadian Drama,
Vol. I, an anthology of Black Canadian plays, the first collection of its
kinds in this country.  The 3rd edition of the festival in 2003, (our most
successful to date) showcased and presented the work of more African
Canadian playwrights and theatre practitioners than ever before. The
festival also endeavoured to broaden the spectrum of African Canadian
playwrighting and theatre in the Canadian cultural studies arena with the
publication of volume II of Testifyin': Contemporary African Canadian Drama,
and the addition of a conference component, from which the papers presented
formed the framework for the spring 2004 edition of the Canadian Theatre
Review 118: African Canadian Theatre (Honouring the Word).

The Festival:  In addition to a conference component, this tri-annual
gathering will feature a remarkable range of events including Showcase
Workshop Productions, staged readings, script reading, and our legendary
Playwrights Guild sponsored Salon Luncheons, where writers give voice to
their own work, accompanied by a sumptuous mid-day feast.  In all, the
festival will involve the most substantial gathering of Black theatre
practitioners and African Canadian theatre scholars nationwide.

While the vision for the upcoming festival continues to grow, our primary
objectives remain the same: The celebration, examination, encouragement,
development, promotion and presentation of African Canadian playwrights and
their plays. 

The Call for Papers:  University College and The AfriCanadian Playwrights'
Festival invites paper proposals from all interested parties on a wide range
of issues pertinent to African Canadian Playwrights, Black theatre in
Canada, and its relationship to theatre of the African Diaspora, in order to
encourage a broader and more sustained discussion on theatre by people of
African descent in Canada.  Issues that might be considered include, but are
not limited to:

*          Nation versus Diaspora

*          Race, class and gender

*          African Canadian theatre, critical multiculturalism and critical
race studies

*          Region, community, and nation

*          Forms, styles, and aesthetics

*          What is African Canadian theatre, and what does it look like?

Abstracts, which must be submitted by July 12, 2006, should be no more than
500 words, and may be submitted electronically or by hard copy.  Abstracts
will be evaluated by a committee of scholars and theatre practitioners.
Individuals who submit proposals will be notified regarding acceptance by
July 17th, 2006.

The Publication: Selected not-previously-published conference papers
presented during the event, revised for publication, will be considered for
inclusion in an upcoming book to be edited by Djanet Sears and Ric Knowles.

*          Submissions should sent to:

o         : djanet.sears@utoronto.ca  and festival@africanadian.com

OR

o         Djanet Sears, AfriCanadian Playwrights' Festival, 

54 Wolseley Street, 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON, M5T 1A5

 

If you have any questions, please contact the AfriCanadian Playwrights'
Festival at (416) 367.8243 X305, or email us at festival@africanadian.com .

  


