[Fwd: AFRICANADIAN PLAYWRIGHTS' FESTIVAL - CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS]

[Luella Massey]

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For Immediate Release       

                                                                                                                             
       

 April 29, 2006

 

*AFRICANADIAN PLAYWRIGHTS' FESTIVAL *

*4^TH EDITION*

 

*CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS***

 

Artistic Director Djanet Sears is pleased to announce that the 
AfriCanadian Playwrights' Festival is currently accepting submissions 
for its upcoming week long celebration, scheduled to take place *August 
21 - 27, 2006*. The AfriCanadian Playwrights' Festival will be presented 
by CanStage in association with University College: University of Toronto.

 

This tri-annual gathering will feature a remarkable range of events 
including Showcase Workshop Productions, staged readings, script 
readings, a conference component, 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.

 

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 3^rd 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 addition of a conference component and the publication of volume II 
of _Testifyin':  Contemporary African Canadian Drama_. 

 

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 *deadline* for all submissions is *Monday June 5, 2006, at 5:00pm*. 
Playwrights interested in submitting their work for consideration should 
note the following submission guidelines:

 

·          Submission packages should include:

o         One unbound copy of the play or work-in-progress

o         A bio and/or resume

o         A coving letter which includes a brief synopsis of your 
submission and contact information (your name, address, email and 
telephone numbers, etc.)

 

·          Submissions should be mailed to:

o         Play Group, AfriCanadian Playwrights' Festival,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                
        54 Wolseley St., 2^nd 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 at africanadian.com <mailto:festival at africanadian.com> .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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