2020-2021 Season

(A Season Affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic)

This year we announced our programming in two parts. By Fire: Part 1 charted a course through from October to January 2021.

This mini season offered innovative ways of coming together, featuring new works by 10 Edmonton writers, creating dedicated space for IBPOC artists to create, and reaching out to underserved communities while nurturing more establish Edmonton playwrights.

The second half of our season focused on the future via a suite of programs and activities which provided safe harbour to artists to regenerate, learn, grow, and prepare to lead us as the pandemic subsides.

By Fire (Part 2): Together We Rise affirmed the place of Canadian artists and their works at the heart of our company and as the soul of our community. It affirmed that for there to be art, there must be time and space for it to germinate, grow, and flower. In this time of waiting, Workshop West invested in the creation and development of new works knowing with certainty that we will rise together in the months to come.

Here There Be Night

AN UNFORGETTABLE OTHERWORLDLY IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

Produced by Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre in Partnership with: Theatre Yes, Catalyst Theatre, Theatre Network, and Northern Light Theatre.

Dates: October 22 - Nov 1, 2020 | PG 13: Parental Guidance — some mature content

STARTING POINT AND FREE PARKING: Strathcona Community League (10139-87 Avenue)

A WALK AT NIGHT: YOUR CELL PHONE, 8 STORIES, 8 LOCATIONS

‘Here There be Night’ is a professional production which uses the health limitations of COVID-19 as theatrical convention. Audience groups of 1-2 are guided via their cell phones and audio narration to see solo performers in a variety of outdoor and found space locations in Edmonton’s vibrant Old Strathcona district. The night awaits you…

Creative Incubator

BIPOC Artist Creator Circle. Through discussions, group work, guest presenters and the sharing of artistic work, WWPT’s Creative Incubator invites participants to explore dramatic practice by investigating a series of resources from a variety of cultural sources with the goal of nurturing, empowering and advancing participating artists.

Edmonton Playwrights’ Circle

With Beth Graham. Co-presented by the University of Alberta. The Edmonton Playwrights’ Circle is a space for any and all Edmonton playwrights to gather, discuss, and focus on developing their craft.

Possible Worlds

A practical, five-week course for creators at all levels of development that uses ‘world creation’ techniques from game development as a starting point to realize the landscape of an imaginary world, its inhabitants, and places where drama begins. This workshop will be led by Cree playwright Kenneth T. Williams in collaboration with game developers at Improbable Canada, an Edmonton game development start-up specializing in building the next generation of flexible multiplayer role-playing games. Possible Worlds will challenge participants to create captivating imaginary worlds for their characters to inhabit.

Rattle Your Own Cage

A practical, five-week course for intermediate and established playwrights who are interested in rebooting and re-examining their writing practice for a new world. David Van Belle will use techniques and principles developed during twenty years of devised theatre experience to open up new possibilities for playwrights who are used to working in a traditional script-to-production model. Topics include the embrace of impulse, randomness, restriction and collaboration, ending with a focus on creating coherence out of chaos.

Playwrights Bootcamp

6-weeks of ONLINE intensive playwriting courses with Senior Playwright (your Drill Sergeant) Vern Thiessen. Every Thursday evening for 6 weeks, Vern will help you: KICK your new project into gear. PUSH your skills. BEAT your writing demons. TRAIN your imagination to do your bidding. SURVIVE rehearsal without going AWOL. WORKSHOP part of your play with REAL ACTORS in a LIVE simulation.

The Shoe Project

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SKIRTSAFIRE FESTIVAL AND CCI-LEX

The Shoe Project is a national initiative that amplifies the voices of Canadian immigrant and refugee women through storytelling. This year, Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre brought the initiative to Edmonton. In December 2020, a group of 12 immigrant and refugee women began working with veteran Canadian playwright Conni Massing to write stories of their arrival and adaptation to Canada through the lens of a pair of shoes they have worn. When their stories are completed, each participant receives performance coaching from local theatre professionals and will tell their story in a revelatory public performance.