Script Submissions (Alberta)
From October to May each year, Workshop West Playwrights Theatre welcomes script submissions from playwrights currently residing in Alberta, for one-on-one dramaturgical support and/or production consideration.
Workshop West is committed to supporting playwrights’ visions, from inception through to production, building relationships with writers over the long term, and ensuring that development processes are uniquely designed to serve their needs. We are committed to supporting all Albertan playwrights WWPT through our Reading Service.
Available from Oct to May each year, this program gives Alberta writers an opportunity to work directly with our Resident Dramaturg to discuss works in progress via in-person, phone, or zoom consultations. Oct-May of each year we can accept one draft, per playwright, of any script written for performance in the theatre by playwrights residing in Alberta. The program is free of charge. We are unable to support musicals and works written for television, radio, or forms other than stage plays.
To submit: Fill out the online form (available in Oct 15 - May 15). Darrin will read scripts and respond to them in the order they are received. Usually the wait 4 to 6 weeks.
Workshop West programmes original plays (dramas, comedies, and everything in between) that investigate the problems and possibilities of our time by asking bold questions of the modern world. We program outstanding small-cast, full-length plays which are formally or thematically original. For us, a small cast is 6 characters or less. A full-length play is usually at least 50 pages in length and around 35-40 pages if it is a monologue. We accept submissions from Oct - May each year.
To submit: Email a cover letter, c.v., synopsis of the play, and a 20-page (maximum) excerpt of the work to dramaturgy@workshopwest.org. A full manuscript may be requested upon review of initial submissions.
Dramaturg in Residence: Darrin Hagen
DARRIN HAGEN has worked with hundreds of writers over the past 3 decades, first as curator of the legendary Loud & Queer Cabaret, and then as Writer in Residence for Edmonton Public Library (2018-2019), University of Alberta Department of English and Film Studies (2019-2020), and MacEwan University (2021). He has mentored many playwrights all the way to their first production. He has also worked with the Citadel’s Youth Playwriting Circle, the summer and winter editions of YouthWrite (Alberta Writers’ Guild), the Alberta Queer Calendar Project, and was on the advisory board for the Q2Q Queer Theatre Conference in 2021. In 2022 he was Festival Dramaturge for Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre’s Springboards Festival, and curated the Alive & Kicking Cabaret.
He has written (or co-written) over 50 plays, and has received over 40 Sterling Award nominations, winning 7 of them. He is the author of The Edmonton Queen: The Final Voyage. His plays have been produced in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Whitehorse, Kelowna, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Minneapolis, Orlando, Key West, West Hollywood, New York, and in Ireland.