Part of our 47th season: THE VILE AND THE VIGILANT

MARCH 24TH - 29TH, 2026

SPRINGBOARDS:

A NEW PLAY FESTIVAL

Workshop West’s signature yearly new play festival celebrates playwrights and their plays, inviting audiences to get up close and personal with the creative process. The festival features readings of plays in development with just enough sound, light, and staging to spark audiences’ imaginations.

Springboards is an exciting convergence of local and national theatre artists, with readings, talk-backs, discussions, classes, and cabarets that hot-spot the electrifying Canadian theatre of tomorrow.

THE SPRINGBOARDS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL LINE UP!

All shows start at 7:30pm and take place at
The Gateway Theatre (8529 Gateway Blvd)

Write Here, Write Now!

And write on March 22nd! We’re calling all writers to join The Writers’ Guild of Alberta and Workshop West in an all-day writers’ retreat to ignite your imagination and get those words flowing. Led by award-winning writer Conni Massing, you’ll explore creative prompts, and exercises to shake loose stubborn drafts, discover new ideas, and play with possibilities! Bring your poems, novels, or scripts - this playground is for everyone!
Price: Sliding scale from $20-$40
Deadline: March 20, 2026

The workshop will be held at The Gateway Theatre (8529 Gateway Blvd) from 10am - 4:30pm with lunch provided.

Have a look at last year’s festival HERE!

Why Heather choses Springboards: A New Play Festival

“The Springboards New Play Festival is a small but mighty force in the cultural life of our city and our province. It is the perfect expression of Workshop West’s raison d’être, and it is one of our key platforms to develop new plays towards production while implicating our audiences in the process. At Springboards, audiences are given a backstage pass into the world of playmaking, linking them to creators and their creative processes. Edmonton’s exciting and robust theatre community rallies around playwrights and their plays in an exciting week of the best new plays you’ll hear anywhere..”

-Heather Inglis
Artistic Producer, WWPT