PLAYWRIGHTS GUILD OF CANADA LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE

Centennial Celebration for Rosebud Mercantile
The best of old and new comes together in cornerstone facility for Alberta’s rural arts community

Rosebud, Alberta (May 20, 2011) – Like the pioneers who built the first Rosebud Mercantile 100 years ago, the spirit of rural Alberta will be celebrated May 27/28 as Rosebud Centre of the Arts officially opens the newly renovated and expanded Rosebud Mercantile.

“The Rosebud Mercantile is a dream come true,” remarks Executive Director Bob Davis. “It was a 10-year journey from visioning to planning, fundraising and then construction. But it was worth every minute. We now have a multi-use facility that can help us grow, expand and create new opportunities for decades to come.”

The new 10,000 sq. ft. expansion creates a cornerstone facility for the organization and community. Long known for the productions of Rosebud Theatre and theatre training through Rosebud School of the Arts, Rosebud Centre of the Arts has enhanced the dining and retail services of the Rosebud Mercantile. On the second floor, the Encana Conference Centre is able to host meetings, conferences and special events for up to 250 people.

      While providing modern amenities, the Rosebud Mercantile honors the history and character of rural Alberta. The exterior design is one of an old-time bank combined with a livery stable. The interior design is inspired by early 20th century hotel décor and colour schemes. A century-old grain elevator was dismantled from a nearby farm so that key parts could be used in the “Harvest Room” dining area. A new restaurant has been named “Wild Horse Jack’s” after local rancher “Wild Horse” Jack Morton who settled in the Rosebud area in the early 1900s.

      A formal ribbon cutting takes place on Friday May 27 featuring federal, provincial and local government officials, key donors and sponsors. The Rosebud Mercantile is then open to the public from 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM Saturday May 28. The Open House will feature an Art Fair of visual and musical artists throughout the day in the Encana Conference Centre.

About the Rosebud Mercantile
      Built in 1911, the Rosebud Mercantile was created  as a store to accommodate the railway that went through Rosebud. Over the years, it passed through a number of owners, until it was finally sold to Rosebud School of the Arts in 1973. From 1973 to 1977 a summer arts camp operated out of the building. Camps continued in the community into the early 1980s while the Mercantile expanded to accommodate a private secondary arts school. This high school program was replaced in 1986 by a post-secondary theatre arts guild school (Rosebud School of the Arts). Rosebud Theatre soon began using the Mercantile as a dining room in conjunction with its performances. Today, the Rosebud Mercantile functions as a dining and meeting facility, home to Rosebud Gifts & Crafts, the Encana Conference Centre and Wild Horse Jack’s Bistro & Grill.  Rosebud Mercantile: (local) 403-677-2999 or (toll-free) 1-877-987-2999 www.rosebudtheatre.com

      -30-

      For information, interviews and/or hi-rez photos, please contact:
      Mr. Neil Bousquet, APR, Media Relations, (403) 256-8834, prwizard@prwizard.ca
      Mr. Bob Davis, Executive Director, (403) 677-2350 bobd@rosebudtheatre.com

The National Theatre School of Canada celebrates its first Homecoming Reunion

TO ALL NTS ALUMNI!
Don’t miss the School’s first-ever Homecoming reunion, taking place on October 28, 29 and 30, 2011. The festivities kick off with a cocktail-dinner party, at the Monument-National (M-N), on Friday. On Saturday, there’ll be conferences and workshops on timely topics, exhibitions (production photos and posters, books written by alumni, etc.) and backstage tours of the M-N. During the evening, you can experience another first for the School: the graduating students from both the English and French sections will perform together on the Ludger-Duvernay stage in a bilingual show created especially for the School’s anniversary. And, of course, the Alumni Cabaret, featuring the many talents of NTS graduates from all generations, which runs on Friday and Saturday nights. On Sunday, there’ll be a brunch and a farewell cocktail party at the School’s St. Denis Street campus; an opportunity to wander the halls and get a glimpse of what the NTS looks like today. We look forward to welcoming you back to your National Theatre School!

For more information, please contact the Alumni Office alumninews@ent-nts.ca; 514 842-7954, ext. 122; or 1-866-547-7328, ext. 122. You can also visit the School’s 50th anniversary website.

Alberta Playwrights’ Network Announces the Winners of the 45th Annual Alberta Playwriting Competition

The Alberta Playwrights’ Network is pleased to announce the winners of the  2011 Alberta Playwriting Competition, the longest running provincial competition of its kind in Canada, offering the largest cash prize of any provincial playwriting competition. This year 51 entries in total were received from across Alberta.

Calgary playwright Arun Lakra received the Grand Prize Category honour for his full-length play Sequence. Mr. Lakra will receive a workshop and public reading of his play at PlayWorks Ink (November 3-6, 2011) and the $3,500 cash prize.

Sequence is a play that asks where we came from? Who are we now, and what becomes of us?  In a theatrical petri dish; sex, god, DNA, creation and Fibonacci numbers spiral together in a heady cocktail that inspires, delights and surprises with it’s witty, playful language and interplay of logic and metaphysics. Belief systems clash, ideas recombine, mutate and evolve, and order springs from chaos. Which came first- the chicken or the egg, and what dreamed them up in the first place?

Arun Lakra is a Calgary writer who masquerades as an eye surgeon. He divides his workweek between writing and practicing ophthalmology. He has written scripts, songs, and his share of illegible prescriptions. Arun aspires to teach his kids to pursue their dreams and passions, regardless of convention or expectation.  Arun hopes SEQUENCE will be even more successful than his first play, Blindspot, which has received rave reviews for balancing a wobbly table in his basement.  Currently, Arun lives in Calgary with his wife, Roopa, and two kids, Taro and Siya.

The jury had the following comments on Sequence:

·       “A challenging play of ideas with sophisticated arguments and great theatrical potential.”

·       “Terrific dialogue in a refreshingly theatrical script.”

·       “Thoughtful and funny arguments for the coexistence of religion, science, and fate.”

Calgary theatre makers, Mark C. Hopkins and Charles Netto co-wrote Super 8 and received the Discovery Prize Category honour. Super 8 will receive a workshop and public reading at Playworks Ink and the $1,500 cash prize.

SUPER 8 is both funny and sad, and this tension holds together the story of career loners Angie and Will, who meet, briefly and poignantly, at the first Super 8 in middle America on the eve of the hotel chain’s rebranding.

Charles Netto is a Calgary based director, writer, and producer. Charles is co-artistic director of Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre, a Calgary company dedicated to the creation and presentation of innovative and interdisciplinary performance. Charles is the sole author of the plays Chance Moments and Scenes from a Revolution, and has also contributed as a writer to i-Robot Theatre, Freak Show Redux, and Shhh!, as well as S-A-B shorts A World Gone Mad and Free Coffee.

Mark C. Hopkins is a Calgary-based theatre artist and community-builder. He spends his days in the offices of One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre and his nights in the creative trenches with Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre. He is the president of Calgary Young People’s Theatre, the host of regular ‘We Should Know Each Other’ parties and appeared on The Calgary Herald’s list of 20 Compelling Calgarians for 2011

The jury had the following comments on SUPER 8:

·       “The beautiful poetic and sparse language is a poignant shield against the characters’ vulnerabilities.”

·       “Sparse dialogue and intriguing theatricality makes this script the unanimous winner in the Discovery Competition.”

·       “This is a thoroughly engaging tale of two lovers.”

The jury also awarded an Honorable Mention in the Discovery Prize Category to AJ Demers for his play The Year We Fell.

The jury for the 2011 Alberta Playwriting Competition comprised a panel of established Canadian Theatre Practitioners: DD Kugler, dramaturg and theatre instructor, Vancouver; Andy Curtis, actor and One Yellow Rabbit Ensemble Member, Calgary; and Katherine Koller, playwright and instructor at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. The jury works blind (without knowledge of the names of the playwrights) to select a winner in each category, plus honorable mentions as they see fit.

DD Kugler, a Vancouver-based freelance dramaturg/director in theatre and dance, was the first Canadian president of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA, 2000-02).  He served eight seasons as Production Dramaturg with Toronto’s Necessary Angel Theatre (1985-93), five seasons as Artistic Director of Edmonton’s Northern Light Theatre (1993-98), and has now taught thirteen years in the Theatre Area of the School for Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University.  Kugler adapted Marc Diamond’s Property, and (in collaboration with Richard Rose) co-authored Newhouse, as well as the adaptations of Michael Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter, and Timothy Findley’s Not Wanted on the Voyage.

Katherine Koller lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and writes for radio, stage and screen.  Her one-act comedies have been produced across the country.  Her full-length plays include Coal Valley: the Making of a Miner, which was commissioned and produced in Drumheller in 2005 and is included in The Alberta Advantage, published by Playwrights Canada Press. The Seed Savers received its premiere at Workshop West Theatre in 2009 and was produced at Station Arts Centre in Rosthern, Saskatchewan, in 2010. Katherine teaches in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. Her website is www.katherinekoller.ca.

Andy Curtis Andy Curtis is a longtime member of the One Yellow Rabbit Theatre ensemble and has performed in numerous shows including Gilgamesh La-Z-Boy, Ilsa Queen Of The Nazi Love Camp, Thunderstruck, Five Hole (with The Rheostatics), In Kleskavania (with the Plaid Tongue Devils), Exit The King, Dream Machine, Doing Leonard Cohen and Smash Cut Freeze. Recent roles include the title role in Henry VI Part III for the Shakespeare Company, Tupolski in Ground Zero/Hit and Myth’s production of The Pillowman, numerous roles in Theatre Calgary’s Jake and the Kid, the Librarian in Shadow Theatre’s Sterling Award winning production of Underneath The Lintel and Man #2 in Vertigo Theatre’s The 39 Steps. Directing credits include Doug Curtis’s Mesa for Ghost River Theatre and Ken Cameron’s My Morocco for Ground Zero/One Yellow Rabbit.

For further information about the Alberta Playwriting Competition, Alberta Playwrights’ Network, or to arrange interview opportunities, contact the APN office at 403.269.8564, or toll-free at 1.800.268.8564.

Alberta Playwrights’ Network gratefully acknowledges the support of The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, Alberta Lottery Fund, The Calgary Arts Development Authority and The City of Calgary, The Edmonton Arts Council and The City of Edmonton, and Theatre Alberta.

For immediate release
MAGNETIC NORTH THEATRE FESTIVAL IS EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THE PROGRAMMING OF THE 2011 SEASON IN OTTAWA.

OTTAWA MAY 3, 2011 – The 2011 line-up for the Magnetic North Theatre Festival has been announced, and it promises to bring home to Ottawa an array of theatrical activity in June.  The unique festival, which alternates between Ottawa and a different Canadian city each year, comes home to Ottawa June 3-11.  Festival passes and tickets are now available for purchase through the National Arts Centre Box office at 53 Elgin Street or at 613-755-1111, or through Ticketmaster at 1-888-991-2787.

Opening the festival is YICHUD (Seclusion) by Theatre Passe Muraille in producing partnership with Convergence Theatre.  Written by Julie Tepperman and Directed by Julie Tepperman and Aaron Willis and Richard Greenbelt.  YICHUD (Seclusion) drops us into the centre of an orthodox Jewish wedding, and does it in ways that are hilarious, complex and pose tough questions about our relationships to tradition and authority.  The performance runs from June 3-6 and will be taking place at Academic Hall at the University of Ottawa.  Tickets for this performance are $40.

Magnetic North Theatre Festival is proud to announce An Evening with Cathy Jones.  This one night performance featuring the star of This Hour has 22 Minutes will be on Saturday, June 4 at 8PM.  Tickets for this event are $50.

Magnetic North invites festival attendees to join us at the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage on June 9 in the afternoon for a stage reading of The Ministry of Grace, a new play by Tara Beagan, the NAC English Theatre’s Playwright in Residence for 2010/11 and Artistic Director, Native Earth Performing Arts, Inc.  That evening, join Magnetic North staff, board and our 2012 Calgary hosts at the Festival Bar @ Club SAW to celebrate our next festival destination.

Magnetic North Theatre Festival will be presenting a play from Halifax’s Zuppa Theatre Company, 5 Easy Steps (to the end of the world).  It is the night of the end of the world and three friends lock themselves in a pawn shop basement with plans to go out with a bang.  5 Easy Steps (to the end of the world) is one part painful mediation on the past, present and future and two parts dance party.  Featuring choreography from Mwendo Dance Company and music from members of the Heavy Blinkers, 5 Easy Steps (to the end of the world) runs from June 3-6 at Academic Hall at the University of Ottawa. Tickets for this performance are $40.

We are proud to announce that we are once again partnering with the Great Canadian Theatre Company this year to present a Necessary Angel production of This is What Happens Next.  The one man show from the imaginations of Toronto theatre icons Daniel MacIvor and Daniel Brooks features MacIvor as multiple characters in a fairytale that takes us through the dark forest of addiction, divorce, Schopenhauer, The Little Mermaid and the life of John Denver.  This is What Happens Next is showing at the GCTC from June 7-11.  Tickets are $40 and are sold at the GCTC and NAC box office.

Magnetic North is delighted to present Kawasaki Exit, the latest boundary busting creation from Calgary’s One Yellow Rabbit.  Written by Blake Brooker, Kawasaki exit is equal parts mystery and love story, and is inspired by the dark side of Japanese social networking sites.  Performed in Japanese and in English, from beginning to end and then from end to beginning.  We are very excited to be presenting this legendary company hailing from our 2012 destination, Calgary, Alberta from June 7-10 at the National Arts Centre Studio.  Tickets for this performance are $40.

Magnetic North 2011 will be presenting Nina Arsenault’s one woman tour de force The Silicone Diaries, from Buddies in Bad Times theatre in Toronto.  In The Silicone Diaries, Arsenault recounts her transformation from an awkward male to a staggering hour glass bombshell.  She provides us with a peek in to the personal obsessions of those driven to transform their bodies, while at the same time, engaging in a frank exploration of the contradictions associated with the quest for beauty.  We are thrilled to be sharing Nina’s story from June 8-11 at Academic Hall at the University of Ottawa.  Tickets for this performance are $40.

Magnetic North will be presenting a play that is truly for all ages. KISMET one to one hundred from The Chop is a multi-media performance that explores our relationship with fate and destiny.  Using transcripts, photos, video and audio excerpts from one hundred interviews with one hundred people from across the country between the ages of one and one hundred, The Chop pieces together a narrative that is both universal and individual.  The Chop is a dynamic company from Vancouver helmed by recent Siminovitch Award protégé Anita Rochon, and we are very proud to welcome them to the Arts Court Studio June 9-11.  Tickets for this performance are $40.

Artistic associate Marcus Youssef: “What’s so thrilling for me about this year’s festival is the national conversation happening inside of it. Exciting young artists like The Chop and Zuppa are talking to genre and scene-definers MacIvor and the Rabbits; Siminovitch Protégé winner Anita Rochon bumps up against directing legend Daniel Brooks. We have shows and artists from Halifax side by side with their 3000 miles away neighbours from Vancouver (and points in between). There is a show about what 100 Canadians, urban and rural, eastern and western think about fate plus a show that tells the story of a full-op gender switch plus a show that takes us into the centre of an orthodox Jewish wedding. This festival is Canada, here, and now, in all its messy, contradictory glory. I can’t think of a better way to get to know each other a little better.”

A special component of the festival is the Magnetic Encounters, which brings the audience as close to the art as possible.  In the form of many events, talks, installations, interventions and performances, Magnetic Encounters link the audiences to the main stage performances of the festival.  Highlights of this year’s Magnetic Encounters include a lesson in Music and traditional Jewish wedding celebration on June 5 to compliment YICHUD(Seclusion) as well as a Karaocalypse night at our Festival Bar @ Club SAW on June 7 where festival goers are invited on stage with Zuppa to sing songs about the end of the world. Montreal artist Alexis O’Hara will be performing In the Heat of LaNuit on June 8 at our Festival Bar @ Club SAW.  As herself and as her alter-ego Guizo, Alexistransfuses drag, cabaret, pop music and spoken word with a tongue-in-cheek musical treatise on our modern day obsession with feelings.  Tickets for Alexis O’Hara are $10.  On June 10, festival goers are invited to join Magnetic North and The Chop at the Arts Court library in a Workshop on Being Yourself on Stage then head over to the National Gallery for a lecture on the Female Form, Beauty and Art with Nina Arsenault. Don’t forget to join us each evening at the Festival Bar @ Club SAW beginning at 9pm for more fun and great conversation.

Encounters curator Kris Nelson: “With a Karaoke concert, a lecture on beauty and aesthetics and workshops devoted to dancing and performing, there’s something for everyone to think on or try out for themselves this year. Extra special for Ottawa is the Human Library project. Dozens of local residents will become human books – revealing their thoughts, opinions and life stories to book lenders in one-on-one conversations. We’re hoping the Encounters will help build a community of festival-fans and adventurous art lovers in the city.”

Magnetic North Theatre Festival is delighted to announce that for the first time, we will be hosting a Human Library June 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 at the Rideau Centre Western Walkway. Ottawa locals and festival artists become human books sharing their personal stories, beliefs and experiences in this exciting, interactive project. This one-of-a-kind experience brings strangers together for personal, humorous and touching interactions. Working just like a real library, visitors borrow and return books – the twist is that in The Human Library the books are people and visitors will have a candid conversation with the people on loan. Our Human Library is full of human books that are experts in a variety of fields and come from a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds. Created by Stop the Violence for the Roskilde Music Festival in Denmark and presented all over the world and across Canada, The Human Library makes new bonds, breaks down stereotypes and generally gets people together.

Compass Points is a unique program for post-secondary students and emerging artists from across Canada, which offers a first-hand introduction to the professional theatre industry.  This year’s program will be organized in consultation with students from Ottawa.  Compass Points includes workshops, panel discussions and social events designed to inspire participants to chart their own course in Canadian theatre and runs in Ottawa from June 6-10.

Magnetic North Theatre Festival hosts an Industry Series, a professional symposium dedicated to building networks and sharing the wealth of knowledge amongst festival delegates.  Since 2004, Magnetic North’s Industry Series has had a significant impact on the community, the forum and the way we work together.  Delegates from around the country and the world will be in Ottawa through the course of the festival soaking in what the region and Magnetic North have to offer.

Executive Director Ann Connors: “We extend our thanks to our public partners at the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Ottawa; our corporate sponsors and donors and our private donors and to the countless volunteers who, all together contribute the resources vital to this Festival’s success. And at the heart of the festival is you, our audience. As the festival travels back and forth across this large nation, and in the process grows and diversifies, it is always the audience, and the prospect of showing you something you’ve never seen, that rests at the heart of what we do. The coming years will see another new and exciting stage of Magnetic North’s development. More Canadian audiences in more Canadian communities will be exposed to more Canadian theatre artists, all with a brand new Artistic Director, and a new bold visioning of what Canadian Theatre is and could be.”

Frequently called, “Canada’s National Festival of Contemporary Canadian Theatre in English”, Magnetic North Theatre Festival is excited to be coming home to Ottawa for the 2011 season.  The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is produced by the Canadian Theatre Festival Society and co-presented by the National Arts Centre English Theatre.

For more information about Magnetic North, visit www.magneticnorthfestival.ca, call 613-947-7000 or visit our office at the National Arts Centre in downtown Ottawa.  Festival passes and tickets are now on sale through the National Arts Centre box office at 53 Elgin Street or at 613-755-1111, through Ticketmaster at 1-888-991-2787, or online at www.magneticnorthfestival.ca.

-30-

Contact for photos and interviews:

Christine Séguin, Marketing Coordinator
marketing@magneticnorthfestival.ca
      work: 613-947-7000 ext: 875           Cell: 613-600-4931
www.magneticnorthfestival.ca

Theatre Alberta Seeks Fund Development Coordinator

Theatre Alberta is a provincial arts service organization and newly registered charity that proudly represents over 1,100 theatre artists, enthusiasts, students, educators, and community and professional theatre companies from across the province. We are dedicated to encouraging the growth of theatre in Alberta by providing the highest quality programs and services, including:

• workshops and camps for teens and adults, urban and rural
• Canada’s largest independent theatre library
• online audition, employment, and resource sharing services
• what’s on listings for all Alberta theatres
• theatre news, advocacy, and publications

Theatre Alberta is seeking a dynamic and energetic fund development professional who will be responsible for leading the organization’s fundraising activities including:

• the development, execution, and evaluation of a fund development strategy which includes individual and planned giving and corporate sponsorship campaigns
• relationship cultivation and management with individual donors and corporate supporters
• marketing and communication strategies as they relate to fundraising activities
• participation in Theatre Alberta’s overall strategic mission and direction

We are seeking a candidate with demonstrated interest in arts and culture and at least three years experience in the non-profit sector with a fundraising focus. Post-secondary education in fundraising and/or arts administration will be considered an asset. Excellent communication (written and oral) and project management skills combined with a high degree of professionalism and creativity are essential. Due to the nature of Theatre Alberta’s work and programs, some evening/weekend hours and travel will be required.

Hours of work and employment terms are flexible and negotiable to ensure the best possible fit for our organization, commensurate with the candidate’s qualifications and experience. Position to commence as soon as possible.

By May 24, 2011, please forward your resume with letter of interest highlighting qualifications and expectations in confidence to:

Keri Ekberg, Executive Director
      Theatre Alberta
      3rd Floor Percy Page Centre
      11759 Groat Road
      Edmonton AB  T5M 3K6
keri@theatrealberta.com

Theatre Alberta thanks all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.