With the generous funding support from Arts Nova Scotia, Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC) is pleased to announce our inaugural Pan-Atlantic Emerging Playwrights Unit. In this unit, 4 early-career playwrights from across Atlantic Canada will write a one-act play from an initial idea to a fully realized first draft. PARC will arrange dramaturgical support over the course of a year for the project, which will culminate in a week of workshops with actors and a public evening of readings. Each participant will receive an honorarium, in addition to specialized dramaturgical support and a workshop with professional actors.
PARC’s Pan-Atlantic Emerging Playwrights Unit will use the theme of (dis)connection as a starting point. Over the span of a year, selected playwrights and dramaturges will meet quarterly via zoom to share writing with one another and receive feedback from their peers. Likewise, they will receive individual feedback from their respective dramaturges following these meetings. Exact dates will be determined by the availability of unit members during a given period.
For the final quarterly meeting, playwrights will assemble in Halifax, NS, (travel costs covered by PARC) for a week of script development workshops with actors. Workshops provide a crucial opportunity for playwrights to hear their words spoken, giving them invaluable insight as they continue to develop their work.
PARC is not a producing company, and as such does not produce plays we help in developing. To combat this structural challenge in our organization, regional artistic directors and producers will be invited to attend the final reading, with the goal of sparking the opportunity for future development and ideally, eventual production and public presentation. Naturally continued partnership between artists and PARC is a possibility as the plays enter new phases of development, building off the foundation of what this project provided.
PARC’s Pan-Atlantic Emerging Playwrights Unit will culminate in a collective debrief with the cohort as a whole, as well as individual ones, to ensure the strongest possible start on their future endeavours.
DEADLINE: April 30, 2025
We expect to inform applicants of their status in late June 2025.
Selection Process:
Selected playwrights will be chosen by a jury comprised of PARC staff (who are also playwrights and dramaturges in their own right), Santiago Guzmán, Lara Lewis, and Jena McLean.
PARC’s Pan-Atlantic Emerging Playwrights Unit will consist of:
- one playwright from each Atlantic province (NL, NS, PEI, NB);
- at least two out of four playwrights will be Indigenous and/or Racialized;
- emerging artists (that is, artists who are in early career or early in this specific discipline and identify as such);
- balancing interests of rural and urban communities.
Upon request, we are also happy to accept video applications for accessibility purposes, given they still engage with all required questions in this application.
Contact
For questions, feedback, or support related to your application, please contact PARC Associate Artistic Director Lara Lewis at artassoc@playwrightsatlantic.ca.
Click HERE to apply.