Banff Playwrights Colony

"The Colony provides a platform for cross-fertilization that is essential to the development of great Canadian plays for our national and regional theatres. Essential."
Colleen Murphy

About The Banff Playwrights Colony

The Playwrights Colony has since 1974 offered Canadian playwrights a powerful and inspiring environment to work on their plays amidst the natural environment of The Banff Centre while surrounded by performing artists from across Canada and around the world. The Colony is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2013 by launching components to accompany its long-standing spring playwrights retreat. Demonstrating renewed commitment to the Colony by The Banff Centre, the new Colony approach offers playwrights a broad range of opportunities to develop their work, from a pure retreat experience focused solely on writing, to the fellowship of its centerpiece spring Colony, to a new workshop phase to be introduced in 2014.

The Colony seeks artists who are asking questions about our society, who are challenging form, who are taking risks, and seeking a safe place where they can take their play to unsafe places they could otherwise not reach. The Colony is committed to hosting a dynamic conversation about storytelling and contemporary theatre during each creative residency and invites all accepted participants to push Canadian theatre into the future.

Please see the program details page for: frequently asked questions, history of the Colony, and past participants

The Colony in 2013

In 2013 the Banff Playwrights Colony will comprise two components: The Retreat in February and The Colony in April. (See below for additional information.) All applicants will be considered for The Colony. The Retreat is available by invitation only.

Eight Canadian writers will be accepted into The Colony in April, and offered a two-week residency at The Banff Centre. Each writer may invite a collaborator – for example, a dramaturg, director, actor, designer, choreographer or translator – to attend the Colony for up to five days in order to work on their project. A company of six actors will be available to read scripts aloud and explore texts, subject to availability. An international writer/dramaturg team selected by the Colony Director will also be in residence to work on a new play and provide their perspective on theatrical creation beyond Canada. The Colony staff will include the Director, the Senior Playwright in Residence, and an Associate Dramaturg.

The Colony looks for artists committed to using the theatre to make a difference, to telling unique and potent stories, and embracing innovation and ideas. We value strong storytelling, diversity (in form and community), beautiful language, bold experimentation, and collaboration. We seek artists who demand that theatre can have social and political impact, and are writing plays that seek to challenge and change our world. This year the Playwrights Colony is particularly interested in writers whose projects address ideas of outrageousness and outrage. We want to support writers and plays that tell stories that aren’t commonly told on Canadian stages, that embrace outrageous ideas, images and individuals, or that are inspired by and seek to convey a sense of outrage.

Eligibility

The Banff Playwrights Colony is interested in Canadian* writers at all phases of their career, and in theatrical projects of all kinds. Please note that the Colony’s focus is text-based works, and it is primarily a creative retreat for writers and their core collaborators. However, it will consider applications by theatre artists working in collaborative teams, including devised scripts and other alternative play creation methods. We will also consider playwright/translator teams; please submit artistic statements in English. The Colony, while it does provide a company of six actors to read works-in-progress, is focused on individual creators rather than companies. If you are interested in a company residency, please see the Production Residencies page.

Applicants must be available for two consecutive weeks during the Colony period, April 8-27, 2013. Only one application per artist.

* applications are open to Canadian writers only

Selection Process

All applications will be reviewed by the Colony Director, Senior Writer in Residence and Associate Dramaturg. Invitations to attend the Colony will be extended by mid-December 2012, and the selected writers announced in January 2013. Final decisions are made by the Colony Director. In addition to a script, we require an artistic statement from each applicant (see How to Apply) which will assist the selection team in determining the projects best matched to this year’s Colony.

What the Banff Playwrights Colony Provides

The Colony provides each writer with return transportation to The Banff Centre, single accommodation at The Banff Centre for two weeks, and a full meal plan for two weeks. The writer has access to The Banff Centre including its recreation facilities. The writer may invite a collaborator of his/her choice to attend the Colony for up to five days to work on the project; the Colony will provide that individual with return transportation to The Banff Centre (scheduled in consultation with the Colony Director), single accommodation for five days, a full meal plan, and access to the Centre’s facilities. The acting company will be available for at least one reading of the project. The Colony hosts events each week to encourage discussion and debate, and to ensure that writers are able to network with other writers. The Colony will encourage interested writers to attend performances and activities presented by other disciplines at The Banff Centre during their residency.

Acknowledging the Banff Playwrights Colony

In recognition of the Colony’s contribution to the development of each writers’ work, writers are required to include The Banff Centre’s logo and credit on the title page of all future readings, workshops, productions, recordings and publications of their projects. This requirement, and other details of the Colony, are detailed in a letter of agreement signed by each participant.

How to Apply

Please see How to Apply page.

Questions

If you have questions about the Colony, please see the Frequently Asked Questions section on the Program Details page. If you have further questions, please email Casey_Prescott@banffcentre.ca.

Other Colony Activities

The Banff Playwrights Colony is establishing two new activities in 2013-2014: The Retreat in February 2013, and The Workshop in 2014. Each program will invite playwrights to The Banff Centre for up to two weeks, including travel and accommodation.

The Retreat will include a Leighton Artists' Colony writing cabin to enable each playwright to focus on an intensive, individual writing process on a specific project. The Retreat is available by invitation only; all Colony applicants will be considered. Please do not call or email to participate in The Retreat. The Colony Director will be in attendance for part of The Retreat to consult with the selected writers, but this is not a dramaturgical process; the focus is on writing. The Retreat may be offered in tandem with an invitation to the Colony. Participants will be encouraged to connect with artists and activities occurring during this period as part of Interrarium 2013, a multi-disciplinary program for contemporary performance that explores creative process related to dance, theatre, new media, music and hybrid forms of performance. Dates: February 3-15, 2013.

The Workshop will include a residency at The Banff Centre, and the ability to invite up to two core collaborators to work on the project with the writer. The Colony will provide an acting company of up to six actors for six days to explore the project in detail. The Colony Director will be present to facilitate the process and consult dramaturgically when appropriate. Dates: to be launched in 2014.

The Banff Playwrights Colony is a partnership between The Banff Centre, and The Canada Council for the Arts.