The 2011 Herman

Voaden Playwriting Competition

Jan 28  - come to the public reading of the winning plays of the
2011 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition


First prize: WET
(The destructive nature of war from the outside)
by David Brock  
2:00 pm in the Rotunda Theatre


Second prize: Yuri Gagarin Dreams of God
(Bedridden in a communal apartment in Soviet Russia, Yuri Gagarin is more furniture than human.  As he watches the interaction around him, he finds himself dreaming of far greater things)
by David Egan
7:00 pm in the Rotunda Theatre


These winning plays will be directed by David Ferry and Charles Roy from the Canadian theatre community.   Readers are chosen from professional actors and current students.  You do not want to miss this opportunity as it only comes every second year. Be sure to stay for the talkbacks with the directors, actors, and playwrights.  See you there.


COMPETITION WINNERS


The Drama Department at Queen's University is proud to announce
the winners of the 2011 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition.

First Prize, $3,000 - David Brock for "WET"
Second Prize, $2,000 - David Egan for "Yuri Gagarin Dreams of God"

The Honourable Mentions are:
"Masquerade" by Douglas Beattie
"The Maple Leaves" by Heather Debling
"Haunted" by Daniel Karasik
"Shannon" by Alison Lawrence
"Ha" by Lindsay Price
"The Burning Blood" by Scott Sharplin
"Tyumen, Then" by Adam Underwood
"The Moons of Jupiter" by Jennifer Wise


This biennial nation-wide open competition, named to honour the Canadian pioneer playwright Herman Voaden, is judged "blind". The judges select the Winners and Honourable Mentions without knowing the names of the playwrights.

In addition to the cash awards, the First- and Second-Prize-winning plays will receive script workshops produced by the Thousand Islands Playhouse, and will be presented as staged readings in Kingston in January 2012 as part the Department of Drama's annual programming.

First Prize Winner David Brock is a past member of the Canadian Stage New Play Creation Group, the BASH? artistic development program, and the Tapestry New Opera Composer-Librettist Laboratory. He won a Theatre BC National Playwriting award and four Vancouver Island One Act Play awards. Recently, he penned the libretto "The Sloans Project" for NOISE Opera and composer Gareth Williams, which premiered at Glasgow's 2011 Merchant City Festival and will be part of Toronto's Tapestry New Opera's 2011/2012 season. Upcoming projects include "Pretty Boy Floyd" with composer Jack Perla for the Paul Dresher Ensemble of San Francisco and "Sewing the Earthworm" with composer Brian Harman for Canadian Opera Company's 2012 Concert Series. He has also written two poetry chapbooks, "Gasmask Summer", from Emergency Response Unit, 2009 and "Black Metal Melody" from Ferno House, 2011. David received his MFA from the University of Guelph and teaches at Humber College in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter @davidjamesbrock.

Second Prize Winner David Egan was born and raised in Vancouver. His plays include "The Fly-Bottle", "Love Songs From Unlikely Places", and "Tom's A-Cold", which won the 2009 Herman Voaden Play Writing Competition. He has recently finished a doctorate in philosophy at Oxford University and will be working on a triptych of short plays about human-animal relations as a fellow of the APRA Foundation Berlin in the coming year. David started learning Russian to cover for a lie he told in the second grade. Since then he has travelled to Russia three times and written translations of "The Seagull" and "Cherry Orchard", but his Russian is still pretty poor.

The judges for this year's competition were Brenda Bazinet, Douglas Bowie, Daryl Cloran, Paula Danckert, Katrina Dunn, Kevin Kerr, Robert Metcalfe, Yvette Nolan and Elyne Quan

The judges for the final round were Alisa Palmer and Bill Millerd.


About the Contest

Herman Voaden (1903-1991), Canadian playwright, director and theatrical innovator, was a lifelong champion of Canadian culture.

"It gives some satisfaction to know that the crusade I have helped to lead has made it possible for the dreamers and innovators of today's theatre to follow their dreams and continue their innovations."

This competition, made possible by a generous bequest from Voaden's estate, is dedicated to his memory and honours his goals to develop a distinctively Canadian art of the theatre; to encourage the writing of Canadian drama.

The Awards


First Prize   / $3000

Second Prize   / $2000

Eight Honourable Mentions


In addition to the monetary award, through the auspices of the Thousand Islands Playhouse of Gananoque, Ontario, the two winning plays each receive a one-week workshop and public reading with a professional director and cast. Honourable Mentions receive short written critiques from the final judges.

THE 2011 COMPETITION


Entry Guidelines:


1. Open to any Canadian citizen or landed immigrant.
2. Only one play per playwright.
3. Only full-length plays in English. Legal clearance of adapted material not in the public domain is the responsibility of the playwright.
4. Plays cannot have been produced, published, contracted or commissioned by a professional theatre.

Submission Procedures:


1. Submit this entry form with the following:
2. An entry fee of $40 must accompany each submitted play. Make the cheque payable to Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition.
3. Submit two copies of the entry, typewritten and bound.
4. Entries involving music in an integral way should be accompanied by a recording of the music and lyrics.
5. Submissions must be accompanied by a signed Entry Form, available from the Dept of Drama (see mailing address below), or through our internet site at http:/www.queensu.ca/drama, or by telephone at 613-533-2104, or by e-mail: drama@queensu.ca
6. The playwright's name must not appear anywhere on the script. The playwright's name with the play's title should appear only on the Entry Form.
7. Entries are handled with care, but the Drama Department cannot assume responsibility for lost or damaged scripts. Only scripts accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope can be returned. For notification that your entry has been received, enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard.

Judging:

All plays are read by an initial group of judges. A semifinal round follows. Judges for this competition - Alisa Palmer and Bill Millerd.

Deadline:

Entries must be postmarked no later than April 15, 2011.

Results:

The announcement of the names of the two winning playwrights and the titles of the plays, as well as the name of the entrants receiving honourable mentions, will be made on September 15, 2011.

Submission:

Entries should be mailed to:

Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition
Department of Drama
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
K7L 3N6


More questions? Contact Carol Anne Hanna at carolanne.hanna@queensu.ca or phone 613 533 6000 ext 74336.