THE HERMAN VOADEN NATIONAL PLAYWRITING COMPETITION WINNERS

The Drama Department at Queen’s University is proud to announce the winners of the 2009 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition.

          First Prize: $3,000 – David Egan for Tom's a-Cold                   Second Prize: $2,000 - Donna-Michelle St. Bernard for Gas Girls

The Honourable Mentions:
Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi
Map of the West by Dave Deveau
Love Handles by Florence Gibson
Pu-erh by Norman Lup-Man Yeung
Sia by Matthew Wishart Mackenzie
Friendly Fire by Kathleen Cleland Moyer
If We Were Birds by Erin Shields

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 early September 2009 as part the Department of Drama’s annual programming.

First Prize Winner David Egan was born and raised in Vancouver. His first play, The Fly-Bottle, was produced by Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA, in 2003. As a member of the 2005 Playwrights Unit at the Tarragon Theatre, he wrote Love Songs From Unlikely Places, which won the Toronto Fringe Festival's New Play Contest the following year. Tom's A-Cold comes out of an interest in the Arctic. Last summer, David finally made a road trip through northwestern Canada, and baptized himself Canadian by skinny dipping in the Arctic Ocean in Tuktoyaktuk. He is pursuing a doctorate in philosophy at Oxford University and working on a translation of Chekhov's Cherry Orchard.

Second Prize Winner Donna-Michelle St. Bernard is a consummate collective creator. As a writer, director and performer, she has contributed to works integrating multi-media, text, movement, and music. Her diverse works balance gravity and lightness, enabling audiences to confront hard themes without indulging in despair. Recent works include The First Stone, Summerworks 2008 reading series (playwright), Salome's Clothes, Obsidian Theatre Company/CrossCurrents Festival 2007 (playwright), Oops!, Summerworks Festival 2007 (director/dramaturge), Mullato Nation, Nightwood Theatre’s Write From the Hip Program 2008 (director), Terminal Five, Toronto International Dance Festival (dancer), and the 2006 independent release of hip hop EP Off My Chest (vocalist). Donna-Michelle is the General Manager of Native Earth Performing Arts and playwright in residence at the Obsidian Theatre Company.

JUDGES - Final round Judge - Sharon Pollock. Early round judges - Joel Babcock, Tara Beagan, Joanna Falck, Keira Loughran, Sarah Stanley, Greg Wanless and Nigel Shawn Williams.

ABOUT THE HERMAN VOADEN PLAYWRITING 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 Award:
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.

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.
   
   

1. An entry fee of $40 must accompany each submitted play. Make the cheque payable to Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition.
   
2. Submit two copies of the entry, typewritten and bound.
   
3. Entries involving music in an integral way should be accompanied by a recording of the music and lyrics.
   
4. 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
   
5. 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.
   
6. 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.