High school playwrights getting their scripts performed and directed by local theatre professionals.

What a great opportunity, and a chance [...]]]> This is a really great idea – I wish there had been such a thing when I was in high school. Of course, I lived nowhere near a city, so there was no professional theatre nearby.

High school playwrights getting their scripts performed and directed by local theatre professionals.

What a great opportunity, and a chance to work with some real pros, who I understand are getting as much out of it as the students.

Here’s the info from the Vancouver Playhouse….

Eleven high school students will have their work performed on the Vancouver Playhouse stage as part of a program developed by the Playhouse Theatre Company to encourage the next generation of Canadian playwrights.

Now in its second year, E-Stage: Playhouse Young Playwrights invited high school students from across British Columbia to participate in an intensive playwriting program that combined group meetings, facilitated by playwright/director Amiel Gladstone, with a dedicated section of the Playhouse website designed to act as an online workshop and writers’ blog. The students also met with Governor General award-winning playwright Joan MacLeod, attending rehearsals and performances of her play Toronto, Mississippi, which is on stage at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre until March 21.

Over spring break, the students will participate in a five-day intensive workshop with professional actors (Eileen Barrett, Sasa Brown, Josh Drebit, Raphael Kepinski, Donna Soares), under the direction of Artistic Managing Director Max Reimer, to develop their own eight-minute scenes for production.

These scenes will then be performed in a showcase at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre on March 24, at 7pm, giving these young playwrights a professional production. E-Stage is generously supported by RBC Foundation and the City of Vancouver. Admission is by donation, with all proceeds going to the Actors’ Fund of Canada.

Participating students in the E-Stage: Playhouse Young Playwrights Units are: Adrienne Nann (St. John’s School), Chak Francisco Estable (Templeton Secondary), Tina Wang (Pinetree Secondary), Jullian Kolstee (Carson Graham Secondary), Eleanor Felton (Fances Kelsey Secondary), Sharmaine Intendencia (Frank Hurt Secondary), Carolyn Nakagawa (Gleaneagle Secondary), Rebecca St. Pierre (Templeton Secondary), Racquel Belmonte (Notre Dame), James Elliott (Sutherland Secondary) and Tessa Gunn (Sutherland Secondary).

The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company is British Columbia’s premier regional theatre company, producing engaging plays of the highest calibre since 1962. For more information visit: vancouverplayhouse.com