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a WWW-Marmanu-n i F a e . mm a e to st l; p g g , I Q I O O } Waterloo 3 Put the Dog Playwnght Centre gets $230,000 mfimdmgfi'om Thlltum Bv Boa VRMNMJ at}? " Waterloo to get their productions ‘ Chronicle Slafi if? workshopped l if 0 “We're taking it from page to id you know that Waterloo , " stage,” said O'Connell. who also . D is home to Ontario's only ’ serves as a dramaturge on these _ playwright development ' it; productions. "They come here I centre? '. . because they find someone who Most provinces have at least one Q fig. ‘ understands the process and is or maybe more. with major cities 1, £7595, ~. gaff” there for them. often serving as home for these “95 4 :2_,g,_ f‘ ”T7 “We get the piece as tight as pos- centres of dramaturgy. ii ,3 . s sible. and we have a really good in Ontario. you might expect to 3.. g» 4. ,» " ’ m" success rate of placing pieces with 7 find one in Toronto, Stratford or if f; ’ " “M 7 if producingcompanies or festivals.” ‘ Ottawa with their internationally ~ Q1; ._ 5 3 .. a Some of those pieces were on 1 renowned stage offerings it 7"? 331; _-. u, display at the Possibility Party last But at least 120 playwrights from I; A _ A a week. 1 around the province call Pat the ' ~ 3 ’- Jeff Fox and Trevor Copp. per» ‘ Dog Playwright Centre. based out ‘ ~ ' formed pans of a piece they co-cre- of the Waterloo Community Arts . " ated called First Dance that will be Centre their creative if not spiritual staged for the first time July 29 to home. ‘ luly 30 at the Button Factory. And to reflect the growing a“ - The premise is an interesting importance of the support being one â€" who leads in the first dance offered to imponant new voices during a same-sex marriage cere- trying to get their scripts into pro- mony? duction. the Ontario Trillium Foun- They gave a receptive audience dation has provided more than a sampling of their upcoming per- $230,000 in new funding over the fonnance dealing with that modern next three years conundrum. Pat the Dog celebrated one of “it's perfect to look at all of the the most significant arts funding conventions around marriage, and announcements the region has they’re providing a space to do it.” received in recent years by holding said Fox about the support they've a Possibility Party last Thursday at received. “if you've got work you the Button Factory. want to get produced and worked 1 Lisa O‘Connell, the executive on. it's tough to find a space to 1 director of Pat the Dog. said the explore that voice, 1 centre is far removed from the time “To have a centre like this to 1 when she basically operated it out Trevor (opp and Jeff Fox provided a snippet of their upcoming production First Dance at the Possibility Party develop it into something you're ~ of a briefcase. She was the last liter- held by Pat the Dog Playwright Centre last Thursday. The centre was celebrating a $230,000 Trillium grant to sup- really proud of is amazing” 1 ary manager at Theatre 81 Company port the more than 120 writers developing pieces through the centre. mm mom Heather Majaury. is putting 1 in 2003 before it eventually closed, together a work for a show in the j and was encouraged to continue to there had never been one in award-winning playwrights who a little more in April. “We're trying fall. She's done spoken word pieces 1 provide support to emerging writ- Ontario. have had four or five productions to figureout what to do with it. before but never had to knit them 4 ers “Part of the reason is because and there are no resources out “It’s kind of cool, and they said together into a full one-woman 1 There are now three full-time the thinking was that playwright there for them," she said. they were impressed with the work show that she's planning to per- 1 staff members who work out of the development was being aptly The Trillium Foundation saw the we're doing, our ideas and innova- form. 1 centre dedicated to getting new looked after by theatre companies work they were doing, and was tions" “it wouldn't happen without the < works developed and exposed to that had playwrighting programs“ amazed at some of the scripts that it's the first grant from the support of this playwright centre.’ 1 wider audiences. O'Connell said that was a great they were developing with little provincewide "milium program to she said. “It's been instrumental in 1 She said they meet an imponant support system if you already had resources and invited Pat the Dog the region since 2003, and helps keeping focussed and continuing 1 need, some name recognition or were to apply for grants. speed up the process for produc- onwith the project. i "There is no playwright devel- well established. but the majority of "The gave us $100 more than we tions that are already in the “l thinkwe're really lucky to have 1 opment centre in Ontario." said playwrights were left out in the asked for." said O'Connell laughing pipeline. said O'Connell. And thisinWaterloo." ; O'Connell. “lt's unusual because cold. after hearing that they got the instead of having to go elsewhere. For more about the centre visit 1 there are 10 across Canada. but “I would even say there are whole amount they applied for and playwrights are beating a path to www.patthedog.org J Q 0” .. A . .. . . i a . . ' . . . u crous . , _ . ‘ 1 . ‘ .. 1 F":-‘-|‘ I“! L‘ ._.‘_ g m» from ; ‘ _ m ~~ . my ' . s; l; W A J“ . a . a f ' m an? m - m ‘ , A