Pat the Dog Playwright Centre
Have a script? Have a seat. Live in Ontario? Passionate about plays? We’d love to have you at our table. Contact Us Two desks, 1,897 books, one tiny office and lots of scripts. We’re open for business.
Piece/Meal: Neighbours
This month, Cheeses Murphy brings his fabulous flying panini press to Piece/Meal. Munch on hot grilled cheese while you enjoy an intriguing reading from the script that won our 2011 24-Hour Playwriting Contest. Neighbours by Allie Bell is a thought-provoking absurdist comic-drama. Plucking stories from the headline, it explores contemporary issues of sedition, homeland security and [...]
In Conversation with: Erin Shields
What inspires you as a playwright? Where does your motivation come from? I’m inspired by what’s around me – people, stories, news, politics, art, my family. I also take great inspiration from other works of literature and art. I love to interact with other texts – usually older texts – working to figure out how [...]
Vern Thiessen: Live and Up Close
In January, award-winning playwright Vern Thiessen will be making a special appearance in Waterloo. He’ll be reading from his play Lenin’s Embalmers in the intimate setting of The Button Factory. This is an unique opportunity to meet one of Canada’s most successful and widely-produced playwrights and hear him read from his own work. Theatre lovers, playwrights [...]
Piece/Meal Reading Series: Fresh, New Plays Served HOT
Pat the Dog Playwright Centre continues its popular piece/meal reading series with an exciting, expanded version. We’ll be serving up a light meal and four new, full-length theatre pieces — all of which originated from our playwright centre. The smorgasbord of plays includes a mix of works from playwrights across the province and is [...]
How to survive a 24-hour playwriting contest
Writing a play in 24 hours sounds like an impossible task that would appeal to only a few people. Yet this year we had as many people on the waiting list as taking part in the contest itself. Why would any one do it? How do you get through the process? Is it really worth [...]
Artistic Director Q&A: David Savoy
David Savoy is beginning his third season as Artistic Director of Sudbury Theatre Centre (STC). Previously he was the AD of Showboat Festival Theatre in Port Colborne, ON, and the St. Lawrence Stage Company in Brockville, ON. He was at the Shaw Festival for three seasons, as an Intern Director, Assistant Director, and Director. He [...]
2011 24-Hour Playwriting Contest Results
Armed with only a page of notes, a computer and their imaginations, playwrights from across Ontario spent 24 non-stop hours this past weekend fighting off sleep and pounding out an original play. The third annual competition proved to be the most challenging yet. “The breadth of submissions was impressive, which made our job very difficult,” [...]
Culture Days
They’re writing in coffee shops, on the bus, in the park — and they’ve been doing it for 23 hours straight. Join Pat the Dog Playwright Centre’s Artistic Director Lisa O’Connell as we wind down the last hour of our Annual 24-Hour Playwriting Contest. How do they do it? Why do they do it? How [...]
2011 24-Hour Playwriting Contest
Stock up on coffee and dust off your lucky mug. Pat the Dog Playwright Centre is thrilled to announce we are hosting our third annual 24-hour playwriting contest. This means 30 adrenaline-pumped writers from across Ontario will be hitting the keyboards from 4:00 PM on Friday, September 30, 2011 to 4:00 PM Saturday, October 1, 2010. All [...]
Possibility Party – Videos
Missed the Possibility Party? Thanks to the miracles of the digital age, you can still attend. The WCAC blog posted six, count ‘em six, short videos from our big bash. While the cake is long gone, you can recapture the fun through a general recap and catch some of the acts: Ballroom dancers Trevor Copp [...]
Workshop: Matthew Heiti on Receiver of Wreck
In October 2010, Matthew Heiti took part in Pat the Dog Playwright Centre’s 24-Hour Playwriting Contest. Along with a strict deadline, all participants were challenged to include the words, “button”, “peach” and “skin”. Heiti must work well under pressure. Not only did his 24-hour script, Receiver of Wreck, win our contest, his play, I Drag My Coffin Through [...]
Possibility Party
Waterloo Region is bursting with possibilities and not just within our world-renowned tech sector. Proving size doesn’t matter, the small but influential Pat the Dog Playwright Centre recently received a grant under the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Province-Wide Program — the first Waterloo Region Arts centre to do so since 2004. To celebrate all cultural movements [...]
Artistic Director Q&A: Trevor Copp
Trevor Copp is the Artistic Director of Tottering Biped Theatre in Burlington, ON. Now in its 3rd season, Tottering Bipeds focuses on social issues — national and international, Canadian/original, and physical theatre. It’s contemporary work in a conservative suburb and it’s growing fast. What do you look for in a script? Work that is conscious [...]
Artistic Director Q&A: Bob White
Bob White has been active as a dramaturg and director in the Canadian theatre for almost forty years. Based in Calgary, he curated the Enbridge playRites Festival at Alberta Theatre Projects for 22 years. Previously, he was artistic director at Factory Theatre in Toronto and Playwrights Workshop Montreal. He is currently Consulting Director, New Plays [...]
Predella Open Studio – April 18
Monday, April 18, 2011 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM The Button Factory Admission: Free. Everyone is welcome. The week at Predella Open Studio, we’re focusing on individual projects in progress. If you have a project you’re working on, or would like to start bring it along. From strategies to bust through blocks or build specific [...]
Predella Open Studio – April 4
Monday, April 4, 2011 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM The Button Factory Admission: Free. Everyone is welcome. This week, Predella Open Studio we’re putting our pencils to paper with design in mind. We’ll be looking at ways to make you look good, whether you’re updating your business card, creating a poster, or putting together your [...]
Predella Open Studio – March 21
Monday, March 21, 2011 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM The Button Factory Admission: Free. Everyone is welcome. This week we’re getting messy at Predella Open Studio. Working in small groups, we’ll be spending the whole session writing and playing. Please join us as we explore the possibilities. Not sure what it’s all about? Check out [...]
Predella Open Studio – March 7
Monday, February 21, 2011 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM The Button Factory Admission: Free. Everyone is welcome. This week Predella Open Studio experiments with improvisation. While actors and musicians use improvisation to develop their skills and instincts, writers also benefit from improv exercises. This week we pose the question: Are there more specific ways to [...]
Predella Open Studio — Success
Last Monday we launched the Predella Open Studio. We wondered if we would have a room full of playwrights, but people from a wide range of disciplines came to The Button Factory. Along with the expected writers, poets and playwrights, we had: visual artists photographers dancers engineers people from the tech community Regardless of [...]
Predella Open Studio – February 21
Monday, February 21, 2011 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM The Button Factory Admission: Free. Everyone is welcome. Predella Open Studio is not your average writing group. It’s built on new research about how people become high-performers in their fields and how groups can be structured to facilitate excellence. We’ll be kicking-off Predella Open Studio with [...]
Predella Open Studio
In addition to working intensively with a small group of writers, the Predella Project will offer bi-monthly Open Studio sessions starting in February 2011. These will be drop-in sessions run with all the rigour and energy of Predella’s intensive sessions. Not only will we share the tools developed through the Predella Project, these sessions will [...]
The Predella Project
Pat the Dog Playwright Centre is thrilled to introduce the Predella Project, a rigorous exercise in creative development. We are currently accepting applications for a small number of spots in the first year’s program. The Predella Project is an experiment in developing excellent writers. The project is designed to encourage highly effective, individually tailored writing [...]
Predella Project FAQs
What is the Predella Project all about? The Predella Project is an experiment in developing excellent writers. The project is designed to encourage highly effective, individually tailored writing practices. The project is based on the idea that how we work affects what we make. By combining social practice and work practice, Predella seeks to make [...]
