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 their background, everyone came to create. While our text-based exercises were designed for playwrights the results provided both laughs, intriguing images and raised some interesting questions about the process of creation.

Next session is March 7th. If you missed the last session, we’d love to join us.

Admission is free. If you can join us, contact Erica to reserve a spot.

Photos © Mark Walton Photography.

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 an introduction to the basic concepts the Predella Project is built on. In this activity session, Predella’s creator, Erica Robinson will show you techniques that can help you focus your writing practice on continuously getting better and growing as a writer.

Want to be kept in the loop? We’re posting all Predella Open Studio events on our Facebook Fan Page. You can also follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our RSS feed.

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 provide an open community for writers to experiment with and develop their work.

Participation is free. Everyone is welcome.

The structure will vary week to week, ranging from traditional writer’s workshops to discussions of readings to experimental studio sessions. Predella Open Studio will be a place to find an audience, engage in an exciting conversation, and practice your own writing.

These sessions will take place every second Monday at the Button Factory from 7:00 to 10:00 PM on the following dates:

• February 21
• March 7
• March 21
• April 4
• April 18
• May 2
• May 16
• May 30

More details about each session will posted as the various dates approach. Stay tuned online here, or via our bi-weekly e-bulletin.

The Nine Rooms Workshop

Friday, November 26, 2010 (Note new date)
9:30 am – 3:30 pm
The Button Factory
25 Regina St S
Waterloo, ON N2J 1R8

A lot can happen in 10 minutes.

Join Dominik Loncar, Artistic Director of the InspiraTO Festival, as he takes you through The Nine Rooms, a workshop designed to test drive your creativity and help you write a 10-minute play. Like full-length plays, the 10-minute form employs conflict, distinctive characters and high stakes.  Above all, every line of dialogue is crucial.

Through The Nine Rooms you will:

• Learn how the three “cause” rooms keep you focused.
• Explore how the three “character” rooms allow you to create vividly distinct characters.
• Engage in the three “context” rooms to help you create the story you want to tell.

Each “room” includes writing and role-playing exercises. You’ll also review some sample 10-minute plays to address the challenges and solutions unique to the genre.

Bring a pen, a notepad and an idea or inspiration you’d like to work on.

This event is free for Pat the Dog Playwright Centre members.  $50 for non-members

To register call 519-886-4577.

Dominik Loncar is a playwright and the Artistic Director of the InspiraTO Festival, Canada’s leading 10-minute play festival.  He has read and reviewed over 1,100 ten-minute plays to date (and counting ) and has had eight of his 10-minute plays produced. Dominik has been conducting innovative playwriting workshops since 2005.

While actors will benefit immensely, actors are not the only people these techniques empower. This theatre training is for anyone seeking dynamic learning opportunities that will increase self awareness and confidence. This training de-mechanizes the body from repetitive and automatic action, liberates the mind from assumptive patterning, and frees the creative spirit to animate the thoughts and feelings that come with our experiences. Theatre training helps participants connect with each other by encouraging more effective communication through more liberated self-expression.

Saturday March 13, 2010
Button Factory
9-2pm
Free to Pat the Dog members
$50 non-members

Conducted by Heather Majaury.

You will:

• Learn about the Theatre of the Oppressed system of play creation
• Experience exercises, game and techniques including:
  • Newspaper Theatre
  • Image Theatre
  • Forum Theatre
  • Cops in the Head
  • Rainbow of Desires
• Participate in a democratized space encouraging creative collective decision making with an emphasis on problem solving
• Share stories and view them through a powerful theatrical mirror that allows for:
  • Insightful reflection
  • Analysis that leads to powerful decision-making
  • The possibility of transformative learning
• Carry what you learn outside the studio experience into your actual life

Note: Bring your own lunch.

To attend, RSVP to Lisa O’Connell at lisa@patthedog.org or call 519-886-4577.

Ken Cameron

Pat the Dog was proud to host a skills workshop with Ken Cameron, the Artistic Director of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival and an award-winning playwright. Cameron, whose most recent work, Harvest, played at Blyth Festival last summer, conducted the workshop in support of Pat the Dog.

For an afternoon, Cameron and 24 playwrights from across Ontario took over the Council Chambers in Kitchener City Hall.  They spent the afternoon examining the role of conflicting needs as Cameron helped the writers think beyond obvious plot development.