Be in the audience when Edmonton playwrights show off their new works. After over a decade, the Springboards New Play Festival is back for six days, and welcomes audiences to view staged readings of plays that are still works-in-progress.
“One of the key ingredients for writers to develop their work is to hear actors read it in front of a live audience, and so the Springboards offers our writers that opportunity,” says Heather Inglis, artistic producer of Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre. “It’s this fabulous opportunity for writers to imagine the future of the play, and to get the essential feedback that they need.”
Playwrights spend a few days before the festival in development workshops, fine tuning their works before presenting it to an audience in a staged reading. The festival takes place at Workshop West’s new permanent location on Gateway Boulevard. Twenty-three works will be read by 33 Edmonton actors. The festival is split up into four mainstage play readings and two cabaret-style performances.
“This is a very exciting lineup of artists from a variety of different backgrounds and perspectives and approaches to writing,” says Inglis. “It mashes up writers that are at the beginning of very exciting careers, with seasoned veterans who have been writing for Edmonton stages for a long time. So the works that you’re seeing represent the future of what you’ll see on stages in Edmonton and in Canada in the coming years.”
The Springboards New Play Festival is on until March 27 at 8529 Gateway Blvd. Tickets are available online or at the box office, which opens at 6:45 p.m. before each reading.
