THIS IS AN ARCHIVE OF AN EVENT THAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED.
Springboards - Local, Provincial, National
Presented in Partnership with Alberta Playwrights’ Network, Script Salon, and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta
ALL TICKETS ARE PAY-WHAT-YOU-WIsh (at the door)
or $15.00 ONLINE!
March 22 - 26, 2023, 7:30 PM each night
Workshop West’s signature festival celebrates plays and playwrights in process. Springboards features staged readings of plays in development in a welcoming cabaret setting - with just enough sound, light and staging to ignite your imagination. This not-to-be-missed series of readings, talk-backs, and discussions, offers audiences a peek behind-the-curtain, into the workings the creative process where artists collaborate to vision and re-envision the electrifying works of tomorrow.
Springboards Festival Team:
Brian Bast is excited to be back at Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre working with such a talented group of folks old and new. He is a Sterling Award winner and has multiple nominations for his Set and Costume designs. Brian’s design work has been see around Edmonton and across the province including Theatre Network, Alberta Opera, Players De Novo, Red Deer College, Festival Players, Theatre Yes, Grande Prairie Live Theatre, Opera Nuova, Teatro la Quindicina, MacEwan University, and The Mayfield Dinner Theatre. Favourite Design Productions include: My Name is Rachel Corrie, The List (Both nominated for Set Design), Race, Into the Woods, The Enchantment, Glorious, Spring Awakening, Ten x Two (Sterling Winner – Costume Design), Little Shop of Horrors, Xanadu, A Little Night Music, As You Like It, White Christmas, 12th Night, Cinderella and The Colour of Flesh (Both nominated for Costume design), Mary Poppins, and My Fair Lady.
brian bast
design facilitator
ben franchuk
house technician
Darrin Hagen has worked with hundreds of writers over the past 3 decades, first as curator of the legendary Loud & Queer Cabaret, and then as Writer in Residence for Edmonton Public Library, University of Alberta Department of English and Film Studies, and MacEwan University. He has mentored many playwrights all the way to their first production. He has also worked with the Citadel’s Youth Playwriting Circle, the summer and winter editions of YouthWrite (Alberta Writers’ Guild), the Alberta Queer Calendar Project, and was on the advisory board for the Q2Q Queer Theatre Conference in 2021. In 2022, he was Festival Dramaturge for Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre’s Springboards Festival, and curated the Alive & Kicking Cabaret. He has written (or co-written) over 50 plays, and has received over 40 Sterling Award nominations, winning 7 of them. He is the author of The Edmonton Queen: The Final Voyage. His plays have been produced in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Whitehorse, Kelowna, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Minneapolis, Orlando, Key West, West Hollywood, New York, and in Ireland.
Darrn hagen
Dramturg & Springboards Cabaret curator
Heather Inglis is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and is an award-winning director, producer, and dramaturg whose career has taken her across the country. In 2019, Heather was nominated for the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada’s Bra D’Or Award, recognizing her support and promotion of Canadian women playwrights. Heather has directed and assistant directed over 40 productions, many of which have been new Canadian works. Credits include: The Shaw Festival; Citadel Theatre; Workshop West Theatre; Northern Light Theatre; Azimuth Theatre; Theatre Junction; Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre (SK); Live Five (SK); The Doppler Effect Productions (NS); Alberta Playwrights Network; Saskatchewan Playwrights' Centre; Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre; The Notable Acts Festival (NB) and Universities in Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon. Heather has received a Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award (2014), the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund (twice), the Celebration of Women in the Arts Award (twice), and the Telus Courage to Innovate Award (Edmonton). Nine of Inglis’ productions have been nominated for 17 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards, including 7 nominations for Outstanding Independent Production and nominations for Outstanding Director and Outstanding Fringe Director. Heather received a special Sterling Award for Outstanding Innovation in Theatre in 2014. During her time as Artistic Producer for Workshop West, she has directed Here There Be Night, Metronome, Tell Us What Happened, and Unsung. This December Heather received Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Medal for her contributions to advancing writers in Alberta.
heather inglis
Curator & Dramaturg
Krystal Johnson is an Edmonton based Stage Manager and holds a BFA in Production Stage Management from the University of Alberta. Previous Credits Include: Jersey Boys (Citadel Theatre); Sweeney Todd (Plain Jane Theatre); A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Wild Side Productions); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Winter’s Tale (Freewill Shakespeare Festival); The Drowsy Chaperone (Triffo Theatre); Candide (Edmonton Opera); Queen Lear is Dead (Fox Den Collective); Chrysothemis, Shakespeare’s Dog, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again, and Middletown (Studio Theatre).
krystal johnson
artistic coordinator
Rebecca Merkley is a multifaceted theatre artist whose original work has earned her 4 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award Nominations, and the first recipient of the Gerald Osborn Playwriting Award. Select Credits include: Jesus Teaches Us Things (Edmonton Fringe/Play the Fool), The Key of Me (Skirtsafire); Springboards Cabaret (Workshop West); Romeo & Juliet: Two Show Day and Lost on Whyte (The Foxden Collective); Thorgy and the Thorchestra (The Winspear Centre); Klondykes (Guys in Disguise/Theatre Network); Anxiety and Slight of Mind (Theatre Yes/Citadel Theatre); Bone Wars (Punctuate! Theatre); 10 out of 12 (Wildside Productions); Coraline (Impossible Mongoose; and 5 South (Dammitammy Productions). Her compositions can be found in the sound design for Pisces, by Darrin Hagen (Theatre Network). She is currently composing a new musical that will debut at the Edmonton International Fringe this summer! www.dammitammy.com
Rebecca Merkley
sound designer
“Springboards is the perfect expression of Workshop West’s raison d’etre: it supports playwrights by developing their plays in preparation for full production by providing them with sought-after opportunities to beta-tests works in progress. Springboards brings artists and audiences together in the heart of the creative process, celebrating Edmonton talent, Edmonton innovation, and Edmonton’s famed start-up spirit.”
Content That Provokes
At Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre, we often create theatre that deals with challenging content.We do believe that theatre should be surprising – it should be exciting, it should create discussion, and it should delve into situations and ideas that are unexpected.
While keeping you and our actors safe, our shows may contain coarse language, emotionally charged scenes, and deal with subjects that may challenge you.There are a variety of works being presented as part of Springboards. Subject and content may vary.
