April 30, 2019, Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Little Theatre’s 78th Annual National One-Act Playwriting Competition received 37 entries from across the country. The winners join a long list of Canadian literary luminaries including Robertson Davies, John Murrell, Erika Ritter, Catherine Banks and Ken Mitchell.

First prize, Ottawa Little Theatre Award:

Go for Gold Audrey Pham by Camille Pavlenko (Calgary,Alberta)

Adjudicator’s comments for Go for Gold Audrey Pham:

  • “a hilariously and expertly written play about two lost souls forging an unlikely connection. It delivers truly original laughs while exploring a compelling and unconventional feminist dynamic.” – Bobby Theodore
  • “A heartwarming comedy about the unlikely friendship that develops between two very different women as they push through their own barriers to make bold steps forward in their lives.” – Vicki Stroich
  • “Unlikely does not even begin to describe how mismatched the two women in this quirky play are, both grappling with dreams that may or may not be of their own making. The audience roots for them to find their true hearts in time.” – Yvette Nolan

Second prize, Dorothy White Award:

If You Know Emmaline by Andrew Lee (Hamilton, Ontario)

Adjudicator’s comments for If You Know Emmaline:

  • “dives into difficult emotional and stigmatized territory with unwavering empathy and unadorned lyricism. There is so much heart in this piece that you can feel it beating inside you.” – Bobby Theodore
  • “A moving play following a young woman as she encounters the voices of the people around her and starts to see the world, and her own place in it, through new eyes.” – Vicki Stroich
  • “Poetic and poignant, it lets the audience travel with a young woman as she grapples with how she got here, and how she might go on.” – Yvette Nolan

Third prize, The Gladys Cameron Watt Award (sponsored by the Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women):

Cleft by Ron Fromstein (Toronto, Ontario)

Cleft also received the Sybil Cooke Award to an outstanding play “for Children or Young People”.

Adjudicator’s comments for Cleft:

  • “With Cleft, a powerfully innocent and unsentimental voice is given to unspeakable pain. Sparsely written, highly theatrical, wholly moving.” – Bobby Theodore
  • “With an insightful eye, a bright warmth and a wonderful sense of humour this play invites us to get to know a 12 year old girl and her ‘mostly brown with patches of white’ beagle as they navigate big and challenging changes in their family.” – Vicki Stroich
  • “an acutely observed portrait of an acutely observant 12 year old. Eliza is keenly aware of what is going on in her family, and in her own heart, and working hard to work it all out. Funny, charming, and ultmately hopeful.” – Yvette Nolan

For media inquiries, please contact:

Chris Ralph, VP Artistic
613-744-5353
vp.artistic@ottawalittletheatre.com

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About the Competition

The competition is open to original one-act plays in English, encouraging literary and dramatic talent in Canada.  Plays written for any age group including children and young people, are welcome.  The play must be previously unproduced or have been produced no earlier than in the entry year.  The playwrights are unknown to the adjudicators, with all the plays submitted under pen names.

Plays are generally accepted into the competition from May until October. After the submission deadline, all received plays are distributed to adjudicators.  All entries are read by two adjudicators, who identify finalists among the entries they read.  Copies of the finalists selected by the adjudicators are then read and scored by the other adjudicators.  The winners are selected during a group discussion following the completion of all the reading.

The adjudicators are invited to participate by Ottawa Little Theatre, and all have recognized experience with playwriting.  The names of the adjudicators are also kept confidential until the winners are announced.

Our 2019 adjudicators:

Bobby Theodore is a screenwriter, playwright, and translator. Bobby has worked on several TV series, including Murdoch Mysteries, Flashpoint, and Knuckleheads (an adaptation of the hit Québecois cartoon, Têtes à claques) and he wrote for the acclaimed CBC radio drama, Afghanada. Nominated for a Governor General Award in 2000 for his translation of 15 Seconds by François Archambault, Bobby has now translated over 25 plays from French to English. For the stage, Bobby co-created 300 Tapes (with Ame Henderson), a devised performance that premiered at the Theatre Centre in Toronto and at Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP) in Calgary. His translation of François Archambault’s You Will Remember Me premiered at ATP, won a Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, and was produced across Canada and in the USA. Bobby is the resident dramaturg and host of the Glassco Translation Residency in Tadoussac.

Vicki Stroich is a dramaturg, facilitator and arts administrator. Most recently she was Executive Director of Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary, Alberta where she worked for over 16 years. Prior to leading Alberta Theatre Projects organizational vision she lead ATP’s new play development programs. She has dramaturged over 45 new plays with ATP and companies across Canada like Nakai Theatre, Caravan Farm Theatre, The Only Animal, Verb Theatre, Ghost River Theatre, Alberta Playwrights Network, the University of Lethbridge, Necessary Angel, The Theatre Centre and Green Fools Theatre as well as independent playwrights and devisers. Recently she launched the National Playwrights Retreat with the Caravan Farm Theatre in Armstrong, BC.  She is a former program director for the Playwrights Colony at The Banff Centre, a Past President of Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas and recent past Treasurer of Professional Association of Canadian Theatres. She has a BFA Drama from The University of Calgary.  She has contributed articles to the Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, LMDA Review and Canadian Theatre Review. Vicki has received a Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Achievement for her work on new plays and is an Avenue Magazine Top 40 Under 40 Alumni.

Yvette Nolan (Algonquin) is a playwright, director, and dramaturg. Plays include BLADE, Annie Mae’s Movement, The Birds, The Unplugging, Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show (co-writer), the libretto Shanawdithit. Directing credits include Bearing (w. Michael Greyeyes, Signal Theatre at Luminato), In Care by Kenneth T Williams (Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwan Theatre), Thicker Than Water by Heather Morrison (Sum Theatre), Nôhkom by Michael Greyeyes, Salt Baby by Falen Johnson (Globe), Map of the Land, Map of the Stars (w. Michelle Olson), Café Daughter by Kenneth T Williams, Justice by Leonard Linklater (Gwaandak), Death of a Chief, A Very Polite Genocide by Melanie J. Murray, Marie Clements’ Tombs of the Vanishing Indian  and The Unnatural and Accidental Women (Native Earth), The Ecstasy of Rita Joe (Western Canada Theatre/National Arts Centre). As a dramaturg, she works across Turtle Island on projects including Queen Seraphina and the Land of Vertebraat and Ultrasound by Adam Pottle, Many Fires by Charlie Peters, Ecstasy (film) by Cara Mumford, Little Badger and the Fire Spirit by Maria Campbell, A History of Breathing by Daniel Macdonald. From 2003-2011, she served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts. Her book Medicine Shows about Indigenous theatre in Canada was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2015, and Performing Indigeneity, which she co-edited with Ric Knowles, in 2016. She is an Artistic Associate of Signal Theatre.