April 30, 2020, Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Little Theatre’s 79th Annual National One-Act Playwriting Competition received 36 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:

Kissing a Stranger by Ron Davies (Ottawa, Ontario)

Adjudicator’s comments for Kissing a Stranger:

  • “Packs together small, subtle moments to create big impact by the end of the play. The shifts are so minute that I couldn’t pinpoint any one moment in particular that articulates where and when things change past the point of no return. It’s a tremendous skill that not all writers have.”

Second prize, Dorothy White Award:

When the River Floods by Andrew Lee (Hamilton, Ontario)

Adjudicator’s comments for When the River Floods:

  • “When the River Floods is a great story with lots of heart and a strong emotional punch.”

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

Skirts in the Forest by Becky McKercher & Sarah Thuswaldner (Ottawa, Ontario)

Adjudicator’s comments for Skirts in the Forest:

  • A careening and ingenious, laugh-out-loud Shakespearean Satyr. Four of the Bard’s comic heroines must overcome their differences to navigate the “Forest of Lost Plots” and find their way back to their own plays. High farce, romance, female-bonding and Hamlet-bashing ensue. Not to mention the weirdest sword fight this side of the Complete Works.

Sybil Cooke Award to an outstanding play “for Children or Young People”:

Goodbye George, Love Sam by Caitlin Oleson (Ottawa, Ontario)

Adjudicator’s comments for Goodbye George, Love Sam:

  • The dynamic relationship between an innocent young girl and a sarcastic tortoise begins in one place and ends in a very different one. It’s exciting to see a play for young audiences that encourages environmental awareness through meaningful and life changing friendship.

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 anonymously.

Plays are generally accepted into the competition from May until December. After the submission deadline, all received plays are distributed to adjudicators.  Each entry is read by two adjudicators who identify three finalists among the entries they read.  The finalists are then read and evaluated 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 kept confidential until the winners are announced.

Our 2020 adjudicators:

Nick Carpenter is a writer and musician. As a composer and musician for the stage, he has worked and collaborated with the National Arts Centre, National Theatre School of Canada, Great Canadian Theatre Company, Centaur Theatre, Lucion Media, The Theatre Centre, Repercussion Theatre, Geordie Theatre, Imago Theatre, Infinitheatre, Concordia University, National Circus School, McGill and Ottawa Universities, the METAs (Montreal English Theatre Awards), Hudson Village Theatre, Theatre Lac Brome, Third Wall, Théâtre Urbi et Orbi (Urban Tales), TF1 – Rock’n’Roll Circus, Monastère – Cabaret de Cirque, and on Festival productions or concerts for Magnetic North, SummerWorks, Undercurrents and WildSide.

His plays, radio plays, short stories and librettos have been presented across Canada, the US and Germany. Most recently, Merk’s Dream was featured in Tapestry Opera’s ‘Songbook X’ Concert, live streamed Spring 2020. Nick wrote the screenplay for Maz (Les Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, 2018) and his play Stained Glass won the Canadian Peace Play Competition in 2008.

Nick teaches at the National Theatre School of Canada and Concordia University.  He has worked as a dramaturge for PWM (Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal), NACO (National Arts Centre Orchestra) and JMC (Jeunesses Musicales Canada).

Nick is co-founder of Summersett (summersettband.com).

Anita Majumdar is an acting graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and holds a Bachelor of Arts at the University of British Columbia in Theatre, English and South Asian Languages. A student of kathak, odissi and bharatanatyam classical Indian dances, Anita has danced and choreographed contemporary hybrids of these forms for over two decades alongside her playwriting work. As a playwright, Anita was awarded Canada’s Governor General’s Protégé Prize in playwriting and was one of 50 artists invited to celebrate the Canada Council for the Arts 50th Anniversary. She has also been a writer in the Tarragon Writer’s Unit, the Cahoots Hot House Writer’s Unit, playwright in residence with Nightswimming and been invited to attend the Banff Playwright’s Lab on multiple occasions. Her most produced and toured work, the Fish Eyes Trilogy, is published with graphic illustrations by Playwrights Canada Press and in 2017 she completed her Master of Arts in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University. As well, she was the recipient of Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance (Boys with Cars) that same year. Currently, Anita is a resident artist with Nightswimming in Toronto where she is commissioned to write two new works and regularly mentors and dramaturges for emerging South Asian-Canadian female playwrights. Recently, Anita completed a recording the Fish Eyes Trilogy for CBC Radio’s PlayME and is also a regular adjudicator for the NTS Festival, Ontario’s formative drama festival for high school student productions.

Ryan Griffith grew up along the banks of the Saint John River near Woodstock, New Brunswick. A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Ryan enjoys performing and writing for theatres in his home province.  His play Lutz was produced by the NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival, and subsequently published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2011.  His short play Shepody, Rage and Wolfe was featured as part of the National Elevator Project Plays produced by Theatre Yes in Edmonton and Halifax, and his original plays A Brief History of the Maritimes and Everywhere Else and Fortune of Wolves, as well as his adaptation of Alistair MacLeod’s The Boat have been recently produced by Theatre New Brunswick.  Currently, he is working as the Artistic Director for the Next Folding Theatre Company in Fredericton, NB.