A sneak peek at a question-and-answer between the NewMarket National Play Festival’s artistic and executive director and a commercial writer/producer and playwright whose original work will be performed in this year’s 10-minute play fest provides an insider’s view into the week-long event set to hit the Old Town Hall July 22 to 28.
Now in its third year and, by all accounts, growing by leaps and bounds, the NewMarket National Play Festival offers theatre lovers the chance to see 24 original Canadian plays that are divided into pods, each consisting of six 10-minute works that fall under four themes: stand|OUT, you|TURN, end|RUN and After|LIFE.
The themes are thought-provoking, to be sure, and Calgary-based playwright James Hutchison, whose play, Written in Stone, is featured in the you|TURN theme, dives into what current affairs and issues may be on people’s and playwright’s minds in terms of the pod themes that seem to naturally develop.
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Consider the tagline for you|TURN, for example: When travelling the winding road, it’s hard to see the curve that lies ahead.
Hutchison’s Written in Stone is about three angels who are trying to carve out their biblical legacy.
“...a pod like After|LIFE can be read as someone is after your life (threatening), the after-life we know from our faith systems, the pursuit of happiness and people’s dissatisfaction with their life as it is,” Halfin said. “It seems people are chasing after the life they think they deserve rather than the life they are living. A new reality, say, climate change, that means we are now living life after a change to the way we’ve always lived it. But, in any case, there’s the process for after-show talks as people explore how the pod theme applied to each of the six plays in it.”
In addition to the four showings of each of the 24 10-minute plays, a new partnership with the Newmarket Group of Artists will feature the exhibition, NGA-Explore, of nearly 50 artworks linked to the fest’s four themes, Halfin said.
“We are offering guided tours of NGA-Explore that focus on the theme of one pod at a time. Patrons explore a theme like after|LIFE as a visual art experience, then go up and see the performance art exploration of that same theme,” Halfin added.
This is Hutchison’s second year participating in the 10-minute play fest and it’s one he said has set the gold standard for what it should be, especially when asking to premiere new work.
“Over the last few years, I’ve entered a lot of 10-minute festivals and they’re not all equal in terms of their treatment of writers and artists. One of the things I really appreciate and like about the NewMarket National Play Festival is the amount of exposure, support and professionalism it offers the winning playwrights and participating artists,” Hutchison said. “It is a Canadian Actors’ Equity Association production under the Festival Policy. It offers playwrights that can come to the festival an opportunity to do a public reading from another work. Plus, and this is a big plus, all playwrights receive a royalty for the production of their plays.”
On the subject of how the local play fest contributes to the artistic and cultural life of the country, Halfin had this to say:
“...We breathe it in and out and don’t realize how it sustains us and it’s the life’s breath that permeates our collective consciousness. That’s why the festival, through the art exhibition, the director/actor talk-back sessions, the pints with the playwrights, the staged readings of plays we are helping to develop from 10 minutes to full-length scripts, the play-writing workshops, and of course, the playwright readings, are all about connecting the artists with their audience and the audience with their artists. We have 16 of 24 playwrights coming to the festival and many of them come from all over Canada. Whether it be Newfoundland or British Columbia, our regions shape our views. Those regional voices come together here and, I feel, help us articulate what it means to find our unity in our diversity.”
The 3rd annual Newmarket National Play Festival is presented by BMW Newmarket, in partnership with the Town of Newmarket, and runs July 22 to July 28 at Newmarket’s Old Town Hall theatre.
Many Main Street businesses offer fest-goers a special ‘Festilicious’ menu at local restaurants, as well as offerings at art galleries, street markets, historical walking tours, and activities at Riverwalk Commons.
For tickets, festival schedule, participant's biographies, and more information, visit here.
To read James Hutchison’s full Q & A with Michael Halfin, visit here.