EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE
By Craig Wrotniak
Spring is coming, and we’re back with our newsletter. I’m going to open this with a copy of a memo I sent out to all of you a couple of weeks ago, just in case you missed it:
On Interprovincial Trade Barriers, and our changing relationship with the U.S.
Dear Canadian Drama Educators,
At the Theatrical Arts Education Association, we appreciate Minister of Transport and Internal Trade Anita Anand’s March 6th announcement about breaking down interprovincial trade barriers across Canada, including professional certifications. This is wonderful news, and it is something we have been calling for, for quite some time.
[Editor’s note: This was written a few weeks before our new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, was sworn in. As this goes to press, Prime Minister Carney has moved Ms. Anand to the post of Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry; the new Minister of Transport and Internal Trade is Chrystia Freeland.]
Not only does the breakdown of interprovincial barriers provide our members with the flexibility to work where they want, it will increase competition for teachers and salaries for our members. It also helps provinces like PEI, where, in spite of a nicely-laid-out curriculum, finding certified drama educators is a challenge, due to a lack of courses in drama-teaching methods being offered provincially. Taking down these interprovincial barriers, which limit the practice of our teachers across the country, can make our entire national educational theatre community stronger.
TAEA’s response to this exciting announcement includes consulting with provincial and federal political leaders to ensure that certifications of teachers, including drama teachers, will indeed be transferable across the country. We will connect with provincial drama specialist groups, where they exist, and encourage them to collaborate and cooperate with TAEA and each other. We will also reach out to the national music, visual arts and dance teacher associations, to see if they would like to join our national initiatives such as the national Arts Education Standards Project, and create a national educational arts board to communicate our needs to elected politicians provincially and nationally around areas of teacher certification and transferability within the educational arts sector in Canada. These may take time, but the conversations are starting and the momentum is building! In the more immediate future, we have now created a National Drama Teacher Job Posting Board, where we can share links to drama teacher job postings across Canada! If you know of jobs up for posting, please email all relevant info, along with links, to: info@educationaltheatre.ca
Finally, something we were not expecting was that we have received many calls from American theatre educators for the past six months, and particularly over the past month it has really heated up. They have asked if they could become members of TAEA, they have asked if they could fly up to our teachers’ conferences to take part in our world-class PD, they want to get their students enrolled into some of the exciting programs that we have created, which simply don’t exist in the USA, and they have now started to request TAEA STAR troupes. We are currently weighing our options on how to best serve their needs while continuing to put Canada first. We will have updates to come, but please know our elbows are up and we are ready to fight for Canada and Canadian values internationally, while supporting like-minded colleagues who are asking for help. More to come on that this spring.
Results of the STAR Short Play Competition
Again, in case you missed it: we are pleased and proud to announce the winners of this year’s STAR Short Play Competition! The Competition welcomes play scripts of 20 minutes or less in duration, from high-school students all over Canada and the United States. The winning plays can go on to further development, including a staged reading or full production at one of our National STAR Festivals, and potential publication by Theatrical Rights Worldwide, based in New York and London, U.K.
Six plays are chosen, as well as two “alternates” – which is a sort of honourable mention, which means that if one or two of the winning plays cannot be produced further, one or both of the alternates can be developed and presented in their place.
Here, in alphabetical order of title, are the six chosen plays, followed by the two alternates:
“Clenched Jaw” by Grace Ikerenge, Valour JK to 12 School, Petawawa, Ont.
“Elevator Limbo” by Zaratamaraun Uduoise, St. Francis Xavier High School, Gloucester, Ont.
“Get Out of the Road” by Sierra Thabatniram, York House School, Vancouver, B.C.
“No Deeper Meaning” by Alester Nikolic, DSBN Academy, St. Catharines, Ont.
“Stars” by Jasper Zhang and Annika Gill, Fleetwood Park Secondary School, Surrey, B.C.
“Trinity General” by Merrit Johnson, Fredericton High School, Fredericton, N.B.
Alternates:
“Memory Lane” by Sofia Medrano-Tovar, Eastlake High School, Sammamish, Wa., U.S.A.
“Mystify” by Ocean Clark, Cairine Wilson Secondary School, Ottawa, Ont.
This year’s Competition was judged by John Lazarus, Canadian playwright, retired professor of drama, and Editor of this very newsletter. Here are Prof. Lazarus’ comments on this year’s entries:
“I have enormous respect for high-school drama teachers, because at university, I got to work with the products of your labours – your former students – who were inventive, inquisitive, challenging, hard-working young artists. And when I work at high-school drama festivals, I get to see these students in their formative stages.
“During the last couple of months, I had that pleasure again, judging the New Play Competition. This year there were 17 plays by 18 students (one of them was a collaboration). The students hailed from all over Canada, plus three from the U.S. And the subject matter was unusually wide-ranging.
“Often when you’re judging these things, you notice certain trends: there might be a tendency towards a certain style of presentation, or the same subject matter might turn up in two or more plays. This year, there was a remarkable variety in styles and subjects. We had both conventionally-told narratives that stuck successfully to tried-and-true principles of storytelling, and some wild experiments in defying the audience’s expectations. We also had an enormous diversity of topics. The only thing these plays had in common was that all of them – including the ones that were not selected – were lively, energetic, entertaining, and great fun to read!”
Our congratulations to the winners and alternates, and our thanks to everyone who submitted their plays!
Upcoming National STAR Festivals
In the last edition of “Theatrics,” and later in this one, we’ve been running pieces by students about their experiences at the recent regional festivals. Well, we’re also very excited about the National STAR Festivals coming up this spring. Here, for your quick and easy reference, is a short schedule:
- STAR Fest West – Douglas College, New Westminster BC April 26 – 28th – 400 students anticipated
- STAR Fest South – Brock University, St Catharines ON, May 8 – 10th – 250 students anticipated
- STAR Fest East – University of Ottawa, Ottawa ON, May 16 – 18th — 200 students anticipated
- STAR Fest Atlantic – Memorial University, Corner Brook NL, May 16 – 18th – 60 students anticipated
- STAR Fest Central – University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg MB, May 22 – 24th – 320 students anticipated
There is still time to register to watch performances, do wildcard performances, perform a one-act play with full tech or minimal technical elements, or just come for the workshops and the amazing community. Find out more at www.taeacanada.ca –
And have a great spring season!
Cheers – Craig Wrotniak (He/Him)
Executive Director – Theatrical Arts Education Association (TAEA)
Serving Teachers – Helping Students