About Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC)

The membership of Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC) includes established playwrights, new and emerging playwrights, dramaturges, translators, academics, regional Artistic Directors, theatre companies, students, lovers of theatre and theatre writing.

PARC believes that the premise of a play and playwrights’ development centre is that it exists to serve the playwrights. This is reflected in the programs and services that we offer. The playwright is our first priority.

In theatre, the creation of the script comes first. Our commitment is to support that creation and the playwrights who do that work – by offering them support for their creative process before the demands and compromises of production come into play.

We provide the creative freedom playwrights need to explore and imagine without limitations. Beyond the development of new scripts, we also support our members’ efforts to promote their work by helping connect our membership to producers.

PARC is the only organization within the Region that exists solely to provide services and opportunities to both established and emerging playwrights. Through our membership in various other professional organizations, such as The Literary Managers and Dramaturges of America (LMDA), The National Network of Playwrights’ Development Centres of Canada (PDCCs), The Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT), we stay current with and contribute to developments in dramaturgical practice.

PARC was instrumental in the creation of the National Network of Playwrights’ Development Centres of Canada (PDCC), which is an association of arts organizations that came together in 2001 to establish a national network to communicate and share ideas, to advocate on behalf of the member organizations and the playwrights they serve, and to engage in cooperative activities that contribute to the vitality of Canadian theatre. Each organization reflects the unique nature of the theatrical ecology in which it exists and operates, while sharing commonalities in programming and services for playwrights.

PARC Programs and Services

PARC offers programs that are geared towards achieving excellence for both the playwrights and the scripts. We organize exchanges and showcasing opportunities for Atlantic Canadian playwrights across the country through collaboration with like-minded and mandated organizations. We work to promote and disseminate new work for the stage from Atlantic Canada, and advocate on behalf of our members and their work. We also provide services and resources to our members to keep them informed with what’s happening in theatre across the country.

PLAY DEVELOPMENT

• The Home Delivery Program offers PARC members long distance feedback on a work in progress from a dramaturge anywhere in the country.
• Kitchen Table Readings allow a playwright to bring readers together in an informal atmosphere to do the first read of a brand new script.
• Script Development Workshops provide playwrights with a focused, individual, intensive three-day workshop of a new script with a company of actors and an experienced dramaturge.
• The Annual Playwrights’ Colony is a two-week long playwrights’ retreat held yearly on the Mount Allison University campus in Sackville, NB, the cultural centre of Atlantic Canada. Working with a team of professional dramaturges and actors, eight to ten playwrights from across the region have an opportunity to develop a new script.
• Translations of Acadian plays into English, Atlantic Anglophone plays to Acadian, and scripts from other languages and cultures are facilitated through the PARC office at members’ requests.
• Playwrights’ Residencies are offered from time to time to member playwrights to bring them to the Mount Allison University campus to develop their work in progress.

PLAYWRIGHT DEVELOPMENT

• The Guideline for Atlantic Playwrights is a handbook that provides information valuable to both established and emerging playwrights. It is available at a reduced rate for PARC members.
• Professional Development Workshops at introductory and advanced levels are offered in areas ranging from basic introduction to playwriting to the business of being a playwright in Canada.
• Playwrights’ Exchanges give our playwrights the opportunity to work with dramaturges and actors from other regions and to showcase their work.

PLAY AND PLAYWRIGHT PROMOTION

• PARC’s Website and Facebook Group provide a platform to our members to promote their work to prospective producers, academics, researchers and students, as well as other playwrights and theatre practitioners.
  Join PARC’s Facebook Group
• The Catalogue of Atlantic Plays provides a synopses of Atlantic scripts by member playwrights, both published and unpublished. The Catalogue is also available on PARC’s website here.
• The PARC Library of Atlantic Canadian Scripts is located on the Mount Allison University campus in Sackville, NB and houses Atlantic Canadian scripts, by both members ad non-members.
  Library address: Crabtree Building, B10 & 11, Mount Allison University, 49A York St., Sackville, NB, E4L 1C7
  Library phone: 506-364-2122
  Library email: parclibrary@mta.ca

SHOWCASING OPPORTUNITIES

• Playwrights’ Cabarets are informal gatherings with readings of latest works or works in progress by Atlantic playwrights as well as opportunities to connect with the regional theatre community.
• New Play Readings Series (Partnering with producing theatres) is an occasional series of readings of new plays, co-sponsored by PARC and several partner professional theatre companies, which have included Festival Antigonish, Ship’s Company, Live Bait and Eastern Front.
• Playwrights’ Readings/Performances and Fundraising Events are held in various locations throughout the region and provide opportunities for our widespread membership to meet, make contacts and share their current work with each other.

SERVICES AND BENEFITS

• Weekly E-Bulletins feature information on script calls, contests, professional development opportunities, job postings, PARC and members’ activities, and other news of interest to playwrights.
• Support through the PARC Office for resource, information, networking and referrals
• Toll Free Access to the PARC Office (1-877-845-1341) is available to members and potential producers, making it possible to contact the office for information and support at any time – for free.
  
• Workshopping and development expertise is available to producing theatres.