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2022 Playwriting Course

Facilitated by Guillermo Verdecchia

Location: Online delivery

Dates: July 4 – 14, 2022

Shaping Your Play: Crafting Dramatic Moments
A facilitated course for six playwrights who wish to further develop their playwriting skills and may have had works produced. You do not need to be published to attend. The course will focus on works in progress and will combine group discussion, writing time, and individual critiques. Instruction occurs within a deep-immersion setting over 10 days. Application is open to writers 19 years of age and older from Canada and abroad.

Application

Applicants will need to provide:
  • Applicant information
  • Emergency contact information
  • $25 Application Fee (payable by e-Transfer, Visa / MasterCard, or cheque)
  • Optional: A letter of intent towards a bursary or scholarship
  • A brief letter outlining your writing project, including:
    • Goals
    • Where you are in your process
    • How you would work on your project during Sage Hill
    • Any other pertinent information
  • 12-page sample of your writing. The writing sample can include works-in-progress that you plan to develop while at Sage Hill (at least 7 pages), and/or samples of your produced or published work(s)
  • Your literary/dramatic CV

Note:

  • Writing samples up to the page requirement will be reviewed by the jury. Pages in excess will not be reviewed.
  • Please combine all documents into one file to upload with the online application form.
  • PDF and Microsoft Word documents are accepted.
  • If you have trouble when attaching your application materials to the online form, please contact us.
Adjudication process:

All applications go through a competitive, independent peer jury process to maintain a high level of artistic merit in programs. Jury members weigh applications against a rubric of set criteria to assess the quality of writing and readiness for the experience.

Acceptance is determined by:

  • Quality of work submitted
  • Project description
  • Experience and ability to carry out the proposed project
  • Literary CV and publication history
  • Which applicants would most benefit from attending Sage Hill at this point in their development

This adjudication process is usually completed about four weeks after the application deadline. You will be contacted with results after the jury has come forward with its decision.

Tuition

Online-delivery tuition: $595

What is covered?

  • 10-day writing retreat as part of a small group, led by program faculty
  • 1-on-1 conferences and course time with your instructor
  • Critical feedback on writing submissions
  • Courses and discussions on the craft of writing
  • Private online meeting spaces for 1-on-1 instruction and workshops
  • Access to programmed online readings and events
  • Invitation to online social activities with other writers

When to make a payment:

After the jury has reviewed applications, you will be notified via email to let you know whether or not you have been accepted. You can make a payment once you have received your acceptance email.

Cancellation Policy:

  • There will be a $100 cancellation fee if you withdraw after payment is made.
  • If you cancel 14 days or more prior to start date: 50% of funds returned.
  • If you cancel 7 days prior to retreat start date: 25% of funds returned.
  • Cancellations within one week of program start dates are non-refundable. However, if it is possible to fill the spot in time, some refund may be available. 
  • Please note that credit card processing fees are non-refundable.

Refunds for COVID-related cancellations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Sage Hill reserves the right to cancel upcoming or in-process programs due to COVID-related health and safety issues or mandates. If a program must be cancelled, payment will be refunded accordingly.

Payment options:

Interac e-Transfer

Interac e-Transfers can be sent to sage.hill@sasktel.net.

Cheque

Cheques can be made out to “Sage Hill Writing” and sent to: 324-1831 College Ave, Regina SK, S4P 4V5

Visa / Mastercard

Visa and Mastercard payments can be made through our website. If you need assistance, please contact us.

Please note that tuition paid by Visa or Mastercard is subject to a 3.4% processing charge.

Online schedule elements

  • Classes usually meet for 1 to 2 hours each day.
  • Sessions will likely take place in the late morning / early afternoon, to accommodate the various time zones of the writers taking each course. 
  • Each writer will also have 1-on-1 sessions scheduled with their instructor throughout the program.
  • Faculty and participant readings, as well as other social activities, will take place at 5 pm CST.
  • Other optional activities will be scheduled around class times.
  • With online retreats, we understand that writers may continue to have responsibilities at home. We’ve found that the more time writers put into the program, including time set aside for personal writing and working with feedback received on their writing, the more they get out of the experience!

Guillermo Verdecchia 

Guillermo Verdecchia is a writer of drama and fiction as well as a director, dramaturge, translator, and actor. He is the recipient of a Governor-General’s Award for Drama for his play Fronteras Americanas and a four-time winner of the Chalmers Canadian Play Award. His work, which includes The Art of Building a Bunker (with Adam Lazarus), the Governor-General shortlisted Noam Chomsky Lectures (with Daniel Brooks), the Seattle Times’ Footlight Award-winning Adventures of Ali & Ali (with Marcus Youssef and Camyar Chai), A Line in the Sand (with Marcus Youssef), bloom, and Another Country has been recorded, anthologized, translated into Spanish and Italian, produced in Europe and the US, and is studied in Latin America, Australia, Europe, and North America.

As a director and actor he has worked at theatres across Canada, from the Stratford Festival, where he directed Sunil Kuruvilla’s Rice Boy, to Vancouver’s East Cultural Centre, where he has presented several original works including Ali & Ali: The Deportation Hearings. He has also directed for Soulpepper Theatre — the critically acclaimed production of The Royale – and the Tarragon Theatre – The Jungle written by two of his former students (Toronto Critics’ Award for Best New Play).

He has also served as dramaturg on Sarena Parmar’s The Orchard at the Shaw Festial and David Yee’s Governor-General’s Award nominated Lady in the Red Dress, which was produced by Fu-gen Theatre. Former Director of New Play Development at Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre, Guillermo served as dramaturge for numerous plays and productions including Vern Theissen’s multi-award winning adaptation of Sommerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, and Anthony MacMahon’s adaptation of Animal Farm. He has translated plays by Lorca and is particularly fond of Once 5 Years Pass.

He has an M.A. from the University of Guelph where he received a Governor-General’s Gold Medal for Academic Achievement. He has published a number of scholarly articles and contributed book chapters on aspects of intercultural theatre practice in Canada, and teaches regularly at the University of Toronto.

His most recent work includes A Good Place for Factory Theatre and an adaptation of the 12th Century Sufi poem The Parliament of the Birds, which was featured in Soulpepper’s audio program Around the World in 80 Plays. His play Our Heart Learns opened in Genoa in the fall of 21, and he is working on a new play provisionally entitled Galicia (all that is solid …).

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