TARRAGON THEATRE and RBC are pleased to announce Jessica Anderson Winner of the 2011/2012 RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights’ Competition
Tarragon Theatre and RBC Foundation are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2011/2012 RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights’ Competition is Jessica Anderson for her play The Gods and Calvin Brewer.
In The Gods and Calvin Brewer, seventeen-year-old Calvin creates a world that balances epic mythology and reality in order to communicate with his mother, a former classics professor struggling with mental illness. The play was selected as the winner from a shortlist of three plays that included The Comfort Women by Rachel Blair and Next to Him by Jessica Moss.
The Gods and Calvin Brewer was highly praised by the Competition’s prestigious panel of jurors: Amy House, Artistic Animateur of Resource Centre for the Arts (St. John’s); Brian Quirt, Artistic Director of Nightswimming (Toronto) and Marcus Youssef, Artistic Director of Neworld Theatre (Vancouver).
Quirt observed that Anderson’s writing demonstrates “good dialogue and strong situations,” while Youssef declared “I like her voice a lotŠ[it’s] courageous” and was moved by “the sense of love in the play.” House reflected, “I was moved by this play. It is complex yet the characters and the dialogue move the story along.Šthe playwright shows great promise.”
As the winner, Anderson receives a cash prize of $3,000 as well as a year’s worth of dramaturgy at Tarragon Theatre, followed by a presentation as part of Tarragon Theatre’s Play Reading Week in November 2013.
Learning of her RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights’ Competition win, Anderson commented:
“Tarragon Theatre was where I saw my first play fourteen years ago and to have the chance to work with such an important theatre is a great honour. The Gods and Calvin Brewer began as an entry in a 24-hour playwriting contest and I am very proud of its progress over the last few years. I look forward to taking its development to the next level with the help of Tarragon Theatre.”
Jessica Anderson is a playwright and arts administrator, originally from Oakville, ON. Her full-length play My Purple Wig was shortlisted for the RBC Tarragon Under 30 Playwriting Competition in 2009, won Theatre BC’s Special Merit Award and was performed as part of the Emerging Voices Festival. The one-act version of The Gods and Calvin Brewer placed third in Pat the Dog’s 24-Hour Playwriting Contest and was runner-up in the Hamilton Fringe New Play Contest. She currently resides in Ottawa, where she balances her creative side by working in administration for Ottawa Little Theatre.
The RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights’ Competition is generously supported by RBC Foundation. This is the fifth year RBC has supported the competition through their RBC Emerging Artists Project, which helps emerging artists bridge the gap from the academic to the professional world. In 2012, RBC committed more than $3 million in support of 141 arts organizations across Canada through the RBC Emerging Artists Project.
Shari Austin, RBC’s Vice President of Corporate Citizenship, said “RBC believes in nurturing the next generation of Canadian artistic talent. As a proud partner of Tarragon Theatre, we are delighted to support the RBC Emerging Playwrights Competition.”
ABOUT TARRAGON THEATRE
Tarragon Theatre is known for its creation, development and production of new Canadian work. Now in its 42nd season, more than 190 plays by this country’s most pre-eminent writers have premiered at Tarragon. Tarragon presents new plays from all parts of the country, revives significant Canadian plays and produces international work, contemporary and classical. Tarragon is also a pioneer in presenting Quebecois plays in translation. The theatre offers extensive play development programs in a concerted effort to develop the next generation of playwrights and an active outreach and education department. Tarragon received the 2012 Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in recognition of producing and developing leading edge and thought-provoking Canadian Theatre, both nationally and on the world stage. Richard Rose is the Artistic Director. For more information visit www.tarragontheatre.com .
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