UBC's Dept. of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing has established a Creative Writing Residency Prize in Stageplay. The biennial prize, worth $25,000, is the most generous of its kind in Canada.
Assoc. Prof. Bryan Wade, director of the prize, views it as an important step in the overall development of playwriting in Canada.
"Not only will it increase the profile of playwriting as an art form in the country -- much like the Booker Prize has done for fiction in Great Britain -- the Residency Prize in Stageplay will bring outstanding playwrights of national and international stature to the UBC campus and the Lower Mainland," he says.
The award includes a one-month residency at the university. While on campus, the winning playwright will mentor Creative Writing students, work with Theatre students and faculty on the development of the play for performance, and deliver the Stageplay Residency Lecture.
The winning play will be published by PRISM international, Creative Writing's literary magazine, and a public performance will be presented by UBC's Theatre Dept.
"The prize will build upon the connections already developed in our department between writing, publication and performance, and will give students throughout the university and the general public an opportunity to benefit from the process,"adds Wade.
The creation of the Creative Writing Residency Prize in Stageplay renews a link between publication and production first established at the university when Tennessee Williams was a visiting author. His play Red Devil Battery Sign was published in PRISM international and premiered at the Vancouver Playhouse.
For more information on the prize, call 604-822-0231, or visit the Web site at www.arts.ubc.ca/crwr/resprize.