Looking for Cooks in the Kitchen

Last year’s Bake-Off was a deliciously good time (pun intended). With a sold-out show featuring five incredible plays, it was a great night for everyone – especially the winner, barb janes. 

barb janes at the 2019 Bake-Off

 This year, we’re bringing back the Bake-Off (with increased physical distancing, of course). If you’re not already familiar, the premise is simple: five playwrights will be given “ingredients” that they must include in an original scene. Last year’s ingredients were a flat tire, a “shhh” sound, and the quote “everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.” For the next eight hours, the writers are left to work on their scripts. Scenes can be anywhere from five to ten minutes long. The scenes will then be performed as a staged reading by an ensemble at FemFest 2020: Engaging Community. the playwright with the most-developed piece will win 500 dollars and dramaturgical guidance to develop a full-length one-act script, which will be read publicly at FemFest 2021. 

A huge thank you to the Manitoba Association of Playwrights and the family of Janet Taylor, who continue to sponsor the Bake-Off every year.  

Speaking of readings, barb janes’ piece, Agency, won the 2019 Bake-Off and has spent the last year being developed. The play follows three “orphan” girls from three different eras and three different countries: Louisa (a British Home Child), Annie (a sixties scoop adoptee) and Natasha (adopted from Romania). Plagued by issues of abandonment and belonging, the three friends search for their mothers, their identity and their own agency. We’re so looking forward to seeing how her play has taken shape since writing it almost one year ago! 

Brooklyn at the 2019 Bake-Off

If we haven’t sold you on how incredible of an experience the Bake-Off is yet, revisit Brooklyn Kilfoyle’s article about her time participating in the Bake-Off as one of the five playwrights.  

“Meeting the other playwrights for the first time was a huge help to calming my nerves. Everyone was so kind and supportive of each other, the energy in the room was electric. Being surrounded by a group of such positive women; passionate about theatre set fire to my determination.” – Brooklyn Kilfoyle 

We are looking for women, non-binary, and trans folks to apply for the Bake-Off! Even if you don’t have any formal playwriting experience, all you need to submit is: 

1. A letter including your full contact information (address, phone & email) and anything you want to tell us about yourself & why you’re interested in the BakeOff  
2. A 100-word bio for yourself  
3. A 5 – 10 page writing sample (can be a scene or monologue) in PDF format. 

Please email the above to Cairn Moore at bakeoff@sarasvati.ca. Otherwise, you can check out more details about the Bake-Off or other FemFest shows and readings here! 

 

FemFest Celebrates 15 Years!

Our beloved festival in support of women playwrights turns 15 this year! We are celebrating with the theme Coming of Age and a line-up that will blow you away.

We are ecstatic to be bringing in one of the most highly regarded playwright’s in Canadian history, two-time Governor General award-winning playwright Judith Thompson!  Thompson will join us for Mulgrave Road Theatre’s production of her play Watching Glory Die,  a harrowing play based on the true story of Ashley Smith. She will also teach a playwriting master class (September 20, 21 and 22 from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.) give a Real Thing lecture and be part of the Human Library ™.

Watching Glory Die

Judith Thompson

Tomboy Survival Guide is a live stage experience that defies genre and gender boxes with fearless truth-telling and compassionate defiance. Ivan Coyote and an all-tomboy band take the audience on a musical journey navigating the narrow halls of public washrooms, skirting the childhood threat of being picked to be a flower girl, triumphing over tying a double Windsor knot, and discovering the beauty in being handsome, not pretty, all along. This is also our first time taking FemFest to the West End Cultural Centre!

We focus our in-house attention on producing Two Indians by Falen Johnson directed by Sonya Ballantyne. After years apart two cousins meet in a Toronto alley to recreate a ceremony from their childhood, but can they remember how? When the words missing and murdered, truth and reconciliation, occupation and resistance are everywhere, how do two Mohawk women stand their ground?

We’ll share a workshop preview of New Beginnings, a work in development created with the Winnipeg newcomer and refugee community.  Come and see a preview of this exciting culmination of story and dance from around the world.

As a company dedicated to transforming society through theatre, we’ve witnessed the impact  that story-sharing can have on breaking down stereotypes and prejudices. This year we are thrilled to present a Human Library ™ as part of FemFest.  In partnership with the Millennium Library, Sarasvàti Productions has curated an incredible line up of Human Books that you can ‘take out’ for a one-of-a-kind learning experience.

The beloved Bake-Off is back! This FemFest favourite challenges 5 local female playwrights to write a scene in 8-hours using three key top-secret ingredients. Scenes will be performed as part of the Festival on Sept. 18.
Winner of the FemFest 2016 Bake-Off, Jessy Ardern presents a reading of her play in progress, Kit and Joe.

For ages 6 and up, Castlemoon Theatre presents Grounded Heroes. 10 year old Jess loves Lego, but her friends think it’s childish and weird. While researching a class assignment, Jess encounters three girls from history who were also a little bit weird for their time, and together they discover what it means to be true to yourself.

And you definitely won’t want to miss our closing night! This season, we brought our classic One Night Stand play reading series back with a vengeance. In honour of Winnipeg’s own celebrated female playwrights we’re curating a special One Night Stand dedicated to showcasing works in progress by some of these prolific writers who will be joined by Judith Thompson.

Workshops, readings and a dynamite Opening Cabaret will be a staple again this year. Get your passes now and celebrate 15 years of FemFest!