Western Ontario Drama League
|
|
Newsletter September 2019
|
|
- WODL has a new President - Lynda Agocs
- Send in Your Application for Adjudication Before 20 September
- Faux Food Workshop at WODL GM - Cambridge - 6 October 2019
- Festival 2020
- New WODL Life Member - Shirley Bieman
- News From Around the WODL Region
- Theatre Ontario
- Playwrights Canada Press - New Titles
- Off the Wall StratfordArtists Alliance - Upcoming workshops
- Playwrights Guild of Canada - Canadian Play Outlet
- If you are producing Canadian Plays this Season - Check This Out
- ONstage Theatre Listings
- Is your WODL Membership Information Up-to-date?
- Dates for your Diary
|
|
WODL has a New President - Lynda Agocs
|
|
Lynda Ages was elected president of WODL last July.
She is married to her high school sweetheart, and she became a mother of 3 and a grandmother to 6. She was born into an athletic family. In high school, she was enthralled by a Shakespeare play at Stratford.
After Lynda’s 3 children left home, she joined Petrolia Community Theatre, where she worked backstage as dresser, props, stage manager ASM and any other position. Soon her husband, Joe, also joined PCT. Their love of theatre grows each year as they work on plays together.
Joe was asked to audition for Theatre Sarnia and was cast as the lead in a play. Soon They found themselves Theatre Sarnia members. Lynda is still a backstage worker and has no intention of being on stage. She worked on the last 3 Festivals that Theatre Sarnia was pleased to host; making use of another hobby, preparing food.
At Theatre Sarnia, Lynda met Fred and Val Hadley, who became her mentors. She became a WODL delegate. Then when Fred Hadley became ill in 2011, he asked her to take replace him as Constitution and Policy Chair on the WODL board. Four years ago, she became the 2
nd
vice-president on the WODL board. She found that the last 4 years have flown by and now the reality of being president is sinking in.
The WODL board is anticipating another exciting season of great theatre. Lynda is looking forward to Festival in Cambridge hosted by Cambridge Community Players and Paris Performers Theatre. She looking forward to meeting a great number of fellow thespians during the season and at Festival.
|
|
Send in Your Application for Adjudication Before 20 September
|
|
I
n mid-August, I sent out snail mail reminders to all the WODL groups reminding them that the deadline for applications is Friday September 20. So far, I have received one reply.
This Labour Day weekend I will be sending emails to all the groups reminding them to apply for an adjudication. On Saturday, September 21, I will consider all applications received by Friday September 20 at midnight. I will determine in conjunction with our pre-Festival adjudicator, Mark Mooney, the adjudication schedule. The key advantage to your group of getting the application to me by September 20 is that you will receive an adjudication closer to the date you would most like.
Late applications are entertained; but no group that already has a date for an adjudication will have its adjudication date changed. Your range of options will be much restricted. The adjudication schedule will be on the WODL website
www.wodl.on.ca
so if you are submitting a late application consult this schedule. There is no use in applying for an adjudication on any date on which another adjudication is already scheduled. In addition, late adjudications are possible only if they fit the pre-Festival adjudicator’s schedule. Once the preliminary schedule is established, he is free to accept other commitments (in other words have a life), so not all dates on which no adjudication is scheduled will be possible.
The key rule governing the adjudication schedule is that in-Festival adjudications have priority over out-of-Festival adjudications. In addition to following this rule, in determining the schedule, I am concerned to provide groups with close to their first choice of date and produce a travel schedule for the adjudications that is not too hectic for the pre-Festival adjudicator. He will drive around 3500 kilometers to do the adjudications and I would like to keep the driving to a minimum. Thus, I want to schedule adjudications close together.
|
|
Faux Food Workshop at WODL GM - Cambridge - 6 October 2019
|
|
All members welcome
When: Sunday October 6, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Where:
C
ambridge Arts Theatre
,
47 Water Street South, Galt, Cambridge
What: Delegates meeting followed by Faux Food Workshop sponsored by Off the Wall Artists Alliance, Stratford, led by Deb Erb.
Deb is an Off the Wall teacher and multidisciplinary theatre artist, specializing in prop making, set and costume design, and backstage production. As well as having participants make a food prop, she will talk about how other food props can be made.
Workshop: Cost to participants: FREE
Workshop: Maximum: 30 people
|
|
As many theatres across Western Ontario gear up for another great season of live community theatre, the Paris Performers and Cambridge Community Players are preparing for WODL Festival2020 to be held from March 16
th
to the 20
th
with the gala on March 21
st
at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.
Your co-hosts will be Terri Graham from Paris Performers (
terri@wodl.on.ca
) and Gordon Wehner from Cambridge Community Players (
gord@wodl.on.ca)
. We are very much looking forward to this event and are eager to answer any questions you may have about this festival.
Information about the Cambridge Arts Theatre can be found using the following weblink:
We realize the decision to submit a play for in-Festival adjudication is a significant one and several questions need to be answered before a decision to submit is made. As co-hosts, we want to make this as painless and feasible as possible and as such are will respond to any questions or concerns you may have. That being said, we haven’t yet finalized the hotel but Mona is close to getting this done. Thank you Mona!
We are pleased that some of you have already made requests about the Cambridge Arts Theatre as you plan you set design for the upcoming season. For those of you who have questions about the theatre, please contact
Gord@wodl.on.ca
.
|
|
New WODL Life Member - Shirley Bieman
|
|
It is with great pleasure that I announce, on behalf of the Life Members of WODL, that, immediately following the AGM, the Board unanimously approved our nomination of
Shirley Bieman
to a Life Member of WODL.
Why after the AGM? We did not want Shirley to sign her own certificate! But strongly felt that she has worked long and hard for WODL – not only working her way through the Vice President positions to Past President, but also as an Area VP for Bruce-Grey for a long time, taking good care of her Area groups and supporting adjudicators and all involved in WODL.
In addition to all of this, for many years Shirley was also our Awards Chair, a time consuming task as the annual Festival approaches.
Thank you, Shirley, for all you have done for this region.
We will be awarding Shirley her certificate at the Awards Ball in Cambridge next year.
|
|
News from Around the WODL Region
|
|
If you have any special events planned at your theatre in the upcoming months, please let me know!
|
|
Theatre Ontario is trying to make its services more accessible across the province. To this end, a pilot project is offering workshops both in-person and via teleconferencing.
Our two upcoming
Career Stream
workshops are:
Theatre Ontario member organizations can send a delegate to any workshop at the individual member rate.
|
|
Playwrights Canada Press - New Titles
|
|
Coming soon from Playwrights Canada Press:
In an unflinching look at love, sex, and fertility, and inspired by real stories of mothers during the Canadian birth-control movement of the early twentieth century, one of Canada’s most celebrated playwrights vividly recreates a couple’s struggles with reproduction.
Should women abandon religion? Four female panellists face off in a wild, whip-smart public debate about the intersection of religion and misogyny, and love and ideology.
One of the best resources for playwrights is back in a new edition that examines all the steps and stages involved in writing a play, provides classic and contemporary scenes to study, outlines clever exercises to strengthen writing skills, and so much more.
|
|
Off th Wall Stratford Artists Alliance - Upcoming Workshops
|
|
Playwrights Guild of Canada - Canadian Play Outlet
|
|
The
Canadian Play Outlet
has launched its new site with over 2000 Canadian Plays right at your fingertips. Looking for something specific? Check out the curated
Collections
.
Every month you can take a look at the newest unpublished and published plays available!
|
|
If you are Producing Canadian Plays this Season - Check This Out
|
|
The Playwrights Guild of Canada publicises productions of Canadian-written plays through its website,
www.playwrightsguild.ca
.
|
|
Theatre Ontario publishes an online list of current and upcoming productions by its member groups. To see what is on
click here
.
|
|
Is your WODL Menbership Information Up-to-date?
|
|
Are you on the board of a theatre group that belongs to WODL? If your group has:
- A new President
- New WODL delegates
- A new Treasurer
|
|
|
|
WODL General Meeting, Cambridge
|
|
16 March to 21 March 2020
|
|
WODL Festival 2020, Cambridge
|
|
See what's happening on our social sites
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
