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Words: Heidi Taylor, Artistic and Executive Director, PTC
Photos: Courtesy PTC
PTC is a theatre company that does content development (what we call "dramaturgy"), mostly for the indie theatre community. There are lots of metaphors for dramaturgy - we like to think of ourselves as a test kitchen for new plays. Some writers are cooks, and we taste-test with public activities and lots of collaboration along the way; and others are making delicate soufflés, so we create an undisturbed environment until the piece emerges fully baked.
PTC just moved to Chinatown (as of August) and opened up our rehearsal studio, the Test Kitchen, where we're working on four new Canadian plays (two from Vancouver, one from Toronto, one from Saskatoon) in a ten day intensive we call the PTC Writers' Colony. For this batch of writers, we're delving into lots of research (also a big part of dramaturgy) - from the structure of murder mysteries, to technical background on drug overdoses, to translation questions for moving a play from Cree to h?n?q??min??m? (the Musqueam language), to bringing in a magician to train an actor in sleight of hand. Once the plays leave the Colony, one is slated for production at a major Toronto theatre, one is in the running for a Vancouver production next year, and the other two are looking for their eventual theatrical homes.
Like story editing for film, dramaturgy tests the story, themes, characters, and structure of a new play. We work with writers from concept through to final draft, and in many cases up to production. Dramaturgy itself is a tricky thing to describe because we develop a process that's specific to each play and writer. For some, that means developing characters in the studio and having the dramaturg transcribe text as it's improvised; for others, it means charting out complex multi-layered plots, with lots of colour-coding and sticky notes.
PTC supports 20-40 writers each year, through in depth dramaturgy and writers' groups, and we work closely with theatre companies like Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, Pi Theatre, Touchstone Theatre, the reVolver Festival - companies that are foregrounding Vancouver artists and new work. We also have six writers in residence with us for three years (the PTC Associates) who are all making new plays. Carmen Aguirre, Hiro Kanagawa, and Dave Deveau are three of our current Associates whom you may know from their work around town. We gather support from the community to fund these writers in the early stages of their work, before they have something concrete to offer to producing theatres. Our supporters are interested in process, research and development, and have a hunger for stories created by Canadian artists. In our new Test Kitchen, we're bringing writers and the public into conversation, cooking up new plays that will find audiences in Vancouver and across the country.
Learn more at playwrightstheatre.com
