Collider Festival Returns to The Citadel Theatre

The Citadel Theatre's annual festival of new play development returns once again, featuring readings of four new plays, two artist-led workshops and premiere productions of new works on the Citadel's stages.

2023 marks the third annual Collider Festival at the Citadel Theatre, running May 11 - 14th. This festival celebrates and helps bring to life new stories and scripts for larger stages showcasing the work of local artists and artists from across the country and beyond. The emphasis of new Play Development at the Citadel is on innovative ideas, large-vision and large-scale projects,. Led by Associate Artistic Director, Mieko Ouchi along with industry professional artists, this weekend will showcase new works, ideas and collaboration in the playwriting community.

The festival begins with a Playwrights Mixer with the Playwrights Guild of Canada on May 11 and Keynote Welcome address with Keynote Speaker, Nina Lee Aquino. Aquino is also currently directing the world premiere of Prison Dancer, a new play recently developed as a co-production with the Citadel Theatre and Prison Dancer Inc. with support from the National Arts Centre's National Creation Fund.

Collider will also present Punctuate! Theatre's new production, First Métis Man of Odesa by Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova. Festival goers can attend performances of First Métis Man of Odesa and Prison Dancer nightly during the course of the weekend.

Collider will feature readings of four new works in development by local, national, and international playwrights and composers. The Festival will also include a panel discussion about the Developing New Musicals and a mixer event with the Alberta Chapter of The 3.7% Initiative, a national program that promotes women and non binary artists of colour as they look to build artistic leadership skills in the performing arts. Play readings, mixers and panel discussions are all free to attend and do not require pre-registration.

Two artist-led workshops will take place on Saturday, May 13th and Sunday, May 14th. Artists interested in attending "Playwriting" hosted by Urusula Rani Sarma and "Making a Musical" instructed by Joe Slabe are encouraged to register early to these ticketed events as space is limited.

The full event schedule and more details are available at citadeltheatre.com/artists/play-development/collider-festival/

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