Infinithéâtre's Write-On-Q! Playwright Competition Winners Announced

A major source of new plays has been Infinithéàtre's annual Write-on-Q! playwriting competition; the biggest English literary prize in Québec.

The competition encourages Québec and Indigenous playwrights of all levels of experience to send in their unproduced plays while challenging writers from various disciplines to try their hand at writing for the stage. The winning play is guaranteed a public reading in The Pipeline reading series, and gets serious consideration for a full production in future Infinithéâtre seasons.

Playwriting contest winners to appear in esteemed reading series, The Pipeline.

Mark The Pipeline in your late fall calendar

Friday, December 8 - Sunday, December 10, 2017

Every year Infinithéâtre seeks innovative and challenging new works by dedicated Québec and Indigenous playwrights. Plays developed by Infinithéâtre have been performed all over the island of Montréal and beyond--in Stratford Ontario, Toronto, British Columbia, in Ottawa at the NAC, New York, Tokyo, Cairo and Edinburgh.

For the past nine years, Infinithéâtre's annual Write-on-Q! Québec playwriting competition has been the major source of original plays for its seasons' repertoire, including recent successes Oren Safdie's Mr. Goldberg Goes to Tel Aviv and Unseamly; Battered by Arthur Holden; Michael Milech's Honesty Rents by the Hour; and Progress! and Trench Patterns by Alyson Grant, along with Grant's Conversion later this season. This year's jury, chaired by Diana Fajrajsl, with Gerry Lipnowski, Patricia Saxton and Caitlin Heiligmann, is excited to announce the 2017 Write-on-Q! winners, two of which will be read in early December's The Pipeline. Infinithéâtre offers the biggest English literary prize in Québec.

Write-On-Q! First Place, Pam Dunn Prize, $3000: Extra/Beautiful/U by Michaela di Cesare

From the jury, "A highly-accomplished work that examines a variety of contemporary issues, including social media and perceptions of self-image, in a sympathetic, entertaining, and non-preachy way."

Write-On-Q! Second Place Prize $1500: Strange Fire by Louise Arsenault

From the jury, "An intimate, literate and moving character study of three women whose lives intertwine as they attempt to understand and resist the social oppression of our society."

Write-On-Q! Third Place Prize $500: The Ugly Seahorse by Michael Milech

From the jury, "An authentically voiced, grounded depiction of the proverbial, "nice guy" wrestling with the history of the myriad of romantic failures he has lived."

The first and second place winning plays, along with Arthur Holden's newest work, The Past, and Al Goulem's The Ex-Mas Party, will be read at

Infinithéâtre's The Pipeline 2017 at Espace Knox, 6215 Godfrey Ave. in NDG

Fri. Dec. 8, 7pm; Sat. Dec. 9, 2pm & 7pm; Sun., Dec. 10, 2pm, discussion to follow each reading

Admission is by donation/$10 suggested, RSVP (limited seating)

For contest rules and further information: 514 987-1774 www.infinitheatre.com/write-on-q

Great theatre begins with great writing. Infinithéâtre's mission is to develop, produce and broker new Québec plays to ever-widening audiences. The company also enjoys challenging writers from other media- journalists, poets and novelists- to write for the stage.

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