Infinithéâtre's Write-On-Q! Playwright Competition Winners Announced, THE PIPELINE Reading

Every year Infinithéâtre looks for innovative, challenging and exciting new works by dedicated Québec 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 eight 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 Battered by Arthur Holden; Michael Milech's Honesty Rents by the Hour; Progress! and Trench Patterns by Alyson Grant; and Oren Safdie's Unseamly. This year's jury, chaired by Kent Stetson, with Gerry Lipnowski and Anana Rydvald, is excited to announce the 2016 winners, whose plays 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: The Nutritional Value of Anger by Michael Milech

From the Jury, "An accomplished and excellent play with characters that are grounded in reality; whose dialogue and interaction feel genuine and compelling. A chance encounter between a profoundly damaged homeless girl, a hard-working depaneur owner and a privileged millennial spotlights people that are overlooked and deemed insignificant in our society. Written with wit, compassion and an unwavering eye for the truth, The Nutritional Value of Anger is Contemporary Theatre at its best."

Write-On-Q! Second Place Prize $1500: Alice and the World We Live In by Alexandria Haber

From the jury, "Unconventional time shifts and an occasionally elusive narrative make one wonder and explore the most enduring of human questions: "what if?" How does one cope in a world where fear has become a norm, and people start paying for a bit of humanity? A neurotic, funny at times, and deeply unsettling view of what can happen if we let negative thoughts get the better of us in an unpredictable civilization."

Write-On-Q! Third Place Prize $500: Conversion by Alyson Grant

From the jury, "Bitter revelations, jealousy, and distorted justifications for withholding the truth leave a daughter wondering whether to carry on in her own relationship. Can she forgive her parents and accept her husband's impending conversion? A painful evening but perhaps a hopeful future... a future that demands a great deal of understanding and faith."

The above winning plays will be read at

Infinithéâtre's The Pipeline 2016, Rialto Infinite Studio, 5711 Parc Ave.

Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3, 7pm; Sunday, Dec. 4 at 2pm

Admission is donate-what-you-can/$10 suggested

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.

(Photo Credit: Emily Di Michele Newson)

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