Workshops for Burnt Islands

Puttin’ Off a Play – Puttin’ Off a Season

A three hour session on the logistics of producing live theatre in a professional manner. The hour and a half performance that the audience sees is just the tip of the theatrical iceberg. This workshop will deal with time lines, artistic and technical requirements with a smattering of marketing thrown in. Emphasis will be given to adapting professional practices to the realities of the small theatre company with limited resources.

Local Stories to Stage Plays (3 hr.)

This is geared for aspiring writers who would like to see their work on the stage. Although primarily meant for getting local stories into a play form for performing for a tourism market, the workshop will also deal with format, dialogue and the realities of writing for a live performance.

Jim Chalmers-Gow is the Technical Director/Instructor for the Theatre Program at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. In twenty-three years of professional work, before coming to Grenfell, he has worked in all aspects of professional theatre as a technician, set and lighting designer, Production Manager and General Manager. For the past 9 summers, he has managed and produced theatre with students for the tourism market. THEATRE by the BAY has performed new dramas, comedies and historical shows for tourists, conventions and University galas. He has had a passion for writing plays since high school. Mr. Chalmers-Gow wrote or dramaturged many of THEATRE by the BAY’s productions as well as being commissioned by Parks Canada to write Matt’s Snare, a play for young audiences. He is currently working on converting two dinner theatre scripts into a TV sit-com format and has a new dramatic play and a dramatic screenplay in the works.