SDA Festival - Region 11

I just spent the past couple of days adjudicating the Saskatchewan Drama Association Region 11 One Act Play Festival at Walter Murray Collegiate in Saskatoon and I am still reeling from the entire experience. I've been to many drama festivals over the years, but this one had a very special energy that I can only describe as magical. It was an exceptionally positive weekend -- overflowing with talented students, entertaining productions, and inspiring moments that I will cherish always.

Theatre is all about people getting together to create a work of art that brings other people together. I have never in my entire life been to a competitive festival where ALL of the participants (and that is no exaggeration) were more interested in celebrating each others' work than they were winning awards. Talk about together. And holy cow, was there plenty to celebrate about! The caliber of the productions was utterly astounding. Normally there are one or two productions that stand out from the pack, but this year there were a handful plays that could have advanced to the Provincial Festival in May and represented Region 11 extremely well. This, of course, made my job very difficult.

Hands down, the hardest part of being an adjudicator for me is deciding who wins what awards. While I do enjoy recognizing those students whose energy and creativity contribute a little something extra special to their production, it breaks my heart to think that anyone might go home feeling anything but proud of their accomplishment simply because they did not leave with any hardware. What made this weekend special was that everyone was so incredibly supportive and respectful of one another that the awards felt secondary to the celebration that was taking place all around me. After the awards banquet, I was overwhelmed by the number of students and teachers who came up to me to let me know what a terrific experience the festival had been. Win or lose, they still had huge smiles on their faces, which is exactly what the arts are all about. (And I don't think I've ever received so many hugs or posed for so many photos in my life!)

I met a huge number of students this weekend and although our encounters were brief, it was my honour to get to know each and every one of them. I sincerely hope they were able to learn something from our time together, but what I really hope is that they know just how much I learned from them. The courage, confidence, and creativity I saw up there on that stage is what gives me the courage, confidence, and creativity to keep doing what I love to do.

Congratulations to everyone involved this year, and a special thank you to backstage adjudicator Cheryl Scherle for her technical expertise and infectious enthusiasm, as well as Jeff Soucy and everyone else at Walter Murray Collegiate for making everyone feel so welcome and appreciated!

Catching Unicorns

About a year ago I wrote a piece about "catching a unicorn" -- meaning that while my plays are produced all over the world, I rarely ever get the chance to see any of these productions, so catching one is about as rare as seeing a unicorn. Well, I'm pleased to report that on March 30th and 31st I will be attending the Saskatchewan Drama Association Region 1 Drama Festival where there will be four -- count them, FOUR! -- unicorns within reach.

There are seven plays vying for the opportunity to represent Region 1 at the Provincial Festival in May and four of them were written by yours truly. I still cannot believe my good fortune! To make matters even sweeter, the festival this year is being held in my hometown of Oxbow, Saskatchewan. I would have been crazy to miss this once-in-a-lifetime experience, so I booked my plane tickets home faster than you can say "curtain!" Not only will I get to see several of my own plays in one weekend, but I will be able to share the experience with my wonderful friends, mentors, and family members who have always supported my artistic endeavors.

It seems like just yesterday that I participated in my very first drama festival. I was in the eighth grade and somehow ended up getting plucked from obscurity to play the husband of a girl that was in the twelfth grade. Needless to say, I was horrified! The rest of the cast was entirely made up of girls -- all much older than I was -- and they made my life a living hell every chance they got. They smeared the darkest red lipstick they could find onto their lips and plastered my face with kisses. They took turns announcing I was their boyfriend to strangers. They sneaked pictures from Playboy magazine into my script. And you know what? I loved every minute of it. From that play on, I was hooked on the theatre. (Playboy not so much...)

In the years that followed, I either wrote, directed, or acted in nearly every production we took to these festivals. Some were good and some were terrible. Once we even managed to win, for a production of The Flattering Word by George Kelly. At the time, losing was a complete heartbreak that took weeks to get over and winning was just about the greatest thing that could ever happen. Of course now it doesn't matter whether we won or lost -- it's the amazing memories that count and those memories have left a far greater footprint on my life than any number of medals or trophies ever could.

Whenever I sit down to write a new play, I think about the way I felt as a teenager when I opened my script at the first rehearsal. I think about the smell of dollar store make-up as it melted down my face under the spotlight. And I think about the confidence I felt every time I stood in front of an audience and took my bow. These are the moments that made me who I am today, and the idea that the plays I write now might allow a new generation of teenagers to experience magical moments of their own is all the inspiration I need.

So to everyone that will be in Oxbow during the festival, I hope to see you at the performances. All seven productions are sure to be fantastic and I think it's vital that we keep the arts alive by supporting the many students, teachers, and parents who have worked so hard to create this exciting weekend of entertainment.


The following is a schedule of events, which all take place in the brand new facilities at Oxbow Prairie Horizons School. Admission is $5 per session.

Friday - March 30th - 1:00 PM

Arcola: NOTE TO SELF by Bradley Hayward
Lampman: THE AUDITION by Don Zolidis

Friday - March 30th - 7:00 PM

Oxbow: GARGANTUA by Carl Grose
Moosomin: WITH REGARD TO COOPER CLAWSON'S CONSCIENCE by Bryan Starchman
Carlyle: SPLIT by Bradley Hayward

Saturday - March 31st - 1:00 PM

Redvers: SPLIT by Bradley Hayward
Carlyle: LIP SERVICE by Bradley Hayward