Drama Festival Season

It's drama festival season in Saskatchewan again! Each year around this time the Saskatchewan Drama Association hosts 11 regional festivals around the province, with dozens of high schools competing for the opportunity to perform at the Provincial festival in May. This year I have several one-act plays being presented in various regions and I will be fortunate enough to be in attendance for a few of them.

On April 12th and 13th I'll be at the Region 11 Festival at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon to cheer on I Don't Want to Talk About It, being presented Clavet High School. This is the festival I adjudicated last year and let me tell you that the quality of productions in this region is incredible. This year, students from Clavet, Evan Hardy, and Walter Murray will be vying for a slot at Provincials. I hope to see a few familiar faces onstage and will be cheering them all on!

The weekend following, April 19th and 20th, I'll be at the Region 1 Festival at Lampman High School. This is my home festival -- the region I competed in as a teenager -- and I know from experience how tough the competition is. Plays from Lampman, Caryle, Arcola, Oxbow, and Moosomin will be in contention and all of them present extraordinary plays from year to year, so any one of them could take home the top prize. Gordon F. Kells High School in Carlyle will be presenting two of my plays this year; the seniors I Don't Want to Talk About It and the juniors Outside the Box. Carlyle has been extremely supportive of my work over the years (these are the 7th and 8th plays of mine they've produced), so I can't wait to see what they've come up with this year!

I'll be live tweeting both festivals, so be sure to follow me @haywardplays. And whether you're a student, parent, teacher, spectator, or actor, director, crew, friend, I'd love to see you join in on the fun! #sdafest

Also, if anyone reading this will be in Saskatoon or Lampman on the dates listed above, please let me know. I'd love to see you there, and I'm sure the students would appreciate as many people in attendance as possible to see all their hard work in action. This is my favorite time of year and I'd be thrilled to spend it with others who enjoy theater as much as I do!