Volunteering with The CASA Project

One of my volunteer positions is coordinating The CASA Project, a charitable arm of the Playwrights Guild of Canada, initiated by PGC's Women's Caucus. The goal of the project is to create meaningful connections between Canadian and African women playwrights. We are a small charitable endeavor but passionate! Every year we give out The CASA Award, a $5000 cash prize given to a woman (cis or trans) or non-binary playwright living in South Africa who has demonstrated a commitment to playwriting and would benefit from dramaturgical and financial support.  

CASA evolved after a group of Canadian playwrights attended the 2015 Women Playwrights International Conference in Cape Town. We were struck by how few African women playwrights were represented at the conference. However, the South African theatre makers who did attend were extraordinary, with unique and important stories to tell. This award promotes the belief that theatre is an imperative and vital voice, advocating for change as it responds to and reflects the world we live in.

The funds are expected to support the playwright while they write for a period of three months on a specific project: one that speaks to today’s South Africa. In addition, the winner is partnered with two senior mentors: a Canadian dramaturge and a South African director, and receives a small collection of Canadian plays, generously donated by Playwrights Canada Press and Scirocco Drama. Past winners are Rehane Abrahams, Genna Gardini, Kela Maswabi, Koleka Putuma, Tamara Schulz, and Philisiwe Twijnstra.

The award is a partnership between PGC and the African Women Playwrights Network. Our South African coordinator is the amazing Amy Jephta and our South African partnering organizations are Theatre Arts in Cape Town and The Outreach Foundation Performing Arts Project in Johannesburg. The Canadian committee consists of Beverley Cooper, Cheryl Foggo, Marcia Johnson, Natalie Meisner, Sally Stubbs and Colleen Wagner, with PGC advisors Rebecca Burton (Membership Manager) and Nancy Morgan (Executive Director). We have also have extraordinary support from ARC Theatre Company in Toronto.

To give an example of the impact of the CASA award…In 2017, one of our winners was Koleka Potuma. The funds bought Koleka time to work on her play No Easter Sunday for Queers. We found her a writing space at the Outreach Foundation in Johannesburg. She worked via Skype with Canadian dramaturge Diane Flacks and in person with South African director Mwenya Kabwe. In 2020, No Easter Sunday for Queers had a celebrated production at the prestigious Market Theatre, directed by her CASA mentor Mwenya.

We continue to do other small outreach initiatives, so stay tuned!

Mining the Riches of CBC Radio Drama

I am very fortunate to have received an Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Arts Fellowship.  The fellowship has three components: to re-examine the rich archives of Canadian radio drama, to explore audio/radio drama that is currently being produced, and then re-imagine what new forms of audio drama could be created for Canadian listeners. 

Over the last month, I’ve had the treat of being down in the CBC archives listening to the best of the best of what CBC has produced before it was so unceremoniously dumped in 2012, due to budget cutbacks by You-Know-Who. I asked different folks about their favourites, I was looking for material that wasn’t necessarily already on my radar. So no Afghanadas, or Dudlies, and well.. I could have been down there a year and not listened to even a small percentage.

The earliest drama I listened to was from 1942, part of a series called Baker’s Dozen produced by Andrew Allan out of Vancouver.  It wasn’t a complete episode, but the part I listened to was pretty brilliant.  A little emotionally over the top, as was the style then, but honestly over the top, which I kind of love. A piece from 1946 called Burlap Bags, written by the prolific Len Peterson was a scathing satire about a man who finds himself in a world in which everyone wears a burlap bag over their heads to keep out what is really happening in the world – OK yes, it hits you over the head, but perhaps we could use a little political whack over the head from time to time. I listened to several episodes of W.O. Mitchell’s ever so charming Jake and the Kid, starring the brilliant John Drainie (who is also superlative in The Investigator, a 1954 indictment of McCarthyism.  You can hear it on CBC here.)  I listened to classic 1960s episodes of Johnny Chase: Secret Agent of Space (including one with a very funny Kate Reid as a intergalactic queen), several episodes of  Nero Wolf, (1982) starring Mavor Moore and Don Franks (in the episode called “Disguise for Murder”, there is a lovely long scene with Fiona Reid.)

 Yes, some of the things I listened to sounded really dated, some that were probably outlandishly experimental for their time now sound flowery. Of course, these dramas weren’t produced with me in mind, they were produced for the radio listeners of their time. There was an interesting drama from 1981 called The Young Comic and the Folksinger, with Martin Short and Dixie Seatle. Very well produced and acted, charming, but a bit earnest for modern ears. However, so many I listened to really hold up.

There was a two-part Scales of Justice episode, dealing with the story of Steven Truscott. I can’t believe I didn’t come across this while doing research for Innocence Lost. Edward Greenspan comments on the case, Eric Peterson plays a very young Steven very well, plus Gordon Pinsent, plus Pierre Berton reading his poem, Requiem for a Fourteen-Year-Old and even Torquil Campbell as one of the child witnesses. I loved a Bill Lane produced episode of Vanishing Point, written by Judith Thompson, called Quickening: Nancy Palk and Michael Hogan knocked my socks off.

 In 1986, Stephen Katz produced a series called Cranks about oddball Canadians of the past.  The one I listened to about Aimee Semple McPherson was fantastic.  I also really liked Dave Carley’s dramatization of a Julio Cortazar short story, The Southern Freeway: Michael Ball and Brenda Robins, en route to Paris, are stuck in traffic…for months.  Also…David S Craig’s outrageous Radio Napalm, the political satire National Affairs (produced by Gregory J. Sinclair, written by Jason Sherman with Susan Coyne, Cathy Disher and Albert Schultz),  and the James Roy produced  How to Make Love to an Actor by George F. Walker: so lovely to hear the dearest Gina Wilkinson, who was a terrific radio actor. Monique Mojica was splendid in her Birdwoman and the Suffragettes, directed by Banuta Rubess for the Adventure Stories for (big) Girls series, with music by Jani Lauzen.

 One of my absolute favorites was called Where the Sun Don’t Shine, produced by Stephen Katz in 1981. A very funny, clever script by Hugh Graham about “hapless Latimer Davenport who leaves the city to work as a farm hand for the crazy Rawlinson family”, starring Nicky Guadagni (fantastic),  with Anne Anglin, Wayne Robson and Ditch Dickinson.

OK but the best for me.... was listening to a deliciously old CBS produced soap opera called Big Sister. It was originally produced in the 1940s but CBC replayed a string of episodes one summer on Morningside. I was at our remote summer cottage that summer, and tuned in every day. I fell in love with the medium of radio drama and how, when done well, it demands the full use of my imagination and tells stories in such an absolutely unique way.

 Next up: listening to what’s being produced now.

Odds and Sods

Odds and sods is a collection of posts, a gathering of my interests and insights: tales of travels, a look inside my writing process, perhaps a yummy recipe I'd like to share.

I recently did an interview with the playwright dramaturgy and advocate centre, Pat the Dog. Here's an excerpt. For the full interview, click here.

Playwright Q&A: Beverley Cooper

Beverley’s writing for theatre includes Thin Ice (co-written with Banuta Rubess– Dora/Chalmer’s Awards), Clue in the Fast Lane (co-written with Ann-Marie MacDonald), The Eyes of Heaven and The Woman in White (adapted from the novel by Wilkie Collins). Her play Innocence Lost: A Play about Steven Truscott was a sold-out hit at the Blyth Festival in both 2008 and 2009, and was a finalist for the 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award. Her newest play, The Lonely Diner: Al Capone in Euphemia Township, premiered at the 2012 Blyth Festival. She has written extensively for CBC radio drama, and television writing credits include episodes of Ready or Not, Sesame Park and Street Legal. Her adaptation of Rohinton Mistry’s epic novel A Fine Balance and her original drama It Came from Beyond! both earned her nominations for a Writer’s Guild of Canada Award.  Beverley recently completed her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Guelph. You can follow her work at www.facebook.com/beverleycooperwriter.

What inspires you as a playwright? Where does your motivation come from?
I am inspired by the world around me: the frustrations, humour, human quirks, injustice…as well as the brilliant work of other artists. Playwriting is my preferred method of expressing my view of the world we live in. I love the theatre as an art form. The theatre is one of the last places we can sit and really contemplate a story, without any distractions. I also enjoy the process of creating a play, which is both solitary and collaborative. I like to come out of my creative cave into the light of the rehearsal room.

What is your writing process? Is it basically the same for each play or does the script affect your process?
I start with an idea that I believe is theatrical. I do a lot of thinking about it. Eventually, the idea becomes a question I want to explore. For instance, when I wrote Innocence Lost: a play about Steven Truscott my question was “How did this happen?” Then I do a lot of research, and the kind of research will change depending on the play. This may involve reading books about a subject, watching movies of a certain time period, or listening to music. I make loads of notes. At some point, I kick my ass in gear and get writing.

What are your most productive writing habits?
I pretty much work Monday to Friday from about 9-3. I may have to do other business-related work, but that is my schedule. I try to create blocks of time where I am just working on the play, as it’s hard to switch projects. Writing first drafts can be painful and that is when I have to avoid being lured into the internet void. I have a software program called Freedom, which blocks the Internet and I use that to give me stretches of time where I am not tempted to check my email. Deadlines are very good motivators.

When revising a draft, what are your stumbling blocks and how do you push past them to the next draft?
For me, writing first drafts is tough. It’s like being invited to a party where you don’t know anyone and you don’t know why you are there. You are devising structure, characters and dialogue, without really knowing where you are going. It’s best then to just channel the gods and put something down on paper. Often it’s when I get to the end of the draft that I can say “aha—that’s where this idea is going,” and then I start at the beginning again.

What role does the dramaturg play in your process?
The right dramaturg is an integral part of my process. Some of the best dramaturges I’ve worked with have been first directors of a new play: Miles Potter, Gina Wilkinson, Ann Hodges, all have contributed greatly to my work because they asked the right questions early on in the process and continued to ask the right questions right up to opening night.  Artistic Director Eric Coates has given me very good notes along the way. It’s important to have another “set of eyes,” someone who understands what you are trying to do and helps you get there. Right now, I am working on a new play with dramaturg Iris Turcott; she absolutely gets what I am doing and is making sure I stay on track. She also pushes me so I don’t play it safe.

For the full interview, click here.

For previous Odds and Sods, see below.

Odds and Sods: a page of miscellany

Odds and sods is a collection of posts, a gathering of my interests and insights: tales of travels, a look inside my writing process, perhaps a yummy recipe I'd like to share. For starters, here is an excerpt from an interview I did with Christina Hunter for the Humber Literary Review.

This interview with playwright Beverley Cooper, a 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award Nominee for Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven Truscott, followed Cooper’s reading of her 2008 play. The reading, which took place at the Humber North Writing Centre Book Club on April 4, 2013, provoked an animated response and heated discussion on the part of the audience. Widely reported in the media was the case of 14-year-old Stephen Truscott, convicted in 1959 for the rape and murder—near the town of Clinton, Ontario—of his 12-year-old classmate, Lynne Harper; the controversial and protracted legal proceedings that followed form the dramatic focus of the play.

HLR: Characterized as a ‘child murderer,’ and initially sentenced to hang, Truscott instead received, in 1959, a commuted sentence of life in prison. He was subsequently acquitted in 2007 after a CBC documentary renewed interest in his case and, in 2008, was awarded $6.5 million in compensation. What inspired you to revisit this historical case? 

Steven Truscott, age fourteen

BC: I was asked by the artistic director of The Blyth Theatre festival, Eric Coates, if I would be interested in writing something about the Steven Truscott case. Clinton is about a 15 minute drive south of Blyth, so the community was very affected by what happened there. I didn’t really know that much about Steven Truscott at the time, but I read a couple of books and watched the excellent CBC Fifth Estate documentary and I was hooked. I couldn’t believe that Canada had almost hung a 14 year-old boy for a crime he did not commit.

HLR: I understand that you conducted interviews with many of the people who, in one way or another, had been directly affected by the case. How integral were these interviews to the play’s composition?

BC: The interviews were extremely important for a few reasons. I wanted to gather a variety of opinions to try to understand how this could have happened. Innocence Lost is about how the murder of Lynne Harper affected the community, seen through the eyes of a classmate of Steven and Lynne, so I needed to explore the impact on a variety of people. I interviewed their childhood friends, a man whose father had been on the jury, the farmer who owned the property where the body was found, people who still believe he is guilty. 

HLR: During the reading, you made the point that “everyone seems to have a personal relationship with the story, implying that this probably was owing to the controversial nature of the case. What was your personal relationship to the story?  What caused you to see it as a creative challenge?

BC: When I started work on the play, I was looking for a way into the story, something that would make it personal but that would also resonate with audiences. I became fascinated by the stories of the children, the classmates of Steven and Lynne’s. I was haunted by what it must have been like to be one of Steven and Lynne’s classmates: to have one of their friends raped and murdered while another was convicted of that murder. When I began working on the play I had a 14 year-old son of my own. I would look at him and wonder, “Could this have happened to him?  What if this happened to him?” I also had to think of how this would not just be a period piece but how this could be a contemporary story as well. The play also examines our trust in authority and when we should question those in charge.

Click here for the full interview.