Theatre of Disapproval: PGC Conference and AGM
Keynote Speaker: David Henry Hwang (left)
Sponsored by the Playwrights Guild of Canada
Reviewed by Joy Fisher
When Rebecca Burton, Membership and Contracts Coordinator for the Playwrights Guild of Canada, visited my fourth-year playwriting workshop this spring, I signed up for the Guild newsletter and soon learned the theme of the guild’s annual conference, to be held May 31-June 2 in Toronto, would be Theatre of Disapproval. How could I resist?
The conference did not disappoint. Held in Hart House on the University of Toronto campus, the conference showcased the struggles of dissenting and minority playwrights who write on the edge in today’s Canada.
The panel on “Censorship and Self-Censorship” was led by Mark Leiren Young, also a University of Victoria graduate, who has written extensively about censorship as a playwright, journalist and satirist. Panel members included lawyer-playwright Catherine Frid and Carmen Aguirre. Frid incurred the wrath of, among others, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who accused her of being “soft on terrorists” because of her play Homegrown, about Shareef Abdelhaleem, one of the “Toronto 18” Muslims accused of terrorism. Aguirre, whose book Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter won the 2012 Canada Reads competition (but not before she was called a “terrorist” by a panel member), has written over 20 stage plays to date. She spoke both of censorship and the impulse toward self-censorship after surviving censorship.
“The Cultural Experience: Mine vs. Ours,” moderated by Ravi Jain, gave voice to Tara Beagan (free as injuns), Anusree Roy (Brothel #9) and Marcus Youssef (The Adventures of Ali & Ali and the aXes of Evil). Drawing on their plays, the panelists considered the challenges inherent in representing one’s own culture for a larger audience.
The final panel, “Exploitation vs. Exploration,” was moderated by Catherine Hernandez. Panelists Lyle Victor Albert, Audrey Dwyer and Spy Denomme-Welch considered when, if at all, it is appropriate to use the story of others whose cultures, abilities or sexualities are not that of the playwright.
This last question could have been addressed—but was not—by keynote speaker David Henry Hwang, author of the Tony-award winning play M. Butterfly, which was loosely based on the relationship between a French diplomat and a male Chinese opera singer who purportedly convinced the diplomat that he was a woman throughout their 20-year relationship. Instead, Hwang focused on his failures and what he learned from them, an encouraging lesson for any budding playwright.
Student membership in the Playwrights Guild is relatively inexpensive, and, although students don’t have access to all PGC materials, access to the calls for submissions, competitions, awards, jobs and residencies for playwrights is valuable — almost as valuable as the lesson in courage delivered by the playwrights on the front lines. Check out the Playwrights Guild at www.playwrightsguild.ca.
Joy Fisher graduated from UVic in June 2013 with a BFA in Writing.