PLAYWRIGHTS

athena kaitlin trinh

EPF gave me the chance to revisit, re engage, and revitalize my play, 49th Day. I was so lucky to have been chosen to be part of this season's development and festival. Even with COVID restrictions, our zoom room felt like we were all making magic in the same room. EPF opened doors to connecting my work with inspiring professionals that have made me work that much harder, smarter, and more full of love. EPF and Anna made it possible to hear my work and collaboratively build and nurture the script and story. During these unprecedented times, I am lucky to have been part of EPF -- the ability to share my work across borders, putting a staged reading right into peoples' homes through a screen, was a blessing. It gave me the chance to receive meaningful feedback and build connections to people and theatre companies in the city, across the country, all over the world. I think EPF is doing very important and foundational work, cultivating new talents, awaking and inspiring new work and new lives of work.

Roxhanne Norman

I am so thankful I got a chance to work with Ergo Pink Fest. With the festival I was able to connect with established creators who I look up to, and who understood both my piece and the communities I try to represent in my work. Getting to develop a play in such a welcoming, nurturing environment helped me learn the skills and practices I need to continue on my path as a playwright, and to form lasting connections with the talented, intelligent artists who formed the workshopping group. Ergo Pink Fest not only brought my play to the next level, but also my writing and my artistic practice. 

Rebecca Ostroff

Ergo Pink Fest provided the most perfect home for me to develop my play. By engaging the most wonderful, thoughtful and hard-working artists as dramaturges, actors and directors, the festival allowed me to see the play and the creation process in a whole new way. Over the course of several months, the piece went from a messy first draft to a fourth draft of which I am really proud. The whole process was so creatively engaging and inspiring at every step. I cannot thank them enough!

Phoebe Tsang

I am a playwright who participated in the Ergo Pinkfest 2020-21 play development programme. The dramaturgical support I received was comprehensive, flexible, and responsive to the needs of the play as well as my creative process. Anna Pappas and her team demonstrated passion, commitment and integrity at all stages of the process. I believe the project was ideally supported to be the best it could be. Ergo Pinkfest is an exceptional, one-of-a-kind programme that delivers completely on its process-oriented mandate.

Laura Mullin

I am so grateful to have been a participant in Ergo Pink 20/21 Festival. It was a gift to have a goal to work towards, collaborate with such a skilled dramaturg, and have my play workshopped and read by some of Canada's leading theatre professionals. This festival is essential for female-identifying writers to take their work to the next level of development. It is a rare and unique opportunity to be given a nurturing space, expert mentorship and constructive audience feedback. I hope many more playwrights will have the chance to participate in this vital festival in the future.

Daniel Sarah Karasik

So grateful to Ergo Arts Theatre for facilitating such a smooth, well organized workshop and presentation, with a generous process that so clearly prioritizes care for artists on their own terms. During the pandemic I've often struggled to stay optimistic about writing for live performance, and Ergo Pink Fest has been an antidote. A needed bridge through this time. Thank you!

Merlin Simard

"I had SUCH a great time working with Ergo Arts! Not only was the team so graceful in navigating the huge turmoil that the pandemic was over the festival, they also supported me as an artist at every step of the way. I am in awe at the flexibility and openness of the Ergo team, quite frankly. It was wonderful to be working along with a group of people that were so committed in supporting me as a playwright and in embracing my access needs. Ergo Arts is so essential to the playwrighting ecosystem of our local scene and beyond, this while always championing the voices of underrepresented women and femmes" 

Directors 

Alex Bulmer

I had the immense pleasure of working with Ergo Arts this past year on Jane Doe by Roxhanne Norman. It was a a rare and wonderful opportunity for me to work alongside a disabled identified queer young playwright, through a process which enabled trust, imagination and reflection. The process involved both dramaturgical support and time with a cast of young disabled actors, all who brought depth and insight to the work. It remains one of the most positive play development experiences I've had in my thirty years in original theatre.

Aviva Armour-Ostroff

As an emerging director, Ergo Arts Festival offered the opportunity to develop my skills in a safe and supportive environment. Anna and her team created a space full of care and trust and skill, allowing the artists within that space to challenge themselves, grow and come at the work with an open heart. Theatre without an audience simply doesn’t exist, and working virtually in theatre is an exceptional challenge, but this festival retained the connection of theatrical practices by focusing on the goal of developing and uplifting new artistic voices.

Debbie Patterson

What a wonderful project to be involved in! All the artists involved were dedicated, curious and skilled. Anna curated team that worked beautifully together. And she set a tone that empowered everybody to bring fresh ideas, to bring their full selves to the work. Thank you for creating such a warm and generative space!

ACTORS

Renisha Henry

Ergo Arts and the Ergo Arts Pink Fest Festival really couldn't have come at a better time. In a time where all theatre and creativity seemed to be lost, Ergo Arts was working on something tremendous to keep the spark alive. My heart is so full and my head is filled with inspiration and a drive to keep me moving forward during this trying time. This is a theatre company that radiates as much warmth on screen as they do in person. Thank you, Ergo Arts!

Brittany Kay

Ergo Arts Theatre provided a platform that was supportive and safe. I felt truly comfortable to explore the successes and failures in my choices as an actor. The team that was put together was so incredibly beautiful that it felt like no work at all. We were able to create a collaborative community within our time, making me yearn for the script to be a full production. I believe that the festival gave our playwright so much to work from to continue the script's growth and evolution. I only hope I am lucky enough to work with you all again.

Richard Lee

Since its beginning, Ergo Arts Theatre has been a champion for the voice of all women playwrights.  Having been a continuing part of the growth of this festival as an actor in multiple years, I am so incredibly moved as the festival continues to successfully and meaningfully fulfill its goal of supporting and helping to develop the works of women and playwrights. I would add that on a personal note, I always feel such great care and welcome joy when I am a part of this festival. A true testament to the strength of vision by Ergo’s core administrative team and the way they operate.

François Macdonald

I was invited to be part of Ergo Pink Fest 2020-21 to workshop Zaddy Issues, a wonderful play by Merlin Simard. In spite of a worldwide pandemic raging, Ergo Pink Fest ensured that all artists were able to workshop this play in a safe virtual environment. I was grateful to participate in the development of an emerging creator’s work that spoke to the lived experience of queer and trans persons of colour in both French and English. As a gay person who was raised in a bilingual family myself, I was very much impacted by this work. Many thanks to Anna Pappas and everyone at Ergo Arts Theatre for this fantastic experience.

Gabe Maharjan

The opportunity to work alongside such talented performers and theatre makers while delving into a gritty insightful text has left me grateful for the small community I've collaborated with, and hopeful that this work can and will continue throughout the pandemic and beyond!

Shaina Silver-Baird

Workshopping "In her Madim" with a full team of female artists during Ergo Arts Fest was truly a bright light in a very dark pandemic year. Ergo created a beautiful, safe space for us to explore even when we had to do all of our work online. It felt integral to me to get the chance to tell women's stories, by women, collaborating with women during a time when our theatres have been dark for so long and we're all craving connection.

Dramaturges/Mentors

Beverley Cooper

The fabulous Ergo Arts Pink Fest continues to grow, adapt and support playwrights of marginalized genders. Anna Pappas and her team have created a wonderful festival of exciting new works that is (rightly) focused on giving playwrights everything they need to write and create theatrical gems.

Elyne Quan

I have participated as a jurist and dramaturg for Ergo Pink Fest for the past few years and it has been my pleasure to do so. The festival provides in-depth development for women and non-binary playwrights in a supportive environment where the focus is on taking works in the early stages of its development and transforming them into pieces that are ready for another stage, figuratively and literally. Ergo Pink Fest provides critical early support for these playwrights and their plays so they can go on to further development and production with other theatres. Playwrights are given access to one-on-one dramaturgical support and professional directors and performers. It is a truly unique and important festival that centres the playwright within the process. Personally, Ergo Pink Fest has connected me with several early career playwrights which has resulted in meaningful relationships that continue to this day. I am now a mentor to three different playwrights and I have been inspired and artistically invigorated working with them and their unique voices. Not only have we worked on their plays but we discuss how to navigate professional, ideological and social challenges related to playwriting and theatre creation as well. Ergo Pink Fest has always sought to fill in the gaps in “traditional" Canadian play development that often leaves women and non-binary playwrights behind; the mentor/playwright relationship has been one of its key successes.

Marcia Johnson

In the brief time that Ergo Pink Fest has existed, it has become one of the most important play development festivals in the country. Women, non-binary and trans playwrights get to have their worked dramaturged, rehearsed and read aloud by professionals committed to inclusivity in theatre. Anna Pappas goes out of her way to make sure that playwrights get the support and encouragement that they need. These playwrights get to tell their stories in their own way. As a playwright myself, that is something that I find both rare and refreshing.

Sarah Kitz

Ergo Arts Pink Fest allowed us to design a development trajectory that covered months rather than weeks or days. We were able to take deep dives into the script and ask significant dramaturgical questions, and then step away to distill the information gathered in a workshop, while still having dream time and prep time ahead of the next workshop. With each subsequent workshop we moved deeper into the text and our inquiries. Ergo Arts afforded us a generous and slow development timeline which benefited the project immensely, giving us time to deeply consider the needs of the work, rather than having to make quick decisions. The opportunity to revisit the work multiple times in development cannot be overstated. Also of significance was the ability to connect with other artists in this time of isolation, and create community around a piece of art. This was not only productive for the artistic endeavour, but a salve to all of us. Thanks to Anna and her team for their capacious support.