The 29th Season of the PLAYWRIGHTS READING SERIES - Another Zoom Edition

2021-2022

“Staging Change in an Eco-Crisis”

Hosted by the Department of English and the Department of Theatre University of Regina

February 16 , 2022

All readings will begin at 7:00PM CST

ASL interpretation will be available for all readings.

Presented with the support of the Canada Council, Centre for the Study of Script Development, City of Regina, Playwrights Guild of Canada, and the Saskatchewan Writers Guild.

The 29th season of the Playwrights Reading Series will feature writers whose work has tackled one of the most politically and emotionally charged crises of our times—and arguably the history of our planet. Scientific reports have repeatedly warned about a climate emergency and demonstrated the role that human beings are playing in climate change and the degradation of the environment. Advocates have pleaded for change in our approach to the environment and politicians have responded with commitments and targets that have mostly not been met. The crisis continues to deepen—a global crisis requiring collective change at local and personal levels. What role can artists play in change? In particular, what role can playwrights and the theatre play in effecting change, especially in the context of the double crisis of pandemic and climate change? How and why have playwrights responded to the climate crisis? From a dramaturgical and theatrical perspective what are the writing tactics and approaches that they are using to respond to the environmental crisis to engage and motivate audiences?

These are the questions playwrights will be asked to address as they read from their work and talk about why and how they are ‘staging change in an eco-crisis.’ Thanks to zoom, once again this year’s series will not only generate a local discussion around our playwrights and their work, but also draw in national and international audiences as well.

February 16, 2022

Kim Senklip Harvey

Kim Senklip Harvey is a proud Syilx and Tsilhqot’in and an Indigenous theorist, a cultural evolutionist and a Governor General award-winning storyteller whose work focuses on igniting Indigenous power by creating comedic and joy-centered narratives that nourish her people’s spirits. She is currently working on the development of two television series: her Salish love story, On the Plateau, and the adaptation of her play, Kamloopa. She is also completing her first prose and poetry book, Interiors: A Collection of NDN Dirtbag Love Stories, and is in pre-production for her next artistic ceremony, Break Horizons: A Rocking Indigenous Justice Ceremony. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Victoria and will be starting a PhD in Law in the fall of 2021 at Uvic focusing on storytelling as cultural guardianship and creative practice as embodied Indigenous artistic legal orders. All her work is created out of respect for her Ancestors and for the future generations—to whom so much is owed.