A staged reading of member Kelley Jo Burke's play, 'Rigby', Thursday, June 20, 2024

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PGC is thrilled to share that a staged reading of member Kelley Jo Burke's play, 'Rigby', will be taking place on Thursday, June 20th at 7:00pm at the Artesian on 13th in Regina, presented in partnership with OnCue Performance Hub & Listen to Dis’ Community Arts Organization!

'Rigby' is Kelley Jo Burke’s City of Regina Writing Award-winning play of life and death and what’s in-between. This reading in particular will showcase the development collaboration between Listen to Dis’ Community Arts Organization and Burke, as they work on a play by a disabled artist with the support of disabled artists. An optional audience Q & A will follow the reading.

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Once upon a time a little girl was supposed to die. And didn’t. And was invited to join the ranks of those who give the dying their story before they pass on. Her name becomes Rigby, and her after-life career is going to go seriously sideways.

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Those familiar with Burke’s work know that 'Rigby' will be funny, dark, irreverent, and stylistically challenging. This will be the first time this work in development is shared with an audience and the gift of your time to this project’s development is deeply appreciated.

Check out the full press release below:

https://playwrightsguild.ca/.../2024-Final-Rigby-Press...

Be sure to mark your calendars for this highly anticipated event!

With thanks to the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, the City of Regina, Listen to Dis' and the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts. 

THE CURST rocks SK

Thanks to Mia Michele CKOM for this article. Thanks to BritZ for the amazing photo. 

Kelley Jo Burke wins City of Regina Writing Award for new play "Rigby"

For the fourth time, KJB win the CRWA--here's the judges' comments re her work in progress "Rigby." 

“Rigby,” a play about pain, disability, the measure of a life, the measure of death, is strange, sharp, and surprising. Its transformations of set and character are like live-action animation on stage as it takes a fantastical premise and renders it plausible through its assured voice and characterization. Its marvelous premise introduces the banshees who operate in the small pocket between life and death. It consistently offers wit and humour expressed through the offbeat but richly imagined characters as it philosophizes on the relationships between bodies, disability, and narratives."

The jury consisted of Canadian writers Anne Fleming and Yusuf Saadi:

Anne Fleming is the author of five books of fiction and poetry including Gay Dwarves of America, poemw, and The Goat, a novel for children. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award, the Journey Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. The Goat was named one of the ten best children’s books of the year by The Wall Street Journal and the New York Public Library. She teaches at UBC’s Okanagan Campus.

Yusuf Saadi’s first collection Pluviophile was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. His writing has appeared in literary journals including The Malahat Review, Vallum, Brick, and Best Canadian Poetry. He currently resides in Montreal.

I will be presented with this year’s City of Regina Writing Award event on Thursday May 11, 2023 at 7:00 pm at Wascana Place (2900 Wascana Drive) in Regina, Sask. This will be a free event open to the public.

CV-19 adds to the The Curst curse

POSTPONED (in a hugely meta way)

This play obviously DID NOT open May 1st.

My letter to the amazing cast of THE CURST, sent when we were supposed to be in rehearsal starting this week--to prepare for our world premiere at Dancing Sky Theatre:

"First of all, a huge thank you to all of you for everything that you've put into the show up to date. 

Secondly a huge thank you to Dancing Sky Theater for giving our artists something in lieu of the salary they were expecting. This is more than some theatres are doing. We have reports at playwrights Guild of artists being asked to return advances, and actors being cut off without a cent.

 

I am not surprised that Dancing Sky chose the decent path.I am just hugely proud to be associated with a theatre that has done so.

This is such a discombobulating time that there seems to be nothing to say except how much I care about all of you. And value what you bring to the work, but more what you just bring to the world.

 

I look forward to a time when we all come together again and make this happen. 

And finally, my sincere apologies for writing a play about artists being chased by bad angels. I knew I was opening the door to some epic bad luck. But I never thought that it would end up in a pandemic.

My bad."

Kelley Jo

From Library Voices: Re THE CURST (a pop as f**k fantasia) POSTPONED

from Michael Scott Dawson of Library Voices:

"A telltale sign that a band has jumped the shark is when they announce that they're going to make a rock opera...

Things have been relatively quiet around the ol' Library Voices camp for the last few months (years) but I'm happy to share that we have been quietly collaborating with award winning playwright Kelley Jo Burke on a new work titled The Curst. The story centres around the fictitious characters that exist within our lyrics. It also features a bunch of new LV songs that likely won't ever exist elsewhere.

The Curst runs May 1-17 at Dancing Sky Theatre and there are only a limited number of tickets remaining. https://ontheboards.ca/events/the-curst/

Just so it's clear, I also wanted to point out that we are not in the theatre piece. They've cast a wonderful group of immensely talented professionals who portray a far more believable band than Library Voices ever could... We do plan to be around though, sipping wine and eating chicken burgers from the gas station up the street. xo"