A wonderful opportunity for local playwrights has popped up thanks to the folks at the Ryga Festival.
Following up on the success of their 2016 festival, which has been renamed from the Marginal Arts Festival to the Ryga Festival, the organizers are holding a short play contest.
The contest is simple. The Ryga Festival is looking for short plays, 10 minutes in length.
They have to be original and they have to be previously unproduced.
The contest is open to anyone who lives within the Okanagan Regional Library system, which runs from Golden in the north to Princeton in the south, including Penticton.
Not only do the winners take home cash prizes, but the winning plays will be performed as a part of this year’s festival. The contest has two different age categories, adults (18 and up) and youth, for those under 18.
This is a really great chance for anyone who has ever wanted to have a play of theirs put on, especially for younger playwrights.
Contests like these have always been, in my opinion, a great way to get started in a career in the arts.
If nothing else, it’s a great way to build confidence as an artist, which is one of the hardest things to cultivate as an artist, I think.
I know when I was a young writer, trying to get a sense of what I wanted to do, entering a poorly drawn comic in a province-wide contest held by the Toronto Star, and placing third, not only blew my mind, but filled with me the confidence to keep drawing even if I wasn’t the biggest fan of my drawing skills.
I don’t draw comics as much as I used to, but I ran with that little bit of success for over a decade and filled countless pages with my creations.
With any luck, some aspiring young playwright here in Summerland can get the same boost from the Ryga Festival, along with having the pleasure of seeing their play on stage in their hometown.
Anyone who is interested in entering the contest can get more information by contacting the Ryga Festival Society at rygafest@gmail.com. The contest runs until May 31 and the winners will be announced in July.
Douglas Paton is a Summerland writer and musician. If you know of a local arts and culture event, contact him at dgpaton80@gmail.com.
