Description
Theatre Alberta’s Indigenous Theatre Library Collection Manager, Deborah Lee, has been working with the project’s new Advisory Council since early January to develop our separate Collection Management Policy for Indigenous Theatre. We’re thrilled and grateful to be working with Advisory Council members Reneltta Arluk, Tara Beagan, Ramona Big Head, Rosa John, Ken Williams, and Colin Wolf. Our goal is to complete the policy this fall.
In the meantime, the Advisory Council’s first invitation is for additional unpublished but produced Indigenous-authored scripts to be added to the Theatre Alberta Library in either digital or print format. See our classified post for additional information.
Call for Indigenous-Authored Scripts
Indigenous playwrights: Read all about it! Theatre Alberta’s Indigenous Theatre Library Collection initiative is seeking your unpublished scripts that have already been produced, be it by a theatre company or more generally in community settings. Our aim is to improve the representation of Indigenous playwrights’ scripts in the Theatre Alberta Library collection. While our Library currently has about 175 scripts by Indigenous playwrights, most of which have been formally published, we are also interested in collecting unpublished plays written by Indigenous playwrights.
Here are a few benefits of providing your script to Theatre Alberta:
Indigenous playwrights who have unpublished plays will have the opportunity to provide their scripts (either in digital or in print format or both) to the Theatre Alberta Library, which can then help to promote these scripts through our online library catalog. Digital scripts that are made available on the Library’s website will be readable but will not be downloadable. Once scripts are available in this way, they have the potential to be read and produced by various kinds of venues, such as theatre companies, academic institutions, or schools. Scripts will need to include instructions on how to contact the playwright to inquire about production rights and royalties, and we can support playwrights in including this information.
In exchange for a script being provided by the Indigenous playwright, the Theatre Alberta Library will offer the playwright a free membership for a year (as long as they live in Canada). This will provide the playwright with access to the Theatre Alberta Library collection. While the print collection is located in Edmonton, any scripts in the Library’s collection that are of interest to you can be mailed to you.
Additionally, it’s exciting to think about the Indigenous schools and drama teachers who can access scripts that could become a school production where the students, as well as their families and friends, would see their realities being portrayed on the stage. As such, access to Indigenous-authored scripts is a game changer for Indigenous drama teachers and their students.
Contact Info:
If you are interested in providing an unpublished script to the Theatre Alberta Library, please contact: Deborah Lee, Indigenous Theatre Library Collection Manager, at: Deborah@theatrealberta.com.
If you have published work that we can include in our collection, please also let us know!
Thanks,
Deborah Lee (Cree-Métis), MLIS
Indigenous Theatre Library Collection Manager
Theatre Alberta
