The CASA Award
The CASA Award is a CAnadian and South African partnership of the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Women’s Caucus and the African Women Playwrights Network. Started in 2017, the CASA Award supports an experienced, woman-identified playwright living in South Africa by providing her with funding, writing space, directorial assistance, and dramaturgical mentorship.
Visit The CASA Award’s Facebook page and learn more HERE.
After five years, CASA has come to an end. In that time, the Award supported seven extraordinary and gifted women: Rehane Abrahams, Genna Gardini, Kela Griot (formerly Maswabi), Tiisetso Mashifane wa Noni, Koleka Putuma, Tamara Guhrs Schulz, and Philisiwe Twijnstra. Learn more about the award, its recipients, and their work HERE.
To help celebrate and mark the final year of CASA, a short documentary film was made, entitled “Time to Dream,” which explores the inspirations and challenges South African women playwrights face, as told through the stories of three CASA Award winning playwrights: Rehane Abrahams, Tamara Guhrs Schulz, and Tiisetso Mashifane wa Noni. The film is directed by South African filmmaker Dominique Jossie, and it was released on International Women’s Day, March 8th, 2023.
To watch the film, Time to Dream, click HERE.
Equity in Theatre
In existence from 2014 – 2017, EIT was a multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at remedying gender and other related inequities in the theatre industry. It involved Artists Driving Holistic Organizational Change; Associated Designers of Canada; Canadian Actors Equity Association; Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario; Deaf, Disabled, and Mad Arts Alliance of Canada; Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance; Literary Manager and Dramaturges of the Americas, Canada; Pat the Dog Theatre Creation; Playwrights Guild of Canada; Playwrights Theatre Centre; and the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres. Through a multi-pronged, intersectional, and inclusive response involving the community as a whole (artists, stakeholders, and audiences), EIT promoted dialogue, generated greater awareness of and exposure to women theatre practitioners, and developed community-based action plans to help redress industry imbalances. Projects included a 2015 gender-based research study of the industry with recommendations, an sectoral Symposium, a Conference with American groups, a dedicated website with various resources, and live social events, such as play readings, discussion panels, hackathons, and more.
To visit the EIT website, click here: www.equityintheatre.com
The P.L.E.D.G.E Project
An acronym for a “Production Listing to Enhance Diversity and Gender Equity,” PLEDGE is a fully searchable database of large cast plays (6 characters or more) by Canadian women, two-spirit, trans, and non-binary folks. It provides a resources to help improve the number of women playwrights (only 18%!) and other underrepresented voices produced on the mainstages of Canada’s post-secondary training institutions. Pledge aims to raise awareness and increase the representation of women and racialized communities in theatre programs all across the nation and beyond. There are over 500 plays to choose from!
To visit the website, click here: https://www.pledgeproject.ca/
SureFire
SureFire is a community-generated resource inspired by the Kilroys; an American group that produces an annual catalogue of high-quality, un-produced and/or under-produced plays by women, non-binary, and trans folks to help redress marginalization. For our Canadian rendition, theatre aficionados (or “Recommenders”) across the nation are nominated by PGC’s Staff, Women’s Caucus, and National Forum (Regional) Reps, and they are asked to submit their top three “passion picks” for under- or un-produced plays by Canadian women, trans, and non-binary creators. We gather the results, tabulate the findings, and release SureFire biennially to provide the industry with a valuable resource and “sure-fire” means to help identify new and remarkable, production-ready plays.
