Call for Participation
Taking on the World:
Creative/Critical Responses to Soulpepper Theatre Company’s
Around the World in 80 Plays
In partnership with Soulpepper Theatre Company, we are seeking four IBPOC emerging artists and arts writers from across Canada to offer creative/critical responses to the plays in Soulpepper’s Around the World in 80 Plays project.
In this project, Soulpepper is premiering new audio drama versions of eight plays from various countries over eight weeks. Each of the emerging artists/arts writers in Taking on the World will respond to one of the final four of these plays: Hayavadana by Girish Karnad (from India, premiering May 19); The Parliament of the Birds by Guillermo Verdecchia, freely adapted from Farid Ud-Din Attar’s The Conference of the Birds (from Iran, premiering May 26); She Mami Wata & The Pxssywitch Hunt by d’bi.young anitafrika (from Jamaica, premiering June 2); and Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka (from Nigeria, premiering June 9). You can learn more about these shows at: Soulpepper.ca/80Plays
Participants in Taking on the World will receive a $500 honorarium and direct mentorship from an IBPOC journalist, scholar, or artist. To inform your response, you will be able to meet and interview artists involved in Around the World in 80 Plays. The mentor will help you develop your response in whatever form/s you feel will best suit it: writing, video, or audio recording, or a combination of these. Responses will be shared on social media using the project’s hashtags, and also published on a website.
We are inviting applications from IBPOC emerging artists and arts writers in Canada, and are reserving some of the spots for post-secondary students. Previous arts writing experience is not required, and we welcome applications from anyone who self-identifies as emerging regardless of age.
Taking on the World is organized by Dr. Barry Freeman (University of Toronto, Scarborough), Dr. Karen Fricker (Brock University), and Dr. Michelle MacArthur (University of Windsor), co-directors of a research project about the futures of theatre criticism in Canada, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
How to apply
Please send the following materials to takingontheworld416@gmail.com :
- your name and contact information (email, phone number, mailing address).
- a two-paragraph statement OR a 1-2 minute video about why you want to be involved in this project. If you have a preference of which of the four plays you’d like to respond to, please address this in your statement or video. If you are submitting a video, please upload it to YouTube as a private video, and include the link in your email.
- the name, affiliation, and contact information for a professional or academic reference who can speak to your qualifications for this project.
DEADLINE TO APPLY: APRIL 16, 2021
