Pat the Dog rolls out the red carpet for the Playwrights’ Development Centres of Canada’s annual conference, which will be held in Kitchener, ON from September 26 to 29, 2013. It is the first time this national network has met in Waterloo Region, and we’re honoured to host it.

The Playwrights’ Development Centres of Canada (pdcc.ca) is a network of arts organizations devoted to the development of theatre and playwrights in Canada. The organizations came together in 2001 to establish a national network to communicate and share ideas, advocate on behalf of member organizations and the theatre creators they serve, and to engage in cooperative activities that contribute to the vitality of Canadian theatre. Each organization reflects the unique nature of the theatrical ecology in which it exists and operates, while sharing commonalities in programming and services for playwrights. Members include Alberta Playwrights’ Network, Banff Playwrights Colony, Centre Des Auteurs Dramatiques (CEAD), Manitoba Association of Playwrights, Nightswimming, Playwrights’ Atlantic Resource Centre, Playwrights Theatre Centre, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre and Pat the Dog Theatre Creation.

All sessions will be held in the Learning Room at Kitchener City Hall with the exception of a joint session with IMPACT 13’s Symposia, Staging Occupation, on Saturday, September 28. That session, Languages of the Stage, is being held at the University of Waterloo and concerns how best to address diversity in language–including sign language, dance, physical score, and music–among contemporary theatre makers. It is the first time that the PDCC have held a joint session with a producing theatre festival.

While the conference sessions are closed to the public, it is the tradition of the PDCC conference to hold a National Play Reading Series so that each centre can share their work and showcase it to the public. The 2013’s PDCC National Play Reading Series will be held Friday, September 27 from 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. in the historic Oak Room at The Walper Hotel in downtown Kitchener.

From one coast to the other, the event will showcase national award-winning playwrights Jessica Anderson, Kelley Jo Burke, Jan Derbyshire, James Durham, Don Hannah, and Matthew Heiti. Playwrights will read a selection from their work, and there is an opportunity following the readings for a meet n’ greet with the playwrights.

The Walper Hotel
The Oak Room
20 Queen Street South
Kitchener, ON N2G 1V6

Friday, September 27, 2013
4:30PM-6:30PM
Free of charge. Seating is limited. Cash bar is available.

Pat the Dog presents this event with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Playwrights Guild of Canada.