A group of theatre artists from across the province (and parts of mainland Canada) have been hunkered down in the Marine Station in Bonne Bay, to workshop and develop new theatre scripts.

Designed as an artists’ retreat and development program, “Cultivate” is a project spearheaded by Todd Hennessey, Head of the Division of Fine Arts, Grenfell Campus, Corner Brook. “Cultivate” is meant to offer playwrights in the province a week or so, working with directors and actors to bring their scripts one step closer to reality.

The Marine Station, nestled in wintery Bonne Bay, offers the perfect get away for work, refection, and creativity.

It is the hope that this will become an annual event, a retreat for writers in the province and beyond. This inaugural event features a new play by Rory Lambert, well known to audiences of Theatre Newfoundland Labrador and Rising Tide’s Revue. In his play, Benediction, a young artist from Ontario upsets the balance of a household in 1960s Newfoundland. Lambert’s play is an examination of the power of art to change, to challenge and to heal.

The second playwright, Meghan Greeley (perhaps best known for her lead role in the feature film Crackie) saw her first play, Kingdom produced in St. John’s and Halifax. Meghan’s new play, Hunger tells the haunting story of a family trapped by war and the horrors brought on by the desperate struggle to survive and to hold on to the values and beliefs that makes us a family, and human.

The workshops are under the direction of Todd Hennessey and Michael Waller, and feature Ruth Lawrence, Des Walsh, Leah Pritchard, Adam Brake and Emma Anderson.

The public is invited to a reading of both these exciting new plays on Thursday, December 12, starting at 7:30 in the Lecture Theatre of the Bonne Bay Marine Station. A reception will follow in the kitchen of the Marine Station, and all are welcome to stay and talk with our cast and crew.

Admission is free.

For more information, please contact Todd Hennessey at 640-2285 or thennessey@grenfell.mun.ca