Support Women At Play(s) 7, a one act play festival

Women At Play(s) 7 is a festival of original one-act plays written, directed, and performed by Canadian women-identifying playwrights, directors, and actors to inspire achievements in theatrical production for emerging, mid-career and established artists of all diversities, 2SLGBTQIA+ welcoming, from Gen-Zs to Silver Foxes. This seventh edition will add more comedic and dramatic plays to target a larger audience.

It is approved under the Canadian Actors Equity Association under the Festival Policy where proceeds are split between members.

We have not been able to establish any funding or grants (other than GoFundMe) for our production. We have never let this stop us as we strongly believe in raising a platform for women to tell their stories.

Please help us keep this magic possible.

We are asking for your help to keep this important Women's Festival alive for one more year.

Costs that need to be covered:

Theatre rental, Sets, Costumes, Props, Graphic Design, Technical crew wages, rehearsal space, bus fare, child/elder minding costs, director and actor bus fare, among many other expenses.

Woman At Play(s) was started in 2005, in Vancouver, BC with the goal of addressing the under-representation of women in theatre by Marianne Sawchuk. Marianne recognized the gap in the

professional careers between men and women at the time, a fact clearly enumerated in the 2006 report by the Rebecca Burton for the Equity in Canadian Theatre Women's Initiative.

(https://playwrightsguild.ca/wpcontent/uploads/2018/04/AddingItUp-2006.pdf).

Three successful iterations of Women at Play(s) took place at Vancouver’s Jericho Arts Centre where they broke the house record on closing night of WaP3. This was followed by a break as Ms.

Sawchuk pursued child rearing and other professional opportunities. In 2020, the festival moved to Toronto, with the 4th edition occurring just before the COVID shutdown. WaP bounced back with successful runs in 2023 and 2024, selling out the Red Sandcastle Theatre.

39 plays have been produced by WaP, providing opportunities to over 122 Canadian women-identifying playwrights, directors, actors, lighting designers, sound designers, and stage managers. From the start, the inclusion of women of all ages, abilities, sizes, sexualities and ethnic diversities has been central to the festival. As stated above, this festival exists in the context of the continued under-representation of women in theatre. In 2017, only 33% of plays

produced in Canada were by women. Older women, Indigenous women, women of colour, women of varied abilities and performers who fall outside societal & beauty norms are particularly challenged to take their rightful place in Canadian theatre.

After the 2024 festival, a committee of lead artists, realizing both the importance of this project and the need for sustainability, came together to create the ad-hoc group. Supporting Ms. Sawchuk are director/administrator, Lee Bolton (with WaP since

2005), and performers Rebecca Singh, and Trina Moyan. This committee is committed to building a sustainable future for the festival, including accessing improved performance space

and appropriate staffing as well as expanding our public reach through extended publicity.

All of this lived experience has a profound impact on everything Women at Play(s) does. Throughout its history, WaP has operated as a collective within the Canadian Actors Equity Association guidelines, bringing together a group of women every year to present fully produced short plays. Artistic Director Sawchuk has been the driving force behind all 6 festivals, and also the workhorse - handling everything from posters to play reading to banking to box office and

bathroom cleaning.

The 7th iteration of the Women at Play(s) Festival will be in Toronto, Ontario at Alumnae Theatre under the artistic direction of Marianne Sawchuk. WAP 7 will run March 28 to March 30, April 2 to April 6, 2025. Seven short plays will be presented in the festival (all plays

at each performance) by a group of directors and actors functioning as a collective. There will be evening shows every day of the festival dates with Saturday and Sunday matinees.