Announcement of AGM

If you are a member in good standing of Alberta Playwrights' Network, you are formally invited to attend our Annual General Meeting, taking place Monday, April 28, 2025 at 7:00PM MST.

If your membership is currently up to date, you will have voting privileges at the AGM, where we will review our past year’s performance, elect new directors, and approve financial statements.

If there is any business you would like to bring forward at the AGM, please get in touch with Board President Tereasa Maillie at tereasamaillie312@gmail.com.

PLEASE RSVP to this email if you wish to attend our AGM.

You will be sent a Zoom link for the meeting closer to April 28, 2025.

Hope to see you there!

All the best,
Board Secretary Aldona Jaworska

APN 40th Anniversary Message

I wonder if the original members of APN (Stephen Heatley, Conni Massing, Lyle Victor Albert, Sandra Dempsey, and Raymond Storey) ever imagined in 1985 as they gathered at Theatre Network to imagine an association of Alberta playwrights, that 40 years later the organization would still be running strong.

Ah, the halcyon days of the 1980s, when Alberta was in an economic boom and fledgling Alberta theatres were invested in telling Alberta stories by Alberta writers. In 1985, Gordon Gordy (an officer with Alberta Culture) approached a few Edmonton playwrights and mentioned that the government had some discretionary funding and he felt it should go to playwrights. Up until that point, government money was given to companies that were producing Alberta playwrights, but there was no support going directly to playwrights. Mr. Gordy essentially told these playwrights “If you create an association of Alberta playwrights, we can provide money to get the organization started.” Essentially the message was “If you build it, we will fund” (apologies to W.P. Kinsella – another great Alberta writer). So, on September 25, 1985, after creating a set of by-laws, forming a board of directors, and applying for status under the Societies Act of Alberta, Alberta Playwrights’ Network was born into existence.

In celebration of APN’s forty years of service to the playwriting community in the province, we are cooking up a few ideas which we will be officially launching in the coming months. In September we are planning on hosting two celebration events (one in Calgary and one in Edmonton) featuring play readings, stories, and CAKE!!!

We are planning on interviewing a number of playwrights who have come through our ranks (both senior and junior) to hear about how the organization supported them.

As I move into my 18th year with APN, I am honoured to have been a part of this legacy and organization that is vital to Alberta artists. There have been many changes in the theatrical landscape in the past 40 years, but APN has always been a touchstone organization for anyone interested in pursuing the art and craft of writing for the stage.

As there are many more stories to tell in this province, we are looking forward being around for another 40 years and continuing the legacy started in 1985.

Trevor Rueger

Donate to the Alberta Playwrights' Network through ATB Cares

ATB Financial will match your donation by 15%.

alberta playwrights’ Network Society is a registered CRA charity.

CRA Charity # 13087 4829 RT001

APN is thankful to all its public and private funders

Alberta Playwrights' Network acknowledges the many First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people who are the original storytellers and knowledge keepers of this land.

APN is a signatory to the 35/50 Initiative and is committed to those principles and goals in the work we do now and our work in the future.