A staged reading of member Kelley Jo Burke's play, 'Rigby', Thursday, June 20, 2024

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PGC is thrilled to share that a staged reading of member Kelley Jo Burke's play, 'Rigby', will be taking place on Thursday, June 20th at 7:00pm at the Artesian on 13th in Regina, presented in partnership with OnCue Performance Hub & Listen to Dis’ Community Arts Organization!

'Rigby' is Kelley Jo Burke’s City of Regina Writing Award-winning play of life and death and what’s in-between. This reading in particular will showcase the development collaboration between Listen to Dis’ Community Arts Organization and Burke, as they work on a play by a disabled artist with the support of disabled artists. An optional audience Q & A will follow the reading.

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Once upon a time a little girl was supposed to die. And didn’t. And was invited to join the ranks of those who give the dying their story before they pass on. Her name becomes Rigby, and her after-life career is going to go seriously sideways.

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Those familiar with Burke’s work know that 'Rigby' will be funny, dark, irreverent, and stylistically challenging. This will be the first time this work in development is shared with an audience and the gift of your time to this project’s development is deeply appreciated.

Check out the full press release below:

https://playwrightsguild.ca/.../2024-Final-Rigby-Press...

Be sure to mark your calendars for this highly anticipated event!

With thanks to the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, the City of Regina, Listen to Dis' and the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts. 

Kelley Jo Burke wins City of Regina Writing Award for new play "Rigby"

For the fourth time, KJB win the CRWA--here's the judges' comments re her work in progress "Rigby." 

“Rigby,” a play about pain, disability, the measure of a life, the measure of death, is strange, sharp, and surprising. Its transformations of set and character are like live-action animation on stage as it takes a fantastical premise and renders it plausible through its assured voice and characterization. Its marvelous premise introduces the banshees who operate in the small pocket between life and death. It consistently offers wit and humour expressed through the offbeat but richly imagined characters as it philosophizes on the relationships between bodies, disability, and narratives."

The jury consisted of Canadian writers Anne Fleming and Yusuf Saadi:

Anne Fleming is the author of five books of fiction and poetry including Gay Dwarves of America, poemw, and The Goat, a novel for children. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award, the Journey Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. The Goat was named one of the ten best children’s books of the year by The Wall Street Journal and the New York Public Library. She teaches at UBC’s Okanagan Campus.

Yusuf Saadi’s first collection Pluviophile was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. His writing has appeared in literary journals including The Malahat Review, Vallum, Brick, and Best Canadian Poetry. He currently resides in Montreal.

I will be presented with this year’s City of Regina Writing Award event on Thursday May 11, 2023 at 7:00 pm at Wascana Place (2900 Wascana Drive) in Regina, Sask. This will be a free event open to the public.