Julie Chadwick Special to the Chronicle
With a rich variety of arts and theatre groups in the Ladysmith area, 2019 will be a year packed with performances and exhibits well into the spring and beyond.
For longtime theatre organization Yellow Point Drama Group, to stand out from the crowd and attract new audiences means finding a niche in offering new and different attractions. In the New Year, that includes their launch of a competition to support new and original work from local playwrights.
Launched in partnership with the Ladysmith Arts Council, the competition is intended to support local writers to submit their original full-length plays from now until Aug. 1, 2019 for production in their 2020 theatre season and carries a prize of $2,000.
The idea came from the short play festival they do every June, which features eight plays in three days, and got YPDG director Armando Dos Santos thinking about other ways they could support playwrights.
“You should always be supporting the arts, I guess that’s where I come from originally because I am an artisan myself,” says Dos Santos. “It’s about being original and promoting local art.”
Look for more on this initiative in an upcoming edition of the Chronicle.
Other highlights from their upcoming season is the next instalment of their ever-popular murder mystery fundraiser on February 8. For this production, set in the 1950s, they encourage audience members to join in and dress up in vintage attire.
Their spring production is Outside Mullingar, by master playwright John Patrick Shanley. Opening on April 5, it features a small cast and delves into the romantic plight of two Irish farmers, Anthony and Rosemary, who live next to each other.