New Dialogues

Theatre SilCo is pleased to bring you New Dialogues, an exciting playwriting initiative that puts imagination under pressure while bringing fresh perspectives to the stage.

Created to provide playwrights with an opportunity that both challenges and cultivates their writing skills, New Dialogues invites four playwrights to compose a ten-minute play in response to a Theatre SilCo Mainstage production. Playwrights have just four days to write their play and three hours to rehearse with a director and actors, ahead of a staged reading on the set of the Mainstage production.

Our inaugural event for this series is called New Dialogues: Steel Magnolias, where our playwrights take in a performance of this powerful and charming production, and use it as inspiration to write their original plays – in four days. What happens when today’s writers put their creativity on the clock to produce a fresh theatrical response to this classic story? Join us on June 30th to find out…

Book your tickets today! Admission to New Dialogues is free of charge. We kindly recommend a donation of $10.

So, what’s a staged reading, you ask?

Staged readings, such as this performance, date back to the beginning of theatre in Greece and Egypt in 2500 BC. Today, Staged readings serve as an important art form in the development of new works. They assist with script development and feedback from the creative team, the actors, director, and the audience. Often, staged readings are the first time a play is being read out loud so they help the playwright hear the flow of their show and analyze the structure of the story. Staged readings are a collaborative way to explore new works of theatre that could be developed into the next Broadway show!