Theatre students win first and second place in playwriting competition
Three Dawson Professional Theatre students were finalists in Infinithéâtre’s The-Write-Stuff playwriting competition: Marcel Paré, Alina Ichmouratov and Elliot Million-Lovett.
Marcel’s play Cadillac took first place and Alina’s play Egg tied for second place. The plays by finalists were read by professional actors on Sept. 25 at Parc Drolet-Rachel.
Dawson’s Communications Office interviewed the three young playwrights. Here are the transcripts of those interviews.
Marcel Paré, author of Cadillac and third-year student in Professional Theatre
1. Tell me about the play you wrote.
MP: My play is called Cadillac. It’s a short moment in time, a conversation between two strangers at a bus stop near the Cadillac metro station, that come to realize that one of them is now dating the other’s ex. Through their discussion, they go through hating each other, to understanding one another, before finding a brotherly comfort in each other’s existence.
2. What is your creative process? How did you write your play? What inspired you? Did you do this work as part of a class at Dawson? If yes, please elaborate.
MP: As an actor myself, I wanted to write something that I thought I myself would enjoy acting out. As for figuring out the characters, I dissected my feelings towards a situation I had close to the one of the characters and separated my conflicting opinions into two characters resembling me in some way or other.
3. How does it feel to be the winner of the playwriting award?
MP: I am so grateful that I got to hear the words I wrote being interpreted so brilliantly by some of the most talented and dedicated actors I have ever met. Winning the first prize only made me more determined to keep writing and hear my thoughts be performed for audiences.
4. Do you plan on continuing to write plays or scripts? What are your future plans for studies and/or career?
MP: This contest made me realize how much I want to keep writing as well as performing. These two arts have always been an important part of my life, but this just elevated the two of them to a whole new level. I’m excited to one day play in something I wrote, with other actors who would be as invested in my project as I am.
5. What do you like best about the Theatre Program at Dawson?
MP: Hmm probably that it takes me out of my comfort zone, gives me a safe space to take risks and discover things about me and my acting.
6. Anything else you would like to add?
MP: Come see Alina, Elliot and I in Shakespeare’s Henry V at the Dawson Theatre! (editor`s note: Henry V will be playing Nov. 15-18 and Nov. 23-25.)
Marcel Paré
Alina Ichmouratov, author of Egg and third-year student in Professional Theatre
1. Tell me about the play you wrote.
AI: EGG is about rain, wind, sobs, jello, phones, toska but mostly about people, what it is to find each other and June.
2. What is your creative process? How did you write your play? What inspired you? Did you do this work as part of a class at Dawson? If yes, please elaborate.
AI: I write when I feel hopeless and when I feel full of hope, when I am restless for more, when nothing moves, when everything moves. I wrote EGG in my room, door closed, listening non-stop to Aphex Twin’s Stone In Focus, going through the yellow-paper poems taped to my wall.
3. How does it feel to be a finalist of the playwriting award?
AI: I was a finalist and I share second place with Hannah Calderon and Tali Warshawsky. The most exciting part was that I was going to get to work with professional actors but unfortunately, I was not able to make it. However, seeing video footage of the reading of a scene from EGG was inspiring and reassuring. “It works”, I thought.
4. Do you plan on continuing to write plays or scripts? What are your future plans for studies and/or career?
AI: Yes. Writing is an essential part of my life. I plan on growing as an artist.
5. What do you like best about the Theatre Program at Dawson?
AI: The Theatre Program at Dawson allowed me to meet truly passionate, kind and open-hearted people. It was meeting these individuals that allowed me to, well, open up. I’ve never really placed my heart before that.
Alina Ichmouratov
Elliot Million-Lovett, author of The Wichita Falls Route and third-year student in Professional Theatre
1. Tell me about the play you wrote.
EML: The play I wrote, The Wichita Falls Route is a short drama about two men waiting for a train at night in mid-20th century America. It was inspired by real American railway history and tells the story of a young man trying to get home to his terminally ill wife before she passes away, as he connects and clashes with an older man who was simply at the train station to try and fall sleep.
2. What is your creative process? How did you write your play? What inspired you? Did you do this work as part of a class at Dawson? If yes, please elaborate.
EML: My decision to write this play was inspired by the announcement of the Infinithéâtre contest in early 2023, which my teacher Leah Jane Esau informed our class of. I had already wanted to write a play about two people waiting for a train for a while and decided this a perfect opportunity to finally do it. From my starting point of that concept, the scenario, characters and locations seemed to just reveal themselves to me as I was writing, and it was thrilling to put down on paper what was jumping out at me. Once I was announced as a finalist and started working with Bevin Dooley, the playwright with whom Infinithéâtre had me workshop my play, more and more about the script became clear thanks to the questions and suggestions she proposed during the process. Though my process was independent from any course at school, my instructors and peers from Dawson offered me so much support and feedback prior to and after my submission of my play to the contest which I am so grateful for.
3. How does it feel to be a finalist of the playwriting award?
EML: Being a finalist for this award was a very special opportunity. The dramaturgical work that went into all the finalists’ plays for The-Write-Stuff was incredibly enriching and inspiring. All of the actors and directors we got to work with on the day of the reading were fantastic, and I feel so lucky to have gotten to be a part of this entire process.
4. Do you plan on continuing to write plays or scripts? What are your future plans for studies and/or career?
EML: I absolutely plan to keep writing. The-Write-Stuff made me realize there are people who care about what I write and gave me so much inspiration for future scripts and projects. I am studying at Dawson to be an actor, but writing has always been a passion of mine and I absolutely want to pursue any writing opportunities I may get in the future.
5. What do you like best about the Theatre Program at Dawson?
EML: What I admire about the Dawson Professional Theatre Program is that it encourages and produces such a high quality of work from its students. The instructors and students I get to work with every day have truly enriched my love and understanding of theatre everything therein and I am supremely grateful for it.
Elliot Million-Lovett
