Aspiring playwrights will have the chance to develop their storytelling skills through a new four-week ‘Intro to Playwriting’ workshop series led by local theatre practitioner Kirsty Halliday.
The course, a collaboration between the Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF) and Butterfly Theatre Arts, will run on Tuesday evenings from 19 May to 9 June at the Harquail Studio Theatre.
Designed for both beginners and writers with previous experience, the workshops will focus on helping participants discover their own voice and develop the foundations of writing for theatre.
Halliday, who was the Cayman Drama Society’s first artistic director and recently launched theatre company Butterfly Theatre Arts, said she cannot wait to help foster talent in Cayman.
“I am very excited to help writers new and old challenge themselves in the art of storytelling,” she told Cayman Independent.
Halliday said she has always had a great relationship with CNCF and the Harquail Theatre, where she has put on work previously.
“Now that I am running a new local theatre company, Butterfly Theatre Arts, it is amazing to get to come back and share some of my craft with other budding playwrights,” she added.
The initial programme consists of four weekly sessions, but Halliday says there will be more learning opportunities after the course ends, which she described as an “an exciting prospect for students who want to take it further”.
Halliday has an extensive background in theatre. In addition to her role as artistic director at Cayman Drama Society, she also founded and led acting classes with the organisation.
She has had plays staged professionally through Scotland’s renowned new writing theatre company, A Play, A Pie and A Pint, and had her work featured in the Edinburgh Fringe as well as on a national tour in Scotland.
She also won the Ena Watler Playwriting Award through CNCF.
Cassandra Shea, head of theatre and festivals at CNCF, said she hopes the programme will see more Caymanian stories reach the stage.
“Cayman has an incredibly rich story and a unique voice, and playwriting is a natural next step in amplifying it,” she said.
“We are so excited to offer this course alongside Butterfly Theatre Arts Company, because we know that somewhere in that room could be the next great playwright – and we want to be the place where that journey begins.”
The workshops will run from 7pm to 9pm and cost CI$40 for the full course.
Organisers say spaces are limited in order to keep the sessions small and interactive. Interested participants can register by emailing events@artscayman.org
