National Playwrights Retreat

Caravan Farm Theatre is the Canadian Theatre Artist’s country home. Now in its fifth edition, the National Playwrights Retreat has provided a space for over 45 playwrights to retreat from the day-to-day in a beautiful natural environment, to focus on moving a project forward, to connect and build fellowship with playwrights from across Canada and to access dramaturgical support during their process. The experience has been described as “an invaluable resource,” “naturally transformative” and “a lot of fun” by alumni. 

What is provided:

• A room of one’s own.  Each participant will get a cabin to live in during the retreat week.  There are washroom and shower facilities on the Farm and the Cookshack is a great meeting place with wi-fi.
• Food to fuel the imagination. A cook will create delicious and healthy lunches and dinners for us. The Okanagan is a wonderful place for food! Basic fixings will be available for breakfast and there will always be coffee ready.
• Time and space for you to write and create. In addition to the cabins we will find places on the Farm for you to work with views and fresh air.
• Dramaturgical support, if requested, from dramaturg Vicki Stroich. Vicki has over 25 years experience as a dramaturg working with various styles of project and process. She can read and respond to your work or lend an ear to listen. She can also help you stay accountable to your goals for the retreat or just give you a pat on the back when you need it.
• Daily gatherings with formal and informal exchanges and discussions about the work and what is inspiring/challenging us.
• A couple of optional excursions off the Farm during the week to explore the area.

What is required of the playwright:

* NEW FALL DATES. Playwrights must be available to attend the National Playwrights Retreat from September 5 – 15, 2025.

* NEW THIS YEAR: As many of you will know, performing arts organizations across the country are experiencing lower revenue from ticket sales and fundraising. As an outdoor theatre in a rural environment our experience of these challenges is compounded with the impacts of climate change and extreme weather, causing cancellations and creating uncertainty in our audiences around attending events. We also have less access to municipal and private funding than many of our urban colleagues. The convergence of all these factors in the past three years has left us with significant financial challenges along with some big questions about how we support programming like the National Playwrights Retreat.

We are proud of the ongoing legacy of the National Playwrights Retreat and wish to see that legacy continue even as we navigate through this period of financial strain. In order to keep the programming moving forward, this year we will be introducing a sliding fee scale model informed by the actual costs of running the program including food, lodging and staff support. 

There will be three fee levels that playwrights can choose based on their financial circumstances. 

Accessible – $425 ($42.50/day)

True Cost – $850 ($85.00/day)

Pay it Forward – $1250 ($125.00/day)

Pay it Forward fees help to ensure that we can continue to provide accessible options to other artists.

• Travel to the Farm or Kelowna airport would be the participant’s responsibility.
• Playwright’s are responsible for any materials needed to create the project (i.e. computers, portable music instruments, etc.)
• Participants will be asked to acknowledge the involvement of the Caravan Farm Theatre National Playwrights Retreat in the development of their project in subsequent production materials and published plays.

Who should apply:

Playwrights and theatre creators who have had at least one professional production who are looking for time and space to focus on conceiving and/or writing an upcoming project.