Playwright Competition Winners

Performances

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science is proud to present “Ex-Machina” two student productions by the winners of the 2004 Playwright Competition. Produced by Critical Stage Company, the plays will be held in Beamish-Munro Hall, Room 313 on:

• January 26th, 2005 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm
• February 2nd, 2005 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm
• February 3rd, 2005 from 8:00pm – 9:00 pm

Winner: Alex Caspary

Alex learned to read and write at age 2, and has since never looked back. From that moment he has written and spoken over 5 million sentences. Many of those sentences would eventually become plays, short film scripts and a few full length movie scripts.

Alex currently co-chairs the Queen's Improv Team and also plays for the Engineering Rugby Team. Mainly a film actor, you can see him soon in the independent films "A Criminal's Intent" and "On the Edge of Forever". In the past, Alex has written and directed shows with casts of over 80 people, and set Kingston records by donating all the profits to the United Way. Alex is in his second year of study in Civil Engineering.

The play: "Last Storey"

Last Storey is the tale of two men meeting under very unusual circumstances: Reg Chadman, an uptight software engineer down on his luck, and Al, a free-spirit with a remarkable past. Al desperately tries to convince Reg not to take life so seriously, because it can come as quite a shock to find out the whole thing has been one big joke.

Alex will direct his own play.

Winner: Simon Cheung

Simon Cheung is a 4th year English major, Drama minor from Scarborough, Ontario. His previous playwriting/directing experiences include Zeroes (with Drew Mitchell) for Studio 102, Filled WIth the Butterflies for the Vogt Studio Series and Yasuhiko Ohashi's Godzilla for PlayRisque Theatre Company

The Play: Modern Post Modern

A man named Modern has built a tree. It will save the world. It will repair his brother's fractured mind. It is redemption. The question is: can it be made to grow in the barren earth of men's souls? One family is about to fall victim to the truth. In Modern Post Modern, playwright Simon Cheung invents a haunting and vivid tale of life locked in a battle for meaning, with one actor schizophrenically portraying four roles essentializing the forces grappling over control of the self in postmodernity. An award-winning insight into the human condition that is not to be missed.

Director Drew Mitchell

Simon Cheung and director Drew Mitchell are both English Majors in their fourth year at Queen's. The have collaborated on many theatrical projects, most recently with Drew producing and Simon directing the PlayRisqué Theatre Company production of Godzilla.