Schools

Registering for the contest

To enter the contest, please complete and send us the registration form. A registration fee of $150 (plus tax) per conference given will be applied (groups of about 30 students, but twinning of 2 groups/classes is possible). If your class has been split in half in order to comply with current safety protocols, a second conference for the second half of your class can be scheduled for an additional $50 (+ HST) bringing the total to $200 (+HST). For teachers who prefer to help their students get ready for the contest themselves, a conference-free registration is also available for $50. Lastly, individual students whose class isn’t registered can sign-up on their own - free of charge. Upon receipt of the invoice, please make a credit card payment in the amount requested.

Meeting an author

Upon receipt of the registration form, we will contact you to arrange a videoconference with a professional author. They will offer the students an urban tale as an example, then share some tips and tricks when writing for the stage.

Writing

It’s time to put pen to paper - or get on those keyboards - and write your short stories and scripts. For each registration, with or without a conference, you can send us your 10 favourite ones.

Selecting the finalists

The stories and scripts received will be read by a committee composed of theatre professionals: playwrights, actors, and directors. A dozen finalists will be selected per session, and these young writers will be invited to participate in an intensive rewriting workshop.

Rewriting workshop

An intensive rewriting workshop will be held at TfT’s Centre for Creation from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. This workshop will allow students to work in close collaboration with actors and professional writers who will point out the strengths and potential of each story and guide the young writers through the rewriting process. As needed, the actors on-site will perform excerpts to help the young writers get a feel for their scripts theatricality.

Professional reading

At the end of the intensive rewriting workshop on Sunday afternoon, the actors will perform the short scripts to all the participants. All interested teachers, families and friends of the participants are invited to this professional staged reading.

Selecting the winners

After the two rewriting workshops, five short scripts will be selected to be part of the fully staged production of Les Zinspiré.e.s. The winning writers will meet in Toronto at the end of the school year to begin the final stages of writing the show.

Creating the show

The final production of Les Zinspiré.e.s will be created by TfT the season following the com- petition. The winning scripts will be staged and performed by professional artists before a large audience.

Timeline

	Autumn-Winter Semester	Winter-Spring Semester
Visit of lecturers in class	Between September and December 2021	Between February and May 2022
Competition registration deadline	December 1, 2021	May 1, 2022
Writing of the text(s)	After the conference	After the conference
Deadline for sending text(s)	January 21, 2022	June 10, 2022
Meeting of the selection jury	February 12-13, 2022	June 18-19, 2022
Selection of text(s) and responses to schools	February 2022	June 2022
Writing internship	March 2022	July 2022
Final writing internship for the winners	Summer 2022 (to be confirmed depending on the availability of young people)	Summer 2022 (to be confirmed depending on the availability of young people)

For additional information, please contact: Mathieu Taillardas at 416.534.7303 ext. 25 or at mtaillardas@theatrefrancais.com.