Fredericton-area playwright Greg Everett has partnered with the Charlotte Street Arts Centre to create Storyhenge, a weekly gathering for writers, authors and playwrights.
Matt Carter
Fredericton-area playwright Greg Everett wants to see the city’s theatre community continue to grow at the rapid pace that it has been experiencing over the past few years. A relatively new voice among local playwrights, Everett has had his recent work featured prominently during the last two seasons of NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival. Through these opportunities and others, he has grown from someone interested in playwriting to a playwright many on the local scene now follow with great interest.
“I was blessed with a lot of opportunities over the course of the year so far to connect with other writers and artists in Fredericton, and to have really inspiring conversations with them about the creative process, the artistic community, and future collaborations,” said Everett. “So at the bottom of things there’s this almost selfish desire to gather more people together to magnify the scope and power of those conversations that I enjoy being a part of.”
Inspired by his own experience, Everett decided to create Storyhenge, a circle for writers to come together each week and offer each other constructive criticism and supportive discussion.
Everett believes hosting a regular gathering for writers will also fill a gap in the city’s theatre and creative writing communities by providing an opportunity for writers outside the city’s two universities to receive valuable feedback on their work.
“I feel that one of the symptoms of a university town is that the majority of the literary and writerly community is deeply entrenched in educational institutions,” said Everett. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you are not/are no longer a part of that institution, it greatly reduces your access to workshops, mentors, and even just plain fellowship. That’s a common theme of the conversations I’ve been having, and it’s something that definitely has felt very real to me.”
Storyhenge will take place at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre with an opening session on September 9 from 6:30-9:30 p.m.
“I’ve been a tenant at the CSAC since I began my site-specific project last winter (Written In Marble, Buried In Earth), and have been kind of dreaming of the point in my career when I would have the clout or the acclaim or whatever the quality is that lets you start contributing to the community in a serious way,” he said. “I realized this summer that it’s not about clout or acclaim, it’s about working hard and being productive and being assertive enough to say, ‘There is space for this to happen and I’m going to make it happen.’ So I pitched a writer’s circle to Courtney Steeves and Matthew Rioux at the CSAC, they said, ‘We love it, let’s make it a part of programming,’ and here we are. Our first session is September 9th.
Each Storyhenge meeting will consist of a moderated crit session focusing on a single piece of work. Submissions of any genre or format are welcome. Through skill-sharing, brainstorming, and round-table dialogue, these informal writer gatherings will aim to provide an environment for creators to revise, refine, and reinvigorate their written work.
To sign up for a future session, contact the CSAC by emailing info@charlottestreetarts.ca or calling 454-6952.
“If I had to sum Storyhenge up in three words, I’d say the core values are creation, criticism, and community,” said Everett. “Let’s encourage people to develop their ideas, let’s brainstorm, let’s collaborate and try new disciplines. Let’s improve each other’s stories, techniques and style. Let’s workshop, let’s refine and revise and rethink. And let’s all be together in one place and lift up each other.”
