Michaela FriedlandWith a rare opportunity to devote extensive time to written work while making significant contributions to numerous new play developments, the Lee Playwright-in-Residence is a playwright’s dream. Calgary-based Meg Braem is the latest to take up this prestigious post.
“It’s pretty luxurious,” Braem says. “You have time to write your own work and you’re mentoring students. It’s also in Edmonton, which is a very, very strong playwright community that I’ve been a part of for a couple of years.”
A recipient of numerous accolades including the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama, the Alberta Playwriting Competition Award, and Governor General’s Award nomination for Blood: A Scientific Romance, Meg Braem is now the fifth playwright to be awarded this lucrative position since the residency was established in 2005. In addition to an original play commissioned for the BFA Acting class of 2020, Braem’s three-year residency will also provide mentorship to University of Alberta students writing new plays for the U of A New Works Festival this coming January.
“It’s fun to see other people come up with an idea and then struggle to get it out on paper,” Braem says. “I really empathize with that. I like meeting other people going through that.”
Braem is also planning on leading an outreach program to students and the Edmonton community through a series of weekly forums, giving aspiring playwrights a chance to share their work, be mentored and have the unique opportunity to be supported by a community of fellow writers.
“What we do is we meet and we read each other’s work and we talk about the work, and it’s structured in a way that is supportive of the playwright,” Braem explains. “You don’t talk about everything, but a playwright might come in and be like, ‘I’m having trouble with this part of the play’ and then (the forums) give group support for that. And while writing you spend a lot of time alone, so you get to be with a community.”
As the co-director of the Alberta Theatre Project’s playwrights unit and a past playwright-in-residence at Workshop West Playwright’s Theatre, Braem says that mentorship has been a two-way street and she has benefited as an artist in the past by helping other artists with their work.
“It’s great to meet students. All the students I’ve met have been keen and full of energy,” Braem says. “When you have to explain and mentor a student, it makes you clearer about your own process because you’re trying to help someone with their process.”
Braem wrote her first play at 21 during her undergraduate program. Many of the students that she will be mentoring will be around the same age as she was when she first completed a play. She advises young artists to remember that it’ll never be perfect off the bat — it’s more important to just get something on paper to work with.
“Think about the things that interest you or frustrate you or the things that you want to talk about and then just start getting them down on paper and realize it won’t be good to begin with,” she says. “It’ll get good, and that’s the process.”
