PTC Associates - Playwrights Theatre Centre

The Associates is a rare program in Canadian theatre: an invitation to develop a project over three years in pairing with one of PTC’s dramaturgs, seeing an idea through to flourishing completion.

We are pleased to announce that we have chosen two playwrights as PTC Associates 2025-2028: Christina Cook and Conor Wylie.

The two Associates are developing fantastic new projects:

Christina Cook’s Proof Enough pays tribute to the authors who created mail-order newsletters like ‘Transvestia’ and ‘TV Tapestry’ in the 1960s and 1970s. This new play asks: What would have happened if the publisher of one of these early community-led publications suddenly gained control of a newspaper available on news racks coast to coast? Proof Enough aims to bring a significant cast of characters to centre Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender non-conforming experience onto Canadian stages.

Conor Wylie’s Lost Season is an experimental play that spans an entire season of a fictional TV procedural titled Agent Faraway: Ghost Detective, a cult hit where a paranormal detective investigates souls stuck in limbo and shepherds them to the afterlife. The play explores the nonlinear nature of grief and mourning. The narrative unfolds through consecutive stages of shifting forms and media: a fan museum with artifacts and merchandise, followed by a performance from six disintegrating “Auto Star Marionettes.” Lost Season invites audiences to a multiplicity of ways to piece together the mysterious story of the show’s lost season.

PTC is proud to support these two playwrights in creating work that strives to advance evocative theatre, with their expansive visions for Canadian stages that audiences want and need. They will be in residence with us for three years starting this Spring of 2025, developing a central project – and their practice – with PTC dramaturgs. As an Associate, they will receive in-depth dramaturgy, space, payment, and many company resources to allow them to thrive within their creation time, and key connections to future partners, audiences, and communities that will uplift their work.

Artists in this program:

Christina Cook

Christina Cook (she/they) is an interdisciplinary theatre artist, arts-based scholar, and therapist. When Christina was a kid, she wanted to be a counsellor like her favourite character, Deanna Troi, on Star Trek, OR she wanted to act alongside Deanna Troi, starring in her favourite TV show, Star Trek. She feels lucky that, as an adult, she gets to do different versions of both. Christina’s playwriting focuses on trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming narratives, and her work advocates gender liberation for all. She is writing and performing in her newest piece, Postcards. Christina’s previous writing credits include the play Quick Bright Things, which was nominated for a Governor General’s award, and ‘A practical (if dated) treatise on the art of genderqueer dancing’ in Evan Tsitsias and Bilal Baig’s This is Beyond: A Time Capsule of Queer Experience. In addition to her artistic work, Christina is a counselling psychologist, and she strives to foster interdisciplinary work born from passionate commitments to mental wellness and theatre.

Conor Wylie

Conor Wylie (he/him) is a performer, writer, and director creating experimental theatre. He lives and works in Vancouver, BC, located on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied traditional lands of the Coast Salish peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) nations. Conor is a member of the interdisciplinary trio, A Wake of Vultures, whose sci-fi/horror back-to-back marathon SEEING DOUBLE played at this year’s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Conor regularly collaborates with Theatre Replacement, where he is an artistic associate, as well as with many members of Vancouver’s esteemed Progress Lab consortium. Conor co-wrote, cast, and voice directed the hit indie video game 1000xRESIST, winner of a 2025 Peabody Award. Conor was also named the protégé for the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award (2017) by Marcus Youssef, the Siminovitch Prize Protégé by mentors James Long and Maiko Yamamoto, and Best Director of a Canadian Feature (2022) by Vancouver Asian Film Festival for K BODY AND MIND. Conor is a Nebula and Hugo Award nominated writer of science-fiction who dreams of new ways of building society, community, and family.

Interested in applying for this program?

Applications for the next PTC Associates intake have now closed. We will be announcing the cohort soon!

The Associates is for mid-career and established playwrights working on their most ambitious work to date. The program is specifically pointed at work of a scale and depth that couldn’t be completed without PTC’s support.

The Associates is a three-year partnership, where each playwright works in collaboration with a dedicated dramaturg, as well as offering each other collegial insights and support. The unique length and depth of the program allows the playwright to manage the trajectory of their play with committed and long-term dramaturgical, administrative, and communication support from PTC. The program also provides:

A $7,500 stipend, plus paid workshops and residencies

Support with personal grant applications and funding strategy

Assistance with development of community relationships, networks, and partnerships

A cohort of theatre makers developing their networks, creative practices, and projects in conversation with each other

A series of on-site residencies, to provide concentrated and undisturbed work time in a supported creative environment

Other dramaturgical supports can include, but are not limited to: process design, digital and technical experience and support, and opportunities to present their work in progress in programs like Unscripted.

By the end of the third year, each of the Associates’ projects will have a production ready draft or project package, in partnership with their dramaturg and collaborating artists.

Our Associate Playwrights

Artists in this program:

Christina Cook

Conor Wylie

Artists Involved:

2024

2020

2016

2013

Interested in applying for this program?

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