The University of Lethbridge has named the recipients of its annual ‘Play Right Prize’.
The competition is supported by chancellor Terry Whitehead and encourages students to showcase their playwriting skills.
The winners for this year are Steele Prefontaine, Nikko Hunt, and Naima Rain.
The three prize winners will receive $1,500, $750, and $250, respectively, in tuition credits. The winners will also get support to bring their plays to life on stage, with the first prize winner – Prefontaine’s work ‘Homebodies’ – receiving a staged reading during the Play Right Prize and Spirit Prize Gala.
Prefontaine is a fourth-year drama (tech/design) student. His script follows the last days of two brothers who are at odds, one caring for the other, as they face themselves, their past and their present. The first prize winner said his inspiration came from the true story of Homer and Langley Collyer, who became known for living together in their Harlem home while hoarding items and warding off others from entering the residence.
“When learning about their story, I found an inherent dramatic tension as I imagined what their final days must have been like. They became the basis of my characters, Ira and Harpo,” Prefontaine stated in a U of L news release.
“I found creative freedom in taking their story and transplanting it into rural Saskatchewan. Placing the story in Saskatchewan was an integral change in finding the tone of the play. I was able to draw on imagery, language and stories of the people and the land.”
NIKKO HUNT
In second place is drama (performance) student Nikko Hunt. Her play ‘Hot Commodity’ explores a mentor-mentee relationship between two young women in the comestics industry. Hunt explained that her idea for the play came from realizing how much of her own life was influenced by makeup and skincare products.
“I have spent more than I would like to admit on products that sometimes just sit on my dresser. The main culprit that kept influencing me to buy more was social media. Every time I would open my phone there would be a new lip gloss out, or worse, a new perfume that was a ‘must have’,” she said.
“I began workshopping the play in my Playwriting II class and continued to work on it after the class concluded. During that process I received helpful feedback from my classmates and from my professor, Greg MacArthur, and I used their notes to help guide the next drafts of the play.”
NAIMA RAIN
Third-year drama student Naima Rain came in third place in the competition with her play, Goodbye See You Later. It explores the relationship between a father and daughter, and takes place in limbo as the two discuss intergenerational trauma, addiction, and the impacts of residential schools.
“By the end of the play, you are left wondering if the daughter will follow in his footsteps, as so much of her is made up of him,” Rain explained. “The play itself was inspired by a conversation between my grandfather and me about tipi rings, and traditionally how, when someone passed away, their tipi ring would be closed, making it a death lodge.”
The three students will be celebrated at the Play Right Prize and Spirit Prize Gala on March 19.
