Important, our next, and last Writer's Corner for 2018 will be one week earlier as the last Wednesday of December is Boxing Day! Some of us may be recovering from too much festivity, family, food & 'firewater', and, the Benalla Library will be closed.

For our last Writer's Corner on Weds 19th December, playwright and author Gabriel Bergmoser will be dropping in to run a writing workshop, AND we'll be going right through til 8pm if you want to stay for longer.

It will look something like this -
5pm start - Gabe to explain details

6:30pm - break/leave/supper
7:50pm - finish

Bring - 
* a piece of writing you're working on and want help with, come with a completely fresh idea or no idea, bring a 'prompt' piece from an earlier Writer's Corner that you'd like to develop further or go through old prompts and choose a new one or...come up with something not listed here
* supper to share, if you have special dietary requirements make sure to bring food you can eat 

Please also bring with you a few of your favourite pieces you have written in Writer's Corner. Make sure they are typed please and we'll add them to our BRW display folder which we're looking at turning into a Broken River Writers book.

Looking forward to seeing you there,
​
Carla

​Thank you to Gabriel Bergmoser and the talented actors in 'We Can Work It Out' for presenting your play at NEA at the end of your tour last weekend - it was excellent! Thank you all for staying on to answer our questions in such an engaging way. A memorable one-act play by an incredibly gifted young playwright performed by a cast of passionately engaged and talented actors (with wonderful Liverpool accents!)

Broken River Writers very first Discovery Workshop with playwright Gabriel Bergmoser was even better than expected. Gabe is young and full of energy, on the go the entire time, vibrant and funny. 

Discovery Workshops have been set up for local writers and the broader community to enjoy and learn from a variety of Guest Speakers who come, share their story-telling journey, inspire and impart some of their knowledge through a variety of short exercises. 

Gabe chose a variety of exercises to illustrate the plot and character dynamic of conflict. The first exercise was for one half of the room to come up with reasons as to why he should drink the bottle of scotch, while the other side of the room had to come up with reasons for why he shouldn’t drink it. Immediately there was conflict. 

Other workshop activities built on this theme of conflict, setting the scene for the performance of Gabe’s one act play, Heroes, performed brilliantly by Matt Phillips & Blake Stringer. Heroes illustrated the issue of conflict between characters, and the conflict within themselves between what they want and what they need. 

After Heroes there was a discussion with Gabe, Matt & Blake about the play, from inception to recent performances across Victoria and nominations and presentations of a range of awards in the Geelong One Act Play Festival. “Heroes is a complex, extremely well written play by an exceptionally gifted young playwright,” said Bev Lee, who was absolutely rapt she’d decided to come to Broken River Writers first Discovery Workshop.

The next day Matt & Blake performed in Mansfield in the One Act Play Festival where they won Best Production, Best Writing and runner up Best Actor. And since then they’ve also won Best Production and Best Playwright at the Foster One Act Play Festival, with nominations for Best Actor and Best Director!

Big thank you to the Broken River Writers volunteers for coming in early, setting up, preparing supper and packing up after everyone went home. Big thank you also to NEA for hosting the event and auspicing Broken River Writers, and Tomorrow Today for providing the funding. 

Details of the next Broken River Writers Discovery Workshop to be announced once they are finalised.

Carla Gardner

​An Occasional Blog

Gabriel Bergmoser and the cast of his one act play 'Heroes' certainly set a high bar at the first of the Broken River Writers' Discovery Workshops at NEA this evening!  The audience felt so privileged to have been there!  Workshop activities with Gabe helped to set the scene for a performance of 'Heroes by Matt Phillips (Jake) and Blake Stringer (Nick).  This was followed by a discussion of the play, from inception to recent performances across Victoria and nominations and presentations of a range of awards. . 'Heroes' is a complex, extremely well written play by an exceptionally gifted young playwright - it is also being performed in the Mansfield 2017 Festival of One-Act Plays  this weekend.  

​Carla Gardner, commenting on FB.... "It was absolutely brilliant, so glad I was there. Heroes was such a fantastic example of conflict not only between characters, but of the conflict within themselves of what they want and what they actually need. Thank you Gabriel Bergmoser, Matt & Blake for a fantastic night. And thank you Broken River Writers, North East Artisans and Tomorrow Today for the first of many Discovery Workshops.'   and...

Broken River Writers' first of five Discovery Workshops will be held on August 11th, 6-9pm at North East Artisans, featuring Gabriel Bergmoser, Bitten By Productions and the one act play, Heroes.   Discovery Workshops bring you Guest Speakers who have a passion for telling stories. They'll share their journey and skills throughout the night, so bring paper and pens and get ready to be inspired.  Brought to you by Broken River Writers, North East Artisans & the Tomorrow Today Foundation

Discovery Workshop is free, but bring $5 for a scrumptious supper.