A former Weyburn resident, actress and now published playwright recently had her first major script, "Valentine's Day at Bathurst Station," selected for the 2005 Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre annual Spring Festival.

Trenna Keating, the daughter of Jim and Jan Keating of Weyburn, wrote "Bathurst" when she lived briefly in Toronto, Ont., basing her script in an actual subway station located in the city.

The play is essentially a "bird's eye view," says Trenna, of the lives of 30 or so transit-users who become trapped after the subway stalls in a tunnel during Valentine's Day. Most of the characters are based on observations she made of people living in her area.

"I lived right next to a mental institution in Toronto so my whole area was full of very colourful characters. I guess it served its purpose, because I think that I came up with some really fun characters."

After submitting it earlier this year, Trenna's play was reviewed and selected, along with four others, by an adjudicator in B.C. Festival organizers then hired a director and a cast to stage the play, albeit giving them only a few rehearsals and a minimal set.

Trenna says the play, which was shown on May 14, would normally be very difficult for a theatre company to produce because of the size of the cast. Because they have the resources, volunteers and expertise, however, this is the kind of play intended for the festival.

Though she'd written one-woman plays before, this was Trenna's first major foray as a playwright - she wasn't even aware of what happens to a play once it has been written.

Getting that information was one of the benefits of being selected for festival, but also because artistic directors from many different theatre companies are hired by organizers to stage the chosen plays.

"It's a chance for people from all across Canada to see your play, and it can lead to productions," she said, noting one of the plays done at last year's festival is showing now in Calgary, Alta.

Also, it was a chance to see the play "on its feet" and receive feedback from the director and the festival dramaturge, whose job is to analyze dialogue and scenes for strengths and weaknesses.

Given the size of the cast, Trenna says her play is ideal for schools and universities, and is being considered by a college in Ontario.