Whether an aspiring playwright or novelist, everything that you need to become a writer is already within you, said a visiting theatre director from Canada.

Duncan McIntosh who currently resides on Prince Edward Island in Canada held a playwright workshop for aspiring playwrights at the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society for three days last week.

?The writers that have come to the workshops are beautiful writers, very expressive,? Mr. McIntosh said.

The group, with an age range from two 13-year-old students to a 58-year-old, was very ?energised? and he said he was pleased to get such a good response.

Mr. McIntosh explained that in a community like Prince Edward Island, life with other residents is very engaging, which he found was very similar to Bermuda in that people are inclined to speak to one another when passing them on the street.

As for the writing community, Mr. McIntosh said if people are to express themselves freely they must be in a safe environment.

?We are constantly being forced to shut down our creativity. In order to write we need a place where creativity is honoured and not considered different.?

A theatre director by profession, who has directed plays, musicals and operas, Mr. McIntosh said he is constantly trying to connect with the community during his performances. He said that many times performances are directed to the media and often do not engage a community.

?Creativity is my main thing,? he said.

He has also worked with J.K. Rowling of the famed Harry Potter series and brought together 35,000 children to listen to her read an excerpt from the third book in the series at the SkyDome in Toronto.

Mr. McIntosh is currently working on a documentary of the musical version of ?Anne of Green Gables? for the Japanese. He said that the book, which was set on Prince Edward Island, was a huge success in Japan and he said and that it had been translated illegally during the Second World War when the Japanese were not allowed to speak any English.

He explained that in teaching playwright workshops he used creative writing techniques but infused them with three dimensions and let the characters come to life.

?Plays are meant to be performed although they can be good to read it?s like baking a cake and not eating it. It?s nice to look at but it?s meant to be eaten,? he said.

Bermudian playwrights are gearing up for Famous for Fifteen Minute Festival that will be held in March. The short plays are written and then produced and performed in Bermuda and he said the students from his workshops are just beginning to build confidence, although, some of them are working on a play for the Festival. Other students are thinking about taking a year off to write before they submit any of their work.

He said that the writer is within all of us and that from day to day people experience things that are interesting and it is only when we force it that we lose that expression and creativity.

?We have creativity within us but we have to press it out of us or out press. In English we call it express.?

?Every expression that can ever be felt has been experienced by every human. You are enough to be beautiful and extraordinary and transcendent. Just boring old you is enough to be interesting and creative.?