The Wallace Stegner House is bidding farewell to its 2025 guest artist in Darren Hagen.
The Edmonton-based artist spent the month of July in Eastend, doing a live-in working stay at the Wallace Stegner House, where he not only worked on his playwriting but held workshops and talks with community members and fellow artists.
Hagen was thrilled with this most recent stay and honoured to have been brought back.
"I fell in love with the place (during a prior stay)," said Hagen. "This time (...) I felt like I had been accepted by the community."
His latest film, Pride Versus Prejudice: the Delvin Green Story, is currently making the rounds at film festivals around the world and is being shown in Poland at the LGBTQ+ Film Festival. The film was actually such a controversial subject that the Polish Embassy and the Canadian Embassy had to work to have it open in the European nation.
"(The embassy wanted to show it) to help raise awareness for queer rights in Poland," said Hagen.
During his stay this time, he worked on and completed his newest Fringe performance piece called Flor and Fauna Face Their Fears. He also adapted a previous play he wrote, Witch Hunt at the Strand, into a book.
During his stay, Hagen also adventured through the area, having explored the Bench Cemetery, the Continental Divide, the ghost town of Robsart, and the Witches' House.
"We tried to find it three times, and we finally had to ask for directions from Ken at the museum," said Hagen.
Hagen would like to come back to Eastend and Southwest Saskatchewan again in the future, and has even considered making the move permanent.
"I'm kind of obsessed with this place now," said Hagen. "I've even been looking at real estate prices."
If anyone would like to see his works, people can check out his professional drag work on his website, where he also shares updates on his other projects.