Barrington Stage Now Accepting Submissions for The Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award

The Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award, a national new play contest at Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, is accepting submissions through April 30, 2018. The Grand Prize winner will receive $25,000 from Barrington Stage Company.

In addition to the $25,000 cash prize, the Grand Prize winner will receive a developmental staged reading with a professional cast and director, all travel and housing covered for the staged reading, and a possible full production at Barrington Stage Company. Two runners-up will each receive $5,000, and a developmental staged reading with a professional cast and director.

Final play selections will be announced in October 2018 and will be read by the New Play Contest Committee, comprised of distinguished artists and playwrights. Winners will be announced in December 2018.

The play must be a new, unproduced full-length play; be free and not attached to any producers or directors; be able to be performed with 8 actors or less; be wholly original and not an adaptation or translations of existing foreign language plays. The playwright must be a U.S. resident and may only submit one play for consideration. The play must be endorsed by a professional theatre, commercial producer, dramaturg, literary agent, or a playwriting professor at an MFA playwriting program. There is no fee for entry.

For more information about the submission process and to apply for the inaugural Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award, please visit barringtonstageco.org/about-the-company/new-play-award.

In 2018, BSC will present the World Premiere of The Royal Family of Broadway, a masterful musical comedy love letter to the Great White Way. With a book by Tony Award winner Rachel Sheinkin (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), music and lyrics by Tony Award winnerWilliam Finn (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Falsettos, Artistic Producer of BSC's Musical Theatre Lab), choreography by Tony Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Joshua Bergasse (On The Town, "So You Think You Can Dance") and direction by Tony Award winner John Rando (On The Town, Urinetown), The Royal Family of Broadway will begin previews on June 7, 2018 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage. Opening is set for June 13, 2018 and will run through June 30, 2018.

In celebration of the 100th birthdays of Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins, BSC will present West Side Story, based on conception by Jerome Robbins, with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The world's greatest love story takes to the streets in this landmark Broadway musical. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is transported to modern day New York City, as two young lovers find themselves caught between warring street gangs. Their struggle to survive in a world of hate, violence and prejudice is one of the most innovative, relevant and heart aching musicals of our time. Directed by Julianne Boyd, West Side Story will feature choreography by world-renowned dancer, choreographer, and Tony nominee, Robert La Fosse. West Side Story was originally produced on Broadway by Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince by Arrangement with Roger L. Stevens. Previews begin July 27, 2018 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage. Opening is set for August 1, 2018 and will run through August 26, 2018.

The 2018 season at BSC will also include Typhoid Mary by Mark St. Germain (Freud's Last Session), directed by Matthew Penn ("Law & Order"); a production of The Cake, by Bekah Brunstetter (writer/producer of NBC's "This Is Us") and directed by Jennifer Chambers (Better); and a production of A Doll's House, Part 2, by Obie Award winner Lucas Hnath (The Christians, Red Speedo) directed by Helen Hayes Award winner Joe Calarco (BSC's Ragtime, The Burnt Part Boys); and the World Premiere of The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh (Charles Francis Chan Jr's Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery) and directed by Ralph Peña (Microcrisis), presented in a co-production with the Ma-Yi Theater Company;

The season will conclude with the World Premiere of Well-Intentioned White People, by Rachel Lynett (Breathe Me In); and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, directed by Julianne Boyd.

The 2018 Youth Theatre Production, presented at the Berkshire Museum (39 South Street) in Pittsfield, MA, will be Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, featuring words and music by Oscar and Tony Award winners Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (La La Land, Dear Evan Hansen) and a book by Timothy Allen McDonald (The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley). Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach is based on the book James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl and will be directed and choreographed by Julianne Katz (BSC's Bye Bye Birdie).

Single tickets and 2018 Season Passes are now on sale and available at www.barringtonstageco.org, by calling 413-236-8888, or by visiting the Mainstage box office (30 Union Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201).

To post a comment, you must register and login.