Feature: BROADWAY BOUND FESTIVAL at Town Players Of New Canaan

This summer theater lovers are in for a completely original and dynamic experience. The Broadway Bound Theater Festival, which was originally created in 2016 in New York City, recently relocated to Southern Connecticut, showcasing seven new works in their world premiere.

Broadway Bound Theatre Festival is an expertly curated presentation of plays by some of the most talented developing playwrights from all over the country. 

“BBTF is a festival where playwrights take center stage,” according to its co-founder Lenore Skomal, a prolific playwright, director, and book author. There is a rigorous procedure to help new playwrights not only find a stage to launch their plays, but to train them in auxiliary areas no one told them about before.

Professional playwright readers cull through the voluminous submissions of plays and give the playwrights a full critique of their submission. The BBTF team chooses plays based on originality and the quality of the writing. It’s a double blind process. If invited to participate, BBTF meets with each of the playwrights and gives them all the tools they need to produce the premiere of their plays effectively and affordably. They continue to polish the plays until they’re ready for the stage. Although many of the playwrights have professional experience in the theatre, such as acting, they learn more from BBTF workshops, participation in a private Facebook sounding board and social forum, producing a show in a professional venue, getting live audience feedback, and more. 

In the process, the playwright gets an in-house dramaturg and can be hired from the BBTF’s bank of directors. 

“We focus on the written word and hearing the work,” says Skomal. “We don’t believe in all the bells and whistles when plays are in this stage of development,” so BBTF discourages sets and  costumes, to keep costs down. “It’s a balance between putting on a show with professional actors and crew to maintain the quality of the production and dressing it up to look pretty.” The playwrights, as producers, are responsible for their budgets, which typically run between $2,000 and $3,000. This is basically to cover the costs for actors and crew, including a board operators for the lights and sound during rehearsal and three to five performances. 

The aim is to develop playwrights not only as authors, but to give them the skills to be able to self produce. In short, with BBTF, playwrights learn first-hand everything they need to know about self-producing the play they’ve spent so much time and effort writing.

Brian Mulhern from Rhode Island, submitted his play It’s Not You on January 18 of this year. Since March 28, when he received notification that his play was accepted, “it’s been a whirlwind of rewrites -- of my synopsis, logline and the play itself, " he says.

“We've had to work on things like writing our own bios, submitting headshots, sitting in on Zooms for educational purposes, and to receive insights from the likes of professional theater critics. There have been many Zooms with Lenore herself to get my show where it needs to be. There have also been group table read Zooms for the purposes of experiencing what our fellow playwrights have written. We've exchanged notes to further help (and support) each other… Tickets have been put on sale, we've also had to up our social media games to promote our shows. On 6/10/24, I made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from my home in Rhode Island to New Canaan, CT for a group tour of the theater itself. I've also had to coordinate getting my cast and crew together, locally. We had our first in-person table read on 6/4/24 and are now working on getting rehearsals underway. There's still plenty of work to be done, but all of it has been nothing but a labor of love.”

One of the stipulations about the playwrights’ submissions is that plays must never have been produced anywhere before. When BBTF means “world premiere,” it means that literally. Thus, theater lovers have the exciting opportunity to be among the first to discover the next Donald Margulies or Paula Vogel. 

Rick Sayers, the festival’s other co-founder and general manager put up a notice on Facebook about BBTF’s move to Connecticut to see if any theaters were interested in partnering with them. Six theaters responded enthusiastically, but The Town Players of New Canaan turned out to be the best option for them. It has more than 75 years of producing affordable creative live theater. Its Powerhouse Theatre has comfortable seats, good sight lines, air conditioning, and plenty of free parking on the grounds of beautiful Waveny Park.

These conveniences mean a lot to suburban theatergoers. Many people have stopped going to Broadway. It’s expensive. It’s filthy. It’s a hassle to get to from the suburbs. A lot of people, especially older ones, don’t feel safe in the city these days because they’ve seen that the police barely do anything when there is a ruckus. So, welcome back to professional theater in the ‘burbs.

BBTF has an unwavering commitment to professionally producing new works, working hands-on with playwrights to make producing their own work a fulfilling and successful experience. And presenting these works to the theatre-savvy community of the tri-state area. Since its inception in 2016 in New York City, they’ve been devoted to the evolution of artists and their work to create great theatrical experiences that continue to live long after their premieres.

Skomal lauds Deborah Burke, the creative director of Town Players of New Canaan for sharing her vision that the festival would remain “communal, rather than competitive.” Skomal adds, “They’ve bent over backwards to make our experience really great.”

This year, BBTF will present:

Family Vacation by Lily Ayotte (www.lilyayotte.com) is a family dramedy. At Grandma Emily’s funeral, her family must contend with the dysfunctional relationships she left as her legacy. Will they overcome the painful truths, or will Grandma win from beyond the grave? 

Flags by Tom Mullen is a drama which takes place near the end of World War II in the Pacific. Gabriel leads a band of Marines at Okinawa with the conviction that America is humanity’s last best hope. But his platoon starts to question the righteousness of their cause when they realize that the now famous flag raising at Iwo Jima was a publicity stunt to sell war bonds. www.togovern.com

It’s Not You by Brian Mulhern is a rom-com where Neil Doyle, a radio comic and serial dater, just can’t find anyone to commit to. He manipulates potential girlfriends into breaking up with him. Finally, he meets the woman of his dreams. Can he overcome his commitment phobia or is he willing to spend the rest of his life alone?

Pandaemonium by Alex McFarlane (www.artistmcfarlane.com) is a satire is about divorcees Judith and Telfer who find themselves together again, but in Hell, which is deep within the maze of tunnels way under Grand Central Station. Judith knows better than to make a deal with Satan, which would have her reunite with Telfer, but would help Satan unleash his ungodly plans for the world. The result could be Heaven or Hell, depending on her decision.

Project Sankora by Karl O’Brian Williams is a fantastical journey about self-discovery and reconciliation of 21-year-old Shawn Thompson’s cultural and personal past with his present and preparing for the future. His guides are African Elders Abebi, Shomari, Xola, and Anan.

The Abbey by Garrett Bates. In this dramedy, widower Sam goes on a silent retreat at a Trappist monastery. A few monks and another traveler who is on her own journey of healing help go forward with his life without leaving his old loves behind.

What’s Done is Done by Alan Richards is about former spouses Marty and Kay who meet for a final time after being apart for many years. They ruminate over their relationships and past mistakes while the present hangs heavily over them. Marty comes up with an intriguing proposition that forces both of them to think about the future. 

Here is the schedule. Most of the plays are under 90 minutes. You can make a memorable day of it by seeing multiple plays in one afternoon and evening. Bring a picnic lunch or enjoy New Canaan’s great restaurants.

	BROADWAY BOUND FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
	Date	Time	Play
	Thursday, August 8, 2024	7:00 PM	What's Done is Done
	Friday, August 9, 2024	5:00 PM	Pandaemonium
	Friday, August 9, 2024	8:00 PM	What's Done is Done
	Saturday, August 10, 2024	5:00 PM	What's Done is Done
	Saturday, August 10, 2024	8:00 PM	Pandaemonium
	Sunday, August 11, 2024	2:00 PM	Pandaemonium
	Thursday, August 15, 2024	7:00 PM	Flags
	Friday, August 16, 2024	5:00 PM	Family Vacation
	Friday, August 16, 2024	8:00 PM	Flags
	Saturday, August 17, 2024	2:00 PM	Family Vacation
	Saturday, August 17, 2024	5:00 PM	Project Sankofa
	Saturday, August 17, 2024	8:00 PM	Flags
	Sunday, August 18, 2024	2:00 PM	Flags
	Thursday, August 22, 2024	7:00 PM	The Abbey
	Friday, August 23, 2024	5:00 PM	The Abbey
	Friday, August 23, 2024	8:00 PM	It's Not You
	Saturday, August 24, 2024	2:00 PM	The Abbey
	Saturday, August 24, 2024	5:00 PM	It's Not You
	Saturday, August 24, 2024	8:00 PM	The Abbey
	Sunday, August 25, 2024	2:00 PM	It's Not You
	Sunday, August 25, 2024	5:00 PM	The Abbey
	Thursday, August 29, 2024	7:00 PM	Project Sankofa
	Friday, August 30, 2024	5:00 PM	Project Sankofa
	Friday, August 30, 2024	8:00 PM	Pandaemonium
	Saturday, August 31, 2024	2:00 PM	What's Done is Done
	Saturday, August 31, 2024	5:00 PM	Pandaemonium
	Saturday, August 31, 2024	8:00 PM	Family Vacation
	Sunday, September 1, 2024	2:00 PM	Family Vacation

Town Player of New Canaan’s Powerhouse Theatre is located off the Merritt Parkway Exit 37 in Waveny Park at 679 South Ave in New Canaan. Adult tickets cost $30.00 with students paying $20.00 and seniors $25.00 for each play. For more information, visit www.broadwayboundfest.com.

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