BWW News: Louisville Playwright Brian Walker Wins Statewide Competition

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Louisville playwright Brian Walker's CPR on the Lost Continent is the winner of the Kentucky Theatre Association's 7th Annual Roots of the Bluegrass New Play Festival. The Award was announced at Friday evening's staged reading and award ceremony at Western Kentucky University, this year's host of KTA's conference. KTA board member Kathi E.B. Ellis directed the reading of CPR.

The winner of this year's Ten Minute Play Festival was Louisville native Stephen R. Bond with Roscoe-N-Junebug. The Ten Minute Play Festival is now in its second year. The reading was directed by WKU student Kirsten Kellersberger.

The two finalists for this year's full-length competition are Boxes by Catherine Rhoden Goguen and Michael Radford (directed by KTA President Adanme Onyedike Barton) and Poor Little Edward by Cody Taylor (directed by former KTA board member Karen Willis.) Rhoden has previously been a semi-finalist in the competition.

Louisville audiences will be familiar with CPR from an earlier reading of the full play during Derby City Playwrights' inaugural 2014-2015 season. Walker has previously been a finalist of KTA's Roots of the Bluegrass Festival for FB A Ghost Story and won for Dog in 2013.

The Roost of the Bluegrass Festival is one of several events at KTA's annual conference. There is also a Community Theatre Festival and a High School Theatre Festival, featuring one act plays performed by groups from across the Commonwealth. Also occurring are screening auditions for professionals and students who wish to audition at the spring Southeaster Theatre Conference auditions for summer and year round work in theatre.

The Kentucky Theatre Association is Kentucky's theatre organization, serving theatre at all levels.