[caption id="attachment_36879" align="alignnone" width="504"]
The New Works Festival Panel in 2014. Heller photo.[/caption]
Bay Street Theater and Sag Harbor Center for the Arts announced this week it will mount the 2nd Annual New Works Festival April 24 through April 26. Readings of several new plays are free, although donations will be accepted, and tickets will be available for a special Saturday evening panel discussion at baystreet.org
The three-day festival will include readings of plays in development by some of New York’s most exciting emerging playwrights and a new version of a musical that originally premiered in 1997. The purpose of the festival is to give the playwrights a chance to hear their works in development in front of an audience while also offering local residents the opportunity to be a part of cutting edge theater.
This year’s festival will focus on the theme, rediscovery. Two of the three works to be presented have had initial productions, but they are still in the process of development as the writers continue to revise and rediscover their work. Each reading will be followed by a talkback with time for the playwrights and the audience to ask questions of each other and share their reactions to the play.
Curated by Bay Street artistic director Scott Schwartz, the festival will include “A Delicate Ship” by Anna Ziegler, “The Green Heart” by Charles Busch and Rusty Magee and “Plane Play” by Julia Brownell. A panel discussion, moderated by Tony Award winning producer Ken Davenport and featuring Mr. Busch and Mr. Magee will be held on Saturday, April 25 at 7 p.m. followed by a cocktail reception. While the readings are free, with donations accepted, the panel discussion and cocktail reception will be $10 a ticket.
“I am pleased to begin another great season at Bay Street with our second annual New Works Festival,” said Mr. Schwartz. “Last year, as part of the panel discussion led by award winning writer John Weidman, there was a need expressed by writers for support for plays and musicals that have had initial productions but are still in the process of development and rewriting. This year, Bay Street is responding to this fascinating conversation by giving authors the opportunity to continue to work on projects that have had previous showings but which are still in the process of revision. As a home for the creation of new work in East End, Bay Street is delighted to offer our audience the opportunity to experience the distinctive voices and visions of exciting playwrights in various stages of development of their work.”
For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit baystreet.org.
