Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) is a small professional theatre in
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and the home of
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
's MFA Playwriting Program. As a venue, BPT rents its space for the rehearsal, reading, and production of new plays.
History
BPT was founded in 1981 by
Nobel laureate
The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
Derek Walcott
Sir Derek Alton Walcott OM (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright.
He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem '' Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as ...
when he began teaching poetry and playwriting at Boston University. Under the leadership of Walcott's student
Kate Snodgrass, the program expanded from a one-year Master of Arts to a three-year Master of Fine Arts degree. The program's alumni have been produced in regional and New York houses, as well as in London's West End.
In 2022,
Kate Snodgrass retired as artistic director after 35 years of working at Boston University. Megan Sandberg-Zakian succeeded her as BPT's artistic director and playwright Nathan Alan Davis as the head of the MFA Playwriting Program. The building's front theater was subsequently dedicated the Kate Snodgrass Stage; the proscenium-style theater at the rear of the building—BPT's original performance space—is the Derek Walcott Stage.
Partnership with Boston University
In 2014, Boston Playwrights' Theatre produced its first season of thesis plays by current MFA candidates under the name @Play Festival of New Work in collaboration with Boston University. In 2016, Boston Playwrights' Theatre made official this partnership with Boston University's School of Theatre and the BU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences on a series of MFA Playwriting thesis plays acting as a showcase for pieces written by graduating students in BU's MFA playwriting program. BPT now collaborates closely with much onstage and backstage talent provided by students in BU's theater school, who work with the playwrights throughout the year.
In alternating seasons, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre will resume its practice of featuring three plays, written by alumni or faculty of the program and employing professional actors, designers and playwrights to stage them.
See also
*
Playwrights' Platform
References
External links
Boston Playwrights' TheatreBoston Theater Marathon
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1981 establishments in Massachusetts
Theatres in Boston