Tickets on Sale for Inaugural Baylor New Play Festival
Festival features staged readings of four new works by playwrights, culminating in the $15,000 Kirk New Play Prize
(Credit: Baylor University Theatre)
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Tickets are on sale now for the inaugural Baylor University New Play Festival, as part of the Baylor New Play Initiative (BNPI) to champion the creation of a new generation of American theatre by supporting artists, fostering dialogue and connecting communities through innovative storytelling.
On Sept. 26-28 at Baylor’s Mabee Theatre, the festival will feature staged readings of four exciting new plays – “Under the Bridge,” “I, Will,” “Here Kitty Kitty” and “& Sons” – by emerging and established artists from Dallas, Los Angeles, Brooklyn and New York City, culminating in the awarding of the $15,000 Kirk New Play Prize.
The BNPI festival also includes a playwrights’ panel, a new works development roundtable and networking receptions.
BNPI 2025 Selected Playwrights
The four plays selected for the Baylor New Play Initiative’s inaugural festival are vibrant and eclectic, representing a broad range of themes and styles found in contemporary playwriting. They were selected from dozens of works recommended by some of Texas’ top professional theatres collaborating with the BNPI, including 4th Wall Theatre Company (Houston), Alley Theatre (Houston), Amphibian Stage (Fort Worth), Dallas Theater Center, Second Thought Theatre (Dallas), Stage West Theatre (Fort Worth), WaterTower Theatre (Dallas), Stages (Houston), Zach Theater (Austin) and A.D. Players Theater (Houston).
The selected plays and playwrights are:
“Under the Bridge,” by Janelle Gray, a creative writer, scholar and educator from Dallas
Reading #1: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, 2025
Directed by vickie washington
Synopsis: After the death of their matriarch, The Freemans return to Ft. Edwards to bury Gran. However, once there, they find that she has left clues about the traumatic reasons their family was forced to leave their hometown. When they discover that their roots extend back to the antebellum South, The Freemans must wrestle with the knowledge of racial and domestic terrorism against their ancestors and forge a path forward that honors the past and maintains hope for the future. “Under the Bridge” is a story of discovery, grief, healing and reparations.
“I, Will,” by Scott Carter, a Los Angeles-based playwright, host of the NPR Network/WGCU podcast Ye Gods with Scott Carter and an award-winning television producer
Reading #2: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025
Directed by Emily Scott Banks
Synopsis: William Shakespeare is stuck: Plague blocks his theater, his players are in mutiny and his love-life (Stratford wife, London mistresses) is a mess. Dramatically, hilariously and fantastically, the Bard gets his professional groove back by collaborating with a low-life brothel-keep to invent a new form of drama and finds personal peace-of-mind by discovering that “balance is all.”
“Here Kitty Kitty,” by Janielle Kastner, a Brooklyn-based, Dallas-native playwright
Reading #3: 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025
Directed by Kelsey Leigh Ervi
Synopsis: Kitty Genovese was infamously murdered in Kew Gardens, New York, in 1964, while 38 of her neighbors observed, doing nothing. The reality, as all our realities, is far more complicated than that. “Here Kitty Kitty” is a present-day obsessive exploration of the "bystander effect" attributed to that murder via a haunting in stories – true crime podcasters keeping women safe (except each other), theatre-makers trying to summon Kitty for their groundbreaking play while neglecting to take care of their own, and a journalist learning what it costs to tell anyone the truth. “Here Kitty Kitty” asks us to re-examine the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and how we decide when things are okay.
“& Sons” by Jack Angelo Cummings, a New Jersey/New York City-based playwright
Reading #4: 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025
Directed by Christopher Llewyn Ramirez
Synopsis: “& Sons” tells the story of three young men, living in New Jersey, attempting to salvage a boutique construction company after the business’s former patriarch, Bob DiSanti, dies suddenly of a heart attack. The DiSanti construction crew includes Bob’s second son, Dom DiSanti, a hapless, highly amicable stoner; Bob’s protégé, Juan Alvarez, a handsome, type A, natural born leader; and Bob’s first son, Anthony, a physically imposing stoic who has just returned to Jersey after a mysterious seven-year hiatus inspired by Bob’s heavy-handed parenting style. Tensions increase as Anthony and Juan fight for control of the company, tearing lovable, ill-starred Dom in half by forcing him to choose between his biological brother and his best friend. All three men stifle their own emotional needs, all while trying to enjoy sub sandwiches, burritos, pizza, etc., on their well-deserved lunch break. Ultimately, this play is a meditation on masculinity and how (particularly, blue collar) young men use degrees of touch to process their feelings.
A panel of judges drawn from professional and academic institutions will award the first Kirk New Play Prize during a concluding luncheon and awards reception at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28.
For information about the Baylor New Play Initiative, visit the Baylor Theatre website.
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Learn more about Baylor University at www.baylor.edu.
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY THEATRE
The Baylor University Department of Theatre Arts is an elite program combining an excellent liberal arts education with rigorous training in both academic and artistic fields of theatre study. Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre, Baylor Theatre Arts has been named among the top undergraduate theatre programs in the United States and the Top 4 in Texas.