The Playwriting Center of Theater Emory presents the 2020 Brave New Works Festival, set for Jan. 31 through Feb. 16 in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Highlighting new works from world-class artists, the biennial festival brings professional playwrights, directors, composers and dramaturgs together to work on new scripts with a company of student and professional actors.
The first weekend (Jan. 31-Feb. 1) of Brave New Works includes “The Use of Wildflowers,” new work from Emory University playwriting fellow Kimberly Belflower; “The Hands That Could,” new work from Emory University playwriting fellow Josh Wilder; and “One Thousand Years of Sacred Music and Two Americans,” from Brendan Pelsue with music by Matthew Suttor.
The second weekend (Feb. 8) ties in the Playwriting Center’s “4:48,” inspired by Paula Vogel’s playwriting Bake-Off process. Four playwrights lock themselves away for two days of furious writing, at the end of which they each will have a brand new, full-length play based around the same source material. This year, the source material is “The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming” by David Wallace-Wells. The playwrights are Edith Freni, David Garrett, Jim Grimsley and Scott Turner Schofield. “4:48” is produced in partnership with Emory’s Center for the Study of Human Health.
The third weekend (Feb. 14-16) features the third iteration of the Fellow’s Fellowship Program. Originated by inaugural Emory University playwriting fellow Edith Freni, the Fellow’s Fellowship Program identifies and mentors promising Emory student playwrights who have completed the first draft of a full-length play. This year, plays by students Julia Byrne and Anneka Rose will be developed during Brave New Works, culminating in staged readings directed by Emory alumna Park Krausen.
The third weekend continues with the Edinburgh Fringe Project: “The Dark Hound of Malleus” by the Theater Emory Touring Ensemble. Brave New Works finishes with the Lenaia Playwriting Festival, comprised of student-written work.
All presentations are free and open to the public and take place in the Theater Lab of the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Reservations are requested. For more information, visit Arts at Emory.
Full schedule: Brave New Works 2020
“The Use of Wildflowers” by Kimberly Belflower, directed by Samantha Provenzano
“The Hands That Could” by Josh Wilder, directed by Jamil Jude
“One Thousand Years of Sacred Music and Two Americans” by Brendan Pelsue with music by Matthew Suttor, directed by Leora Morris
“4:48 x 2020: Alumni Edition!” features four playwrights with 48 hours to write a new play
“Day” by Julia Byrne and “History’s Captive” by Anneka Rose, directed by Park Krausen
Edinburgh Fringe Project: “The Dark Hound of Malleus” by the Theater Emory Touring Ensemble, directed by Brent Glenn
Lenaia Playwriting Festival, a student-written and student-run playwriting festival
Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made at least 24 hours in advance of the event to the Schwartz Box Office at 404-727-5050 or by email at boxoffice@emory.edu.