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BPP to Give $2,000 in Grants to Local Artists

BPP’s AwareFest Re-Granting Fund Sponsored by Bloomington Entertainment & Arts District (BEAD)

The Bloomington Playwrights Project, through the support of BEAD, is now offering grants to individuals and non-profit organizations interested in artistically collaborating on their upcoming AwareFest: A Green World.  A total of $2,000 will be granted to artists with projects taking place between Oct. 1, 2010 – Oct. 16, 2010 that fit with the theme of Environmental Awareness.  Applications will be accepted and selected on a rolling basis starting August 3, with the final date of acceptance being August 20. 

Projects are encouraged to be creative and innovative and applications will have no artistic boundaries.  They can range from green-themed sculptures to musical performances to paintings to dances to puppet shows to films and anywhere outside or in-between.  The BPP will select grantees based on the following criteria:

1.    Originality
2.    Ability to Execute Proposal
3.    Educational Value to Audience
4.    Connection to the Theme
5.    Uniqueness to AwareFest
6.    Number of People the Project Can Reach
7.    Cost of Project

Selected projects will be advertised on the AwareFest website and to the BPP’s mailing list.  Grantees will be required to add the AwareFest logo to any of their own marketing materials and announce the collaboration with AwareFest at each performance (or through signage if not applicable).  Grant requests can be for up to $750.  If requesting more than $400, please identify if the project could continue with partial funding. 

Applications should be 1-2 pages in length and have the following information:

1.    Organization or Individual’s Contact Information
2.    Art Project Title and Description
3.    Artist Information – Artist bios/organization information
4.    Total Cost of Project
5.    Amount Requested from BPP
6.    Expected Revenues
7.    How Funds Will Be Used
8.    The Size and Demographic of Expected Audience (include details of how they will be reached)
9.    Venue
10.    Planned Marketing – Aside from BPP’s marketing, how will you get the word out?
11.    Relationship to Theme – How and why does your project fit into AwareFest?

Completed applications should be emailed to bppwrite@newplays.org in either Word or PDF format no later than 5pm on August 20th, 2010.

Contact BPP Managing Director, Gabe Gloden, with any questions at 812.334.1188 or bppwrite@newplays.org. 

What is AwareFest?

AwareFest is an annual, citywide event, anchored at the Bloomington Playwrights Project (BPP) in partnership with local groups and businesses and focused on a new significant topic each year.  Designed to raise public awareness of important issues through theatre, other art forms, and the collaboration between art and business, AwareFest will take place during the first three weeks of October, beginning on the 1st.  The cornerstone event of AwareFest will be a festival of ten minute plays by nationally renowned playwrights on the year’s theme.  These plays will be commissioned specifically for AwareFest by Bloomington Playwrights Project, who will present them together as part of its 2010/2011 Mainstage Series.  During the same three week period, auxiliary events from various arts organizations will take place across Bloomington and will be financially supported by BPP through grant funding.  In addition, AwareFest will reach into every single school in Monroe County through a large scale education project. 

AwareFest continues to wholly support the unique mission of the Playwrights Project by producing new plays, by reaching out to local playwrights and artists, and by educating Bloomington-area youth about the importance of the arts.  AwareFest will achieve this mission on a greater scale than ever before by reaching more artists, students, patrons, community businesses and organizations than the BPP has through any other single event over its thirty years of supporting the arts.

Announcing the BPP’s 2010/2011 Mainstage Series

AwareFest: A Green World
October 1 – 16, 2010
8 short plays about keeping our world green

Artifice by Anne Flanagan
December 3 – 18, 2010
Winner of the 10-11 Reva Shiner Comedy Award

Kissing Frogs
Book by Josh Sohn
Music & Lyrics by Jeremy Schonfeld
February 4 – 19, 2011
First BPP + IU Musical collaboration

Miles Away by Christine Whitley
April 8 – 23, 2011
Winner of the 10-11 Woodward/Newman Drama Award

Still The River Runs by Barton Bishop
May 20 – June 4, 2011
The midwest premiere of this hit off-Broadway dramatic comedy

The Bloomington Playwrights Project is proud to announce its 2010/2011 Season, which will feature five phenomenal new shows in its Mainstage Series and a distinctive selection of special events, proving this local treasure is indeed unique to the world.  The 2010/2011 season will be the first season engineered by new Artistic Director Chad Rabinovitz.

The BPP kicks off its 10/11 Mainstage Series with AwareFest: A Green World. Artistic Director Chad Rabinovitz has pulled together some of the top playwrights in the country along with talented local playwrights to show that art can have a powerful impact on society.  This year’s AwareFest will bring significant environmental issues to the BPP stage.  Entertaining while also educational, this show is perfect for the whole family. The featured playwrights include:

Craig Wright - Emmy nominee, Lost, Six Feet Under, Dirty Sexy Money
Jon Marans - Pulitzer-Prize Finalist, Old Wicked Songs
Wendy MacLeod - The House of Yes (starring Parker Posey), Playwright in Residence - Kenyon College
Israel Horovitz - Line (longest running off-off-Broadway play of all time, OBIE & Drama Desk Winner)
Michael Healey - The Drawer Boy (winner of every major Canadian Award & the fourth most produced play of the past decade)
*Plus the winners of the local, high school and national contests – Erdin Schultz-Bever, Joseph Walker, Trace Crawford

In December, the BPP offers up the winner of the Reva Shiner Comedy Award, Artifice by Anne Flanagan.  The untimely death of up and coming painter Payne Showers has wildly inflated the value of his work.  This is good news for his wife, Maggie, who must sell the entire collection to avoid bankruptcy.  The private auction at Maggie's country house in up-state New York is in full swing when we learn that one guest may be a murderous gangster, another a gun toting psychopath, and a winter storm threatens to keep the entire party housebound.  Then Payne Showers walks through the door. 

February of 2011 will be the premiere of Kissing Frogs, a brand-new musical that’s being workshopped and developed by the BPP in collaboration with Indiana University before it moves elsewhere.  It’s sure to be the hit show in Bloomington this season.  Kissing Frogs is a contemporary New York fairy tale.  Edgy and exciting (just how you like your BPP), this new musical will have a cast of all IU students and showcase music & lyrics by Jeremy Schonfeld whose work has achieved significant success at venues like Madison Square Garden, Joe’s Pub, BB King Blues Club, and Lincoln Center.  Not bad for a guy who started his musical education at Indiana University!

In April of 2011, the BPP has the honor of producing the very first winner of the Woodward/Newman Drama Award, Miles Away by Christine Whitley.  A three character drama, Miles Away tells the gripping story of Sissy, a beautiful young pool hustler, and her manager Ron, living on the road and desperately struggling for money and  a chance to finally succeed in life.  Then they meet Giles, who may or may not be their chance to move up a notch in the world. 

“Chosen out of 575 submissions from across the globe, this play stood out as the best of the best.  It’s captivating, engrossing, powerful, and heartening all at the same time.  When I read it, I couldn’t put it down.  Miles Away is absolutely a must see,” says Chad Rabinovitz.

“I am thrilled to have Miles Away as the winner of my first award!” says Joanne Woodward, founder and sponsor of the Woodward/Newman drama award.

Finally, in May of 2011, the BPP will mount Still the River Runs by Barton Bishop as part of its Off-Broadway/On-Ninth slot, which seeks to take a play recently seen at a small theatre in NYC and help it to have a future life across the country by producing it here in Bloomington.  It’s not often you find a play that’s beautiful, sweet, poignant, and poetic, while also being laugh-out-loud, ridiculously funny.  This touchingly comic play tells the tale of two brothers who steal their grandfather’s body from his coffin in order to bury him in a place that holds more meaning.

“Still the River Runs is the perfect blend of comedy and drama.  I couldn’t think of a better way to round out the season,” says Chad Rabinovitz. 

The NY Times says, “Perhaps you’re one of those people who have long lamented, ‘If only Weekend at Bernie’s had been funnier.’  Your wait is over.”

Backstage remarks, “[Still The River Runs] leaves the audience thinking as well as laughing.”

In addition to the outstanding entertainment offered in the Mainstage series, the BPP is equally ecstatic about our special events which include the return of beloved productions such as Sex/Death: Ladies Night (our twist on our annual Dark Alley showcase featuring an all-female cast!), ’09 Ike & Julie Arnove PlayOffs (short plays written and produced in only 24 hours!), Vintage Scenes (short plays from our past performed at Oliver Winery) and The Blizzard (featuring 30 supershort plays performed in random order in only 60 minutes!). 

Subscribers to the BPP’s 10/11 Season will receive a 10/11 FlexPass good for 5 tickets at the price of 4.  FlexPasses are $72 General, and $60 Students and Seniors.  FlexPasses may be purchased at the Buskirk Chumley Box Office on Kirkwood or online at www.buskirkchumley.org.  Or call 812.323.3020 or email tickets@buskirkchumley.org for more information.

The 2010/2011 Season is sponsored by Holiday Inn, Indiana Arts Commission, WFHB, Oliver Winery & World Arts Inc.

AwareFest: A Green World is sponsored in part by Lifecycle and the Bloomington Entertainment & Arts District (BEAD).

Artifice by Anne Flanagan is sponsored by Reva Shiner

Miles Away by Christine Whitley is sponsored by Newman’s Own Foundation

Still the River Runs by Barton Bishop is sponsored by the McGann Family

10/11 Reva Shiner Comedy Award Winner Announced

10/11 Reva Shiner Winner: Artifice by Anne Flanagan

“I am thrilled to win the Reva Shiner award!” says Flanagan. “I am originally from the Midwest and I can attest first hand to the strong passion for the arts and the high degree of talent that exists in the so called ‘fly over states.’  I am looking forward to seeing that talent applied to my play.”

In Artifice, struggling artist Payne Showers finally gets his Big Break.  He dies.  Fortunately, his death sends the value of his work skyrocketing.  His widow Maggie must auction it all off to avoid bankruptcy and (yikes) a mob hit.  Unfortunately, as the day of the auction approaches, its learned that reports of Payne’s death have been greatly exaggerated.  Artifice is both a farcical look at celebrity and success, and an affectionate tribute to loyalty and love.

“As an actor, I wanted to write a play that featured a strong ensemble cast," explains Flanagan.  "Artifice is a fast paced,  smartly funny piece and I hope the audience has as much fun watching it as I did writing it.”

2010/2011 Early Bird Subscriptions on sale now!

5 Exciting New Shows, 2 Innovative Patron Programs

Re-subscribe early and "Subscribe It Forward"

Re-subscribe before July 1st and receive a subscription to give as a gift at no extra charge!

Season runs October 2010 - May 2011
Receive 5 Tickets for the Price of 4
General $72
Student/Seniors $60
available at
Bloomington Playwrights Project
107 W. 9th St.
M-F 9am-5pm

We wanted to take a moment to remind you of the amazing early bird subscription offer the Bloomington Playwrights Project has extended to all of our current subscribers-the Subscribe It Forward program.

Re-subscribe before July 1st 2010 to the BPP's 10/11 Season and you will have the exclusive opportunity to "subscribe forward" one complimentary season pass to the person of your choice. The only requirement is that the recipient must be someone who has not subscribed to the BPP in the past year. Subscribe It Forward is an exciting new way to share the BPP with a friend, a family member, a work associate, that cute guy next door, your favorite grocery store employee, the possibilities are endless!

Don't miss your chance to give the gift of innovative live theatre and re-subscribe today.

We will kick off next season in October 2010 with our biggest undertaking to-date: the citywide event, AwareFest. AwareFest is designed to repeat annually, bringing awareness to a new, highly significant topic through the arts each year. The event's inaugural topic in 2010 is "A Green World" and will focus around a theatrical short play showcase at the BPP featuring works by nationally renowned playwrights. During the same three week period, auxiliary events from various arts organizations will occur across Bloomington, and will be supported by the BPP through a re-granting process. In addition, AwareFest will reach into every single school in the Monroe County through a large scale education project. The BPP is thrilled to present this festival to the community of Bloomington!

The BPP has gained the exclusive rights to the Woodward/Newman Drama Award. In partnership with Joanne Woodward, the award remembers the many great dramas she and Paul Newman performed in together while honoring the best unpublished full-length drama of the year with a $3,000 prize and a full production as part of the BPP's 2010-11 Mainstage season.

The 2010/2011 Mainstage Season will also bring the BPP+IU New Musical, a partnership that will offer increased opportunities for IU students while increasing the BPP's production quality and capability. Off Broadway/ On Ninth is our way off bringing the excitement of Broadway to the BPP by taking a premiere production from NYC and offering a second production of it here in Bloomington. The Reva Shiner Comedy Award is our new twist on our annual Reva Shiner Award. We will focus the award on finding the best new full-length comedy of the year.

If a patron is unsatisfied with a show at the BPP, they can now return their ticket stub at the end of the show for a free ticket to another show in the Mainstage season. The Artistic Fulfillment Guarantee (AFG) is the world's first satisfaction guarantee for live theatre! No questions asked.

AwareFest

National Playwriting Contest

* Seeking 10-minute plays written on an environmental issue
* Playwright must reside or work in Monroe County, IN
* No submission fee
* $100 Prize for first place and full production in 2010 AwareFest
* Due by 5pm on May 10th 2010
* Submit to literarymanager@newplays.org

Local Playwriting Contest

In addition to the National Playwriting Contest, the BPP announces an AwareFest Local Playwriting Contest for anyone residing or working in Monroe County, IN. The local contest follows the same guidelines and features the same rewards as the national contest (see above). For more information, contact literarymanager@newplays.org.

Local High School Playwriting Contest

In addition to the local and national playwriting contests, the BPP will operate an AwareFest Local High School Playwriting Contest for students in grades 9-12 attending school in Monroe County, IN. The high school contest follows the same guidelines and features the same rewards as the local and national contests (see above). For more information, contact literarymanager@newplays.org.

Producing Artistic Director

Rabinovitz, who takes up the position of Producing Artistic Director of the Bloomington Playwrights Project (BPP) in mid-September, arrives in town with impressive credentials.

Chad began his career as a freelance director while still an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a dual degree in theater and business (with a concentration in marketing).

Since that time he has directed more than fifty productions across the country focusing mostly on new and contemporary work. He has served as Artistic Director at the Crested Butte Mountain Theater (Colorado); Education Director of the Greenbrier Valley Theater (Lewisburg, West Virginia), Assistant Managing Director of the Northern Lights Playhouse (Hazelhurst, Wisconsin); and Artistic Associate of Westport Country Playhouse (Connecticut). Immediately prior to coming to Bloomington, he directed shows in NYC, Ohio, Colorado, and CT. His production of The Pavilion at Westport Country Playhouse was personally sponsored by Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman and was well-reviewed by the NY Times.

In addition, Chad has been writing a book on the worst jobs celebrity actors held prior to their artistic careers blossoming. Gleaned from exclusive interviews, the book also contains the survival recipes of each well-known actor and will help to raise money for an important charity by donating one third of its proceeds to The Hole in the Wall Camps.

Dynamic, articulate, and very personable, Rabinovitz will build on the significant contributions of his predecessor, Richard Perez, in raising the local as well as national visibility of the BPP as a major force in the production of new plays over the past thirty years.

The following is a brief interview with the Mr. Rabinovitz about his new position at the BPP:

Of all the theaters in the country, what attracted you to BPP?

New Works! BPP is a theater company that's doing new plays in a community that's ready to support them. In the theater world it is imperative, vital, and critical that new plays are not only being written, but workshopped, fostered, and produced. While there is a place for theaters reinventing classics, I want to be a part of the theater that's bringing new voices and new ideas into the world. That's BPP and that's why I'm overjoyed to take on my new Artistic Director role!

Now that you've been named artistic director, how do you see the theater evolving over the next few years?

On a local level, it will continue to foster the work of new artists and bring high quality art to its audiences. I intend to raise the production levels and will strive to produce even greater performances than in its remarkable 30 year history. I see the theater becoming more integral to the community by collaborating with other businesses and interest groups and working together to support common missions. I want it to be the home for all artists in the community and the arts destination that Bloomington cannot live without. On a national level, I aim to link BPP with other theaters across the country, working towards innovation in theatrical partnerships and becoming a well-known entity throughout the theater community.

Why is it important that BPP produce new plays?

It is my firm belief that there is nothing more important right now in the theater community. If the majority of theaters continue to focus solely on the restaging of classic works then theater as an art form will quickly become a museum - an exhibit of what came before film. But theater can be more current, more intimate, and more theatrical! It's small theaters like BPP that are able to take risks on new works, develop them, and bring them to life. And what better place than in a diverse community that's home to a leading university? How cool is it that the theater in your own town is the place where theater can be reborn, reinvented, and reinvigorated? I feel so strongly about this that I've devoted my career to it!

What excites you about your move to Bloomington?

Mostly, I just can't wait to meet so many new people. Everyone I've met in Bloomington thus far has been exceptionally welcoming. I look forward to getting to know the community closely and to working hard at maximizing the incredible potential and undeniable value I see in Bloomington Playwrights Project.