BROADWAY BOUND
WHERE PLAYWRIGHTS TAKE CENTER STAGE
THEATRE FESTIVAL
July 20-Aug. 16, 2026
BBTF 2026 SEASON LINEUP
BE A MENSCH
by DANIEL TAKÁCS
When Abe, the eldest son and breadwinner of an impoverished, dysfunctional Jewish family, is accepted into his dream college, he turns to the adults in his life for help only to find they have no intention of letting him escape. Ultimately, he's forced to choose between his family’s livelihood and his own future happiness.
Thursday, July 23 - 8 p.m.
Friday, July 24 - 5 p.m.
Sunday, July 26 - 2 p.m.
FUNERAL OF GOD
by BRIAN BRIJBAG
A theatre company attempts to stage a burial for god—only to find they can’t agree on what died, who should attend, or why the ritual even matters. What starts as logistical problem‑solving becomes a reckoning with belief, grief, and responsibility. Personal histories surface, exposing how faith, silence, and meaning have been used to avoid facing what hurts.
Thursday, July 30 - 5 p.m.
Friday, July 31 - 8 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 2 - 2 p.m.
HOMEBOUND (a musical)
by ZACH ADAM
When a pandemic lockdown traps Jack, a queer musician, in his Tennessee childhood home with his estranged, secretly dying father, a decade of silence finally has an expiration date. Can two people who never learned to speak the same language forgive each other before time runs out?
Wednesday, Aug. 5 - 8 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 6 - 5 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 7 - 8 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 8 - 2 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 9 - 5 p.m.
JUGULAR
by DANIEL R. O'BRIEN
Three apex combatants—a single-minded African-American attorney, a ruthless bureaucratic titan and a femme fatale—are locked in an ideological fight to the death in this political satire, when a newly appointed federal investigator challenges an entrenched government system and all hell breaks loose.
Wednesday, July 29 - 8 p.m.
Friday, July 31 - 5 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 1 - 5 p.m.
MAN IN MOTION
by ALAN BROOKS
Three best friends, eager to sink their money into a surefire investment scheme, have two days to convince a fourth friend to invest with them, but they are stymied by his timidity and by one of their wives, who smells a rat. Convinced it's a scam, she fights to expose the truth and to save the men from themselves.
Wednesday, Aug. 12 - 2 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 13 - 5 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 15 - 8 p.m.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME, AGAIN
(a musical) by STEPHEN H. GARDNER
After his wife's death, Jesse is racked by guilt for choosing career over love. A workplace meltdown forces him into therapy, where songwriting becomes his unexpected doorway into truth. At 65, armed with hard-won insight and shaky courage, he stumbles into the bewildering dating world—an often comic, always tender quest to see whether a second great love is possible.
Wednesday, Aug. 5 - 5 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 6 - 8 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 7 - 2 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 8 - 8 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 9 - 2 p.m.
ONE NIGHT AT THE BLACKBIRD
by THOMAS MULLEN and
MARIA MESSIAS MENDES
In the Seventh Ward funeral home where it's said that jazz was born, Lucy (ifer)—infamous banished angel and club owner—has hosted dead legends in her secret nightclub since the Civil War. Tired of the music, she's threatening to shutter it, despite the pleadings of her manager who's hellbent to change her mind.
Wednesday, Aug. 12 - 8 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 14 - 5 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 16 - 2 p.m.
RECOVERY
by GARY MARLON GERE
On Christmas Eve, 2001, FDNY Lieutenant Leo Camp remains at Ground Zero, driven to find his missing NYPD brother. As pressure mounts from his superiors to remove him, Leo spirals into guilt, anger and obsession. His only counterforce is a British chaplain who quietly forces him to confront his faith and what he can't change.
Thursday, Aug. 13 - 8 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 14 - 2 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 15 - 5 p.m.
SAY MY NAME
by JEFF PERLMAN
When a small‑city mayor begins seeing the ghost of a Black teenager killed by police, his political life unravels. Driven to expose the systems that enabled the boy’s death, he loses allies and safety as the silent apparition pushes him toward buried truths. To free the ghost, he must confront collective guilt, the limits of reform, and the courage required to let go.
Thursday, July 23 - 2 p.m.
Saturday, July 25 - 8 p.m.
Sunday, July 26 - 5 p.m.
SOCIETY 2.0
by ERIC PZENA
When AI replaces every human job overnight, millions—including meticulous ex‑accountant Greg—are left adrift. With 29 days of savings, Greg, with the help of a Support Bot modeled after his ex-girlfriend, must advance through absurd trials in a humiliating survival competition where the unemployed must justify their existence to billionaire elites.
Wednesday, Aug. 12 - 5 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 14 - 8 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 15 - 2 p.m.
THE KITCHEN
by EARL CRITTENDEN
Evelyn plots to secure her grandmother's coveted rent-controlled Manhattan apartment as her future home for her and her fiancé. But when the secret kitchen renovation triggers a legal battle, financial ruin and an avalanche of buried family secrets, Evelyn must learn she can't build a true home until she figures out why hers was broken.
Thursday, July 23 - 5 p.m.
Friday, July 24 - 8 p.m.
Saturday, July 25 - 5 p.m.
THE PERFECT RELATIONSHIP IN BUSHWICK
by ADRIAN CRAWFORD
Set in the Summer of 1996 and inspired by Doric Wilson's "A Perfect Relationship,"Carmelo and Elisendo swear they’re just roommates, despite living like a bickering married couple in a shabby sublet. But when a trick they both slept with and their nosy landlord stir the pot, the men’s denials fray, revealing a tension neither has dared name and a bond more certain than the rent they can barely afford.
Thursday, July 30 - 8 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 1 - 8 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 2 - 5 p.m.
OUR MISSION
How do you get a new play or musical produced in NYC? Broadway Bound Theatre Festival! We are a NYC-based developmental theatre festival in the truest sense. There are economic barriers to producing in the greatest theatre city in the world. And few options for artists eager to get their work on a professional stage. BBTF strives to create an environment that guarantees our playwrights receive all aspects of support for their new works. Collaboration is one of our cornerstones, as playwrights become part of something much bigger than themselves and their plays. During the process, they're provided one-on-one dramaturgy, online workshops and readings of their work, roundtable talkbacks, full technical and FOH support, and insight into the ever-changing landscape of American theater, while learning the business of self producing. The result is a constructive, encouraging environment and a creative community accepting of all, exclusive of none giving you an experience of a lifetime.
OUR SUBMISSION PROCESS
BBTF is one of the only fully curated festivals in New York City. Each script is considered with care and appreciation, undergoing a rigorous evaluation process in which structure, content and character development, as well as development potential are reviewed and discussed. All submissions receive a critique, regardless of acceptance. Participants commit to multiple rewrites of their work under dramaturgical direction and collaboration before production, ensuring the strongest iteration of their work is presented to the public at an affordable price.
"The Broadway Bound Theatre Festival has been helping playwrights develop their works since 2016."
New York Needs Theatre Festivals
TIMES SQUARE CHRONICLES
OUR VENUE
BBTF makes its home at AMT theater on 45th Street. This Off-Broadway venue boasts state-of-the-art technology in a fully renovated, air conditioned space in the heart of midtown, close to all public transportation and Times Square.
Special thanks to our corporate sponsor
At Carlstrom Productions, we know all about what goes into producing great theatre, by providing Broadway caliber events for some of the most innovative companies around the globe. We're proud sponsors of the festival and thrilled to be a part of introducing these new works to the theatre world.