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ELIGIBILITY & FEES​​

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  • Straight plays only

    • 90 minutes maximum runtime

    • 60 minutes minimum runtime

    • No intermission, please

    • Solo shows acceptable

  • No age restriction

  • No musicals or performance art, please

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$40 - Submission Fee--

A nonrefundable reader fee for all applicants, which compensates the professional writers who read your scripts and compose the critique you receive upon the close of submissions.

 

$1000 - Acceptance Fee - 

A one-time, non-refundable fee that applies ONLY if your show is accepted. This fee covers your three full performances at the Powerhouse Theatre in New Canaan located in the bucolic setting of Waveny Park. It also includes our trademark training: all the tools we feel playwrights need to effectively and affordably produce and market their plays, including regular information packets, workshops, rewrite sessions and a private Facebook forum. 

(Please note: the costs associated with your production are separate.)

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SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!

BBTF is an opportunity for serious playwrights to become empowered and actively shape their success and development as theatre-makers. This is our vision. These are the standards we hold ourselves to and the shift we want to create in our community.

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KEY DATES

             for BBTF 2024​

 

Step 1

March 10, 2024

Submission and application deadline 11:59 PM EST. All submissions must be made through this web page. (Late applications, applications mailed via the postal serve, e-mailed or via social media will not be accepted – no exceptions.)

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Step 2

End of March 2024

Finalists interviews with festival General Manager, via telephone.

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Step 3

April 1-15, 2024

Acceptance offers for the10 available participation slots .

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Step 4

April 30, 2024

Deadline for participants to submit signed contract and non-refundable participation fee. 

OUR SUBMISSION PROCESS

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  • A blind submission process allows for the selection of the highest caliber of writing. All selections are based on the merits of the submission and do not allow the process to be lead (whether consciously or unconsciously) by the expectations inspired by the author's institutional affiliation, reputation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, abilities, age, sexual preference or orientation.
     

  • All submissions are read in full by the Festival Director and members of our Reader Panel, all professional playwrights with published and produced works. (BBTF does not only read the first 10 pages, as other festivals do. Our readers are compensated for their time by your reader fee.)
     

  • All submissions undergo careful scrutiny. Upon completion of the decision-making process, BBTF will email you a brief critique of your script, which should help you understand the reason your play was or was not selected. Our critiques provide dramaturgical advice and professional feedback of your work. ​​

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  • Critiquing Rubric: Each play is vetted using the BBTF critiquing rubric. It consists of two categories: Plot Development and Character Development. The third category is where we share our non-prescriptive advice on how to make your play stronger. 

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  • BBTF will never put our stamp on any of the shows it co-produces. We neither require any acknowledgment in future productions as other festivals do, nor do we take a percentage of future revenues nor require the distribution of producer points.

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