Information for Playwrights

New Voices. Bold Ideas. Fresh stories. This is where theatre meets play.

WHAT

The Bryan Wade Brave New Play Rites Festival is an annual festival of excerpts of play readings written by UBC Creative Writing students. Founded in 1986 by the late Bryan Wade, the festival is gearing up to celebrate its 39th year!

WHERE AND WHEN

The 2025 festival will occur March 11th - 15th 2025, nightly at 7:00 p.m. at the Dorothy Somerset Studio (6361 University Blvd) at UBC.

STUDENT ELIGIBILITY

Any creative writing student taking 6 credits hours (3 credits in Term 1 and 3 credits in Term 2) of a 400-level or 500-level playwriting class is eligible to participate in the festival.

FESTIVAL GUIDELINES AND POLICIES

  • The festival features excerpts of staged readings

  • Play excerpts must not exceed 15 minutes of playing time (which translates to roughly 15 pages in length)

  • Excerpts have a suggested cast size of 3. We will make every effort to cast your 3 actors with as much specificity and care as possible. If your piece has additional actors, please note that we may not be able to accommodate specific casting requirements.

  • Technical requests beyond basic lighting and sound cannot be accommodated and are at the discretion of the director in conversation with the producers.

WHAT’S INVOLVED

  • Two 1-hour workshops with a director and group of actors

  • One week between workshops to revise your script

  • 1 Dress Rehearsal and 1 Performance

IMPORTANT DATES (subject to change)

  • Sunday, October 27th 2024                Survey Submissions Due

  • Sunday, December 1st 2024               Playwright Submission Form Due (incl. rough draft of excerpt)

  • February 1st - 16th 2025                    1st round of workshops

  • February 23rd - March 8th 2025        2nd round of workshops

  • March 11th - 15th 2025                      Dress Rehearsals and Performances

HOW TO SUBMIT

Submission forms will be available online and shared with your class in early November. In the mean time, please complete this BNPR Survey on or before Sunday, October 27th to indicate your interest in participating. It will also help us plan our auditions, casting, and festival scheduling!  

QUESTIONS?

Contact us at crwr.bravenew@ubc.ca