Reading turns theatrical at BPP

In an attempt to bring audience feedback to life on stage, the Bloomington Playwrights Project will have their final staged reading for the BloomingPlays Development Series from 11 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
 
Sponsored by the Indianapolis Theatre Association, the readings will be put on at the BPP’s theater in downtown Bloomington.

The series features eight plays written by what the BPP, in a press release, called “the Hoosier state’s finest up-and-coming playwrights.” During the series, all eight scripts are read in front of an audience as part of the playwrights’ development process.
 
Gabe Gloden, the BPP’s managing director, said the theater company held an open call for submissions during the summer and chose the best plays out of about 100 submissions.

“The plays were different lengths and topics,” Gloden said. “The glue that holds them together is that each playwright is from Indiana.”

The BloomingPlays Development Series began the weekend of Aug. 1 and 2  and was also conducted on Nov. 14 and 15. Like past events, upcoming staged readings are free and open to the public.

“Some people love readings,” Gloden said. “It’s not as stuffy an environment, it’s more relaxed.”

As in the past, the readings are followed by a feedback session so audience members can help each playwright edit their scripts before submitting them for the BPP’s BloomingPlays Festival in May. This weekend’s readings are the last of the series before the scripts are submitted.

Gloden, who wrote a play in the series titled “How To Kill,” said he really benefited from the feedback during the first two readings.

“I got a lot of great feedback,” Gloden said. “The best feedback I got came in the form of questions. It was very helpful.”

Some of the eight plays to be read this weekend include: “Virginia’s Last Drive,” by Matt Anderson, a story about an 80-year-old woman testing for her driver’s license; and “Thespian,” by Chris White, about two construction workers from Brooklyn that are riding an uptown subway.

Gloden said four of the plays selected for the festival will become full productions at the BPP, but the theater company always has a lofty goal in mind for every play they help produce.

“Our ultimate goal is to submit them to national competitions,” he said.