Boston Playwrights' Theatre to Continue 2016-17 Season with THE HONEY TRAP

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) continues its 2016-17 season with The Honey Trap by Leo McGann. Running from February 16-26, this new drama is directed by Adam Kassim.

What seems to be a typical night at a pub turns into something much darker for two off-duty British soldiers in 1979. Decades later, an oral history project reopens old wounds for one of the soldiers and sends him back to Ireland in search of answers and revenge.

The Honey Trap is set in playwright McGann's hometown of Belfast, which he describes as "a place where the present is rarely free from the past."

McGann completed the first draft of the play in 2014; last year The Honey Trap (under its previous title, In the Moment) was the recipient of Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Excellence Award.

"It's exciting to now see the production coming together and to collaborate with a talented company via the BU New Play Initiative, all bringing their own instincts and experiences," McGann says. "I have lived in Ireland, England and now America, and the characters in The Honey Trap hail from all three. The play explores this relationship of the past and present through memory, guilt, recrimination, and retribution."

The production features Barlow Adamson, Maureen Keiller, Maggie Markham, Grace Ralbovsky, Conrad Sundqvist-Olmos, Ben Swimmer and Sarah Whelan.

A post-show conversation with The Honey Trap's playwright, director, and cast members will follow the Feb. 18 performance.

McGann is a member of the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2017. Director Kassim is working toward his M.F.A. in Directing, also at Boston University. He has worked with several area theatres, including Office for the Arts at Harvard University, Citi Performing Arts Center, New Repertory Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage, and Bad Habit Productions.

Five of this season's plays were written by the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2017. Four, including The Honey Trap, are co-produced with the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre-part of its New Play Initiative-and feature collaborations between graduate-level playwrights and directors.

BPT's season continues in March with Franklin by Samantha Noble. Mary Conroy's Every Piece of Me will close the season in April.

IF YOU GO:

The Honey Trap by Leo McGann

Directed by Adam Kassim

February 16-26, 2017
Press Night: Saturday, February 18 (8 p.m.)
Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m.

At Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

Tickets: Adults ($30); BU Faculty/Staff ($25); Seniors-62+ ($25); Students with valid ID ($10); Three-Play Flex Pass ($50)
Call 866.811.4111 or visit www.bostonplaywrights.org

Founded in 1981 at Boston University by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) is an award-winning professional theatre dedicated to new works. At the heart of BPT's mission is the production of new plays by alumni of its M.F.A. Playwriting Program, the latter in collaboration with Boston University's renowned School of Theatre. The program's award-winning alumni have been produced in regional and New York houses, as well as in London's West End. BPT's productions have been honored with numerous regional and Boston awards, including 12 IRNE Awards for Best New Script and six Boston Critics' Association Elliot Norton Awards.

The BU New Play Initiative (NPI) expresses the Boston University College of Fine Arts' commitment to the School of Theatre's participation in the development of new work. This special initiative provides playwrights, directors, designers, and actors with a variety of developmental options to support the collaborative creation of new work for the theatre. Students, faculty, alumni, and guest artists are given the opportunity to utilize the creativity of the rehearsal room to develop their plays, which are then presented through workshop productions. The life of these new plays doesn't end on the BU stages. Many New Play Initiative productions are often later fully produced by member companies of our Professional Theatre Initiative, including the School of Theatre's professional extension-Boston Center for American Performance. Go to www.bu.edu/cfa/npi for more information.

Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized private research university with more than 30,000 students participating in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. BU consists of 17 colleges and schools along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes which are central to the school's research and teaching mission. Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts is a top-tier fine arts institution. Comprised of the School of Music, School of Theatre, and School of Visual Arts, CFA offers professional training in the arts in conservatory-style environments for undergraduate and graduate students, complemented by a liberal arts curriculum for undergraduate students.

LEO MCGANN is a Belfast-born playwright. He began writing with Tinderbox Theatre Company who staged his short play Friends Like These at the Grand Opera House in Belfast as part of their Fireworks Programme in 2009. After a move to London he was a part of the Young Writers Programme and the Studio Group at the Royal Court, and worked in TV and Radio production at the BBC. Before beginning his M.F.A. studies in Playwriting at Boston University in 2014, he earned his Bachelors in Modern History from the University of Oxford. The first draft of The Honey Trap-then titled In the Moment-won the National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Excellence Award at the 48th Annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C.

Director ADAM KASSIM is a staff member and M.F.A. Directing candidate at Boston University School of Theatre. Recent directing credits: Mrs. Packard, Ghosts, and In the Heart of America. In addition, he has worked with numerous arts organizations and theatre companies in the Boston area, including Office for the Arts at Harvard University, Citi Performing Arts Center, New Repertory Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage, and Bad Habit Productions. B.F.A., Boston University, 2005.