BPT Launches Incubator Program with a Cohort of 4 New Plays

Boston Playwrights’ Theatre launched its new play support program — the New Play Incubator at BPT — with four projects playing at BPT between March and August 2026.

The BPT New Play Incubator Program lowers barriers for the production of new plays through subsidized space rental rates and meaningful partnership and mentorship with BPT staff. Each year, BPT reserves eight to 12 weeks of time on the Kate Snodgrass Stage for Incubator productions. Each project receives a minimum of two weeks to a maximum of five weeks, depending on the needs of the project.

New plays of all types are considered, with a priority given for plays by New England writers. Playwrights must be living and involved in the project, and there must be a producing team attached to the production, i.e. an existing theatre company or a creative team assembled for this project. To be considered, the play may have had readings or developmental workshops, but may not have had more than one previous production (including academic productions).

"I’m thrilled to welcome these four projects to our stage and can’t wait to see how the scripts develop during and as a result of their residencies at BPT," BPT Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian said. "Playwrights Ally Sass, Jillian Blevins, John Minigan and James Wilkinson are outstanding local writers whose plays are beautiful, important and unique. As BPT figures out how to do more with less, the Incubator program is the ideal way to continue to support the encounter between artists, audiences, and new plays."

The four productions in the inaugural cohort are: Modern Beauty by Ally Sass, performing March 26 through March 28; (re)Dressing Miss Havisham by John Minigan, performing May 22 though 24; Morphology by Jillian Blevins, performing July 23 through July 26; and M: Refractions from an Evil Act by James Wilkinson, performing July 31 through August 9.

Each production will receive rehearsal and performance space in BPT’s Kate Snodgrass Stage at deeply subsidized rates, access to BPT’s technical stock and to the production expertise of BPT staff. Playwrights will also receive feedback and support from Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian, one of Boston’s premiere new play directors.

The productions include:

MODERN BEAUTY
Commissioned to write a personal essay for The New York Times, celebrated author Raina seeks out her old high school friend, Julie, to revisit a complicated memory of their shared past. The reunion exposes the starkly different choices that have defined them as women, artists and friends, forcing Raina to re-consider what is fit for print. 

Playwright: Ally Sass
Director: Ally Sass
Assistant Director: Shai Vaknine
Producer: Ally Sass
Cast: Hava Horowitz, Ariel Rivkin  
Performance Dates: March 26 through March 28, 2026

(RE)DRESSING MISS HAVISHAM
Miranda, an actor with a background in criminology, opens up the “cold case” death of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations in order to solve the mystery, interrogate Dickens’ view of women, and discover for herself – an intentionally unmarried and unpartnered forty-something – whether it’s possible to not just avoid death but find true happiness alone. On a journey aided by forensics, research, personal experience, and even a “murder board,” Miranda moves into and out of character as Dickens' "spinster" until a crisis in the case brings unexpected closure.

Playwright: John Minigan
Director: Peter Sampieri
Producer: Neil McGarry
Cast: Miranda Jonté
Stage Manager: Summer Bates
Performance Dates: May 19 through 24, 2026

MORPHOLOGY
Early 00’s. Nico, a nonverbal Autistic teenager, longs to be understood by his mother Claudia, a former academic who longs most for him to speak. When Claudia’s own mother Arlene intervenes and tries to convince Claudia to place Nico in a group home, their attempts to reach each other grow more desperate, Nico reaches out to one creature he thinks might understand him, and their carefully balanced world starts coming undone. Written in a mix of verse and prose, MORPHOLOGY explores the power and inadequacy of language, what it means to know one another, and what we can learn from deep sea biology.

Playwright: Jillian Blevins
Director: Peter Sampieri
Producer: 52 Hertz
Performance Dates: July 23 through July 26, 2026

M: REFRACTIONS FROM AN EVIL ACT
Exiled Theatre is proud to present a world premiere play by local playwright, James Wilkinson. A late-night return. A hotel room that feels… wrong. Traveling abroad, a woman’s unease after a night out deepens into something far more insidious. The staff watches too closely. A man appears, disappears, and reappears. Time loops, memory fractures, and the past begins to repeat itself. As identities blur and reality destabilizes, she must escape the hotel before she’s trapped by its history.

Playwright: James Wilkinson
Director: Joe Juknievich
Producers: Morganna Becker and Laura Crook Waxdal
Performance Dates: July 31 through August 9, 2026

Our alumni have had their work produced around the country and the world, on Broadway, on Netflix, and in wonderful regional theaters large and small. Our alums include Melinda Lopez, Ronán Noone, Molly Smith Metzler, Zayd Dohrn, Alexis Scheer, Eliana Pipes, Karen Zacarías and many more extraordinary writers and humans.