BPT to Present Boston Theater Marathon XVI, 5/11

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) presents the 16th annual Boston Theater Marathon and the sixth year of The Warm-Up Laps. The Boston Theater Marathon features 53 ten-minute plays, by 55 New England playwrights, produced by 53 New England theatres in ten hours.

For more than a decade, the Boston Theater Marathon - to be held on May 11 - has brought together playwrights, directors and theatres in an effort to foster collaboration between artists and producers. Many playwrights have enjoyed full-length productions with collaborating theatres because of relationships forged during the Boston Theater Marathon.

On May 10, the Warm-Up Laps will feature Romeo Chang by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich at 12 p.m. (sponsored by SpeakEasy Stage Company); Judith by Julian Olf at 2 p.m. (sponsored by Boston Playwrights' Theatre); and One Day Earlier by Constance Congdon at 4 p.m. (sponsored by Huntington Theatre Company). The Warm-Up Laps are presented in collaboration with The Boston Center for the Arts and their resident theatres in Hall A on the second floor of the Calderwood Pavilion. The readings are free and open to the public.

New this year - in collaboration with the Dramatists Guild of America - are the One-Minute Sprints. Ten one-minute plays will be read prior to each of the plays in the Warm-Up Laps. Playwrights were asked to write the shorts using the theme "Time is running out."

Net proceeds from ticket sales to the Boston Theater Marathon will benefit the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund, which provides financial support to theatres and theatre artists in times of need.

The Boston Theater Marathon is supported in part by the Boston University Center for the Humanities.