DEAD HOUSE Opens In April At Boston Playwrights' Theatre

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) concludes its 2018-19 season with Dead House by Beirut Balutis. Running from April 18-28, this new drama is directed by Adam Kassim.

Centered on the emotional fallout following the death of a local high school football star in the fictitious town of Bone Flat, Dead House is set in the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania where Balutis grew up.

"Everything is tarnished with a past," says Balutis. "When you think of Pennsylvania you think of Philly or Pittsburgh, but outside of those cities there's a completely different lost world surrounded by woods that can be sexy and dangerous all in the right ways. I always tell people I write about the heartbreaking and tragically comedic life of millennials in Appalachia and the power behind finding a modern and queer (but not necessarily gay) identity in a sometimes unforgiving and conservative place."

Balutis drew inspiration from a class in political playwriting taught by Boston University Visiting Professor of Playwriting Gary Garrison.

"One of our assignments was about writing about gender/identity politics and Gary talked about how the need to write about who you are is extremely important," Balutis says. "I decided to write a queer play. I've always strayed away from writing queer plays. I'm proud of my queerness-I just didn't think I had a voice for the queer community or one that was important as a white gay man. . .What it did was make me look at my own hometown. I asked myself what it was like being queer in the middle of a small conservative apple orchard town, and what stories are lost in Appalachia where most folks graduate and stay local to work on their parents' farms or small local businesses. Who writes their stories? I thought, 'What was important in a town like that for a young high school adult?' The answer-football and bonfires."

A post-show conversation with Dead House's playwright, director and cast members will follow the April 20 performance.

Balutis is a member of the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2019. His works have been developed or produced at the Boston Theater Marathon, Cape May Playwright Symposium and the Mt. Gretna Theatre Festival. Director Kassim is currently an M.F.A. Directing candidate at Boston University. Kassim's directing credits include Leo McGann's award-winning The Honey Trap (BPT), Ghosts (Boston University) and Mrs. Packard (Boston University).

All of this season's plays were written by the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2019. These Actors' Equity Association productions are co-produced with the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre as part of the New Play Initiative.