RADIANCE Virtual New Play Showcase to be Livestreamed This December

RADIANCE, a virtual new play showcase, will be livestreamed Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 11AM - 12:30PM Mountain Time on Bucharest Inside the Beltway Facebook Live - After which publicly available on YouTube for viewing and distribution.

Bucharest Inside the Beltway (BiB), is a creative arts platform for local and International Artists to promote their work and collaborate on a myriad of projects, all inspired by the fearless spirit of artists in Bucharest, Romania. BiB proudly presents the professional showcase of its first virtual residency, RADIANCE, which also serves as BiB's Denver launch. The showcase is produced in partnership with Colorado's Wheat Ridge Theatre Company.

In January 2021, over one hundred hopeful playwrights from eight countries around the world applied to be part of BiB's RADIANCE international playwrights residency led by award-winning Romanian-Filipina-American playwright Amanda L. Andrei (MFA USC, Los Angeles). The playwrights had to propose to develop an original play answer to questions inspired by the residency's theme, including: What makes you glow? What makes you rise? What are the shadows, the chemicals, the rays of energy in your life? How do you experience radiance?

After a rigorous application process including Zoom interviews, BiB selected 7 non-binary, female, and male playwrights: from Kenya, Italy, UK, Romania, the Cherokee Nation, the Hmong people, and Mexico. Three of the playwrights also represent BiB's home cities: Bucharest, Washington DC, and Denver. Harnessing the power of Zoom during the global pandemic, Andrei met with the playwrights for eight sessions over summer 2021 as the artists developed their original plays in dialogue with one another. The RADIANCE New Play Showcase features 20 minute excerpts from four of the plays from the residency. The playwrights featured are Minna Lee (Seattle, WA), Anna Pellegrini (London), Maddox Pennington (Washington DC), and Madalina Oprisan (Bucharest).

The showcase will premiere on Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 10 AM Pacific Time, 11 AM Mountain Time, 1 PM Eastern Time, 6 PM GMT, and 8 PM Romania Time on Facebook Live. Tune in through Facebook by watching the livestream on BiB's Facebook page. The broadcast of the plays will be followed by a Q & A with the playwrights. The showcase recording will be publicly available on YouTube following the event. You can RSVP via the Facebook event here: https://fb.me/e/12o2Is6W5

The RADIANCE New Play Showcase Line-Up:

"my home on the moon" by Minna Lee
Directed by Selena Naumoff
Featuring Elyse Dinh, Fern Lim, Quyen Ngo
*A young woman is trapped in a virtual pho restaurant and might be falling in love with an AI.*

"Sandy" by Anna Pellegrini
Directed by Mellisa Taylor
Featuring Abigail Coryell, Sheila Tejada
*If an object had consciousness, what would its thoughts be? What experience of the world would it have? And how would human beings look like from its perspective?*

"ANNEX" by Maddox Pennington
Directed by Maru Garcia
Featuring Gilbert Chavarria, Danielle Gallo, Bailey McCoy, Valera Terranova, Dane Valerio, Kendall Yoder
*ANNEX is a darkly comedic two-act drama about family, fate, and mental illness.*

"The Glow" by Madalina Oprisan
Directed by Maipy Duarte
Featuring Teodora Cristea, Thea Mercoffer, Adina Stetcu
*A play about what family means in a migration context and how relations are shaped by glowing phones.*

Please visit the BiB *RADIANCE* webpage with all details about all participating artists (actors, directors, and playwrights) & their plays -> http://www.bibdenver.com/radiance-playwrights-showcase.html

BiB is led by Executive Director Cristina A. Bejan, who you can contact directly: bucharestinsidethebeltway@gmail.com

For more about BiB, please visit their website and social media:

www.bibdenver.com
Facebook: @bibdenver
Instagram: @bucharestinsidethebeltway
LinkedIn: Bucharest Inside the Beltway