Avant Bard Announces SCRIPTS IN PLAY

Fresh off a recently announced rebrand to coincide with its 30th anniversary season, Avant Bard Theatre announces Scripts In Play: Season 30, featuring a special presentation of Happenstance Theater's BrouHaHa at Theatre on the Run.

Scripts In Play, Avant Bard's signature play-reading series, showcases fresh scripts with huge potential, presented by rising local professional talent. This year's selection is about new stories that engage with the past. That might mean stories from antiquity told in a new way, or a fresh twist on characters from the theatrical canon, or stories from history not yet well known. In each specially-curated live event, you'll see artists reckoning right now with what it means to be a classic today.

Last year, Avant Bard began headlining the festival with Avant Bard Presents, featuring weekend-long runs of full production from top local performance groups. This year, Avant Bard presents Happenstance Theater's BrouHaHa, December 6-8. Happenstance is a professional company committed to devising, producing and touring original, performer-created visual, poetic Theatre. Their ensemble is made up of multi-talented performers who craft all aspects of their work from concept to realization.

BrouHaHa is an existential escapade inspired by images of refugees fleeing on foot, Edwardian workers, cinematic treasures like La Strada and The Seventh Seal, and the dark comedy of Samuel Beckett.

From December 13-22, Scripts In Play will present six unique staged readings, entirely free of admission, showcasing fresh new plays and the hottest up-and-coming talent in the region. Since the inaugural festival in 2016, six scripts have been selected for full production by Avant Bard: The Good Devil (in Spite of Himself); the Helen Hayes Award-nominated TAME.; Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight; Illyria, or What You Will; last season's comic hit A Misanthrope; and Ada and the Engine, which Avant Bard will produce in 2020 as a part of the Avant Bard Spring Repertory. The full schedule of readings and descriptions is below.

"It's one of the most exciting parts of our season," says Festival Curator and Avant Bard's Associate Producer Quill Nebeker. "This year, we've stepped up our game. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the incredible work of [Festival Producer] Jon Jon Johnson. He's tapped us into a whole new network of amazing plays, of directors and performers...This year's class of Scripts In Play artists is stacked."

"It is my honour to be serving as Festival Producer, having previously participated in the past as a reader, director, playwright, and actor," says Johnson. "I'm excited to bring together veteran and newcomer alike into a celebration of artistry and growth with Avant Bard."

Website: www.avantbard.org/tickets

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