For the 38th year in a row, the Bryan Wade Brave New Play Rites Festival (BNPR), produced by the UBC School of Creative Writing, will take place at the Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre in Vancouver from March 19 to March 22 at 7:00 pm.
Named in honour of UBC’s Professor Bryan Wade (who passed away in 2022), BNPR is an annual event to recognize the amazing work done by the school’s student playwrights. Professor Wade believed that the best way for emerging playwrights to learn was to see their plays in front of a live audience.
With 15-minute staged readings that are the culmination of a year of writing and development, we have aligned the festival with current play development practices throughout North America. In this model, writers have a chance to go deeper into the writing process, to initiate works of scale and ambition, and explore those works with the input of actors (recruited from UBC Theatre & Film and beyond) led by some of Vancouver’s finest theatre artists.
We have a line-up of fifteen plays by talented emerging playwrights. Our directors include award-winning playwrights and performers including David Geary, Nora Vision, Pedro Chamale, and Frances Koncan.
In the past, second and third productions of BNPR scripts have been staged in New York, Toronto and Scotland. Many of the festival’s alumni have gone on to become prominent members of Vancouver’s artistic community.
The venue is located on the ground floor and is wheelchair accessible. Gender-neutral bathrooms are available.
Tickets and a detailed performance schedule are available at https://www.bravenewplayrites.com/
