The 40th Annual Bryan Wade Brave New Play Rites Festival is happening March 9th – 13th!
VANCOUVER, February 28th 2026 – The 40th annual Bryan Wade Brave New Play Rites Festival (BNPR), produced by the UBC School of Creative Writing, will take place at the Dorothy Somerset Studios on UBC Campus in Vancouver from March 10th – 13th at 7:00 p.m. nightly.
BNPR was founded 40 years ago by Professor Bryan Wade (1950-2022), who believed that the best way for emerging playwrights to learn was to see their plays on their feet in front of a live audience.
The festival features 22 brand new 10-minute plays written by UBC Creative Writing students, directed and performed by artists from UBC and beyond. 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.
Each evening of the festival runs approximately 80 minutes with no intermission. The Dorothy Somerset Studio is a wheelchair accessible venue.
A detailed festivals schedule and ticketing information (Pay-What-You-Can, with a recommended ticket price of $15) are available at: https://www.bravenewplayrites.com/
For more information, or to arrange an interview with the festival producers, directors, or playwrights, please contact crwr.bravenew@ubc.ca
