BETC’s New Play Development Program

BETC’s new play development program, Generations, features the work of parent playwrights with children under 18. The name comes from BETC’s goals for the program: to welcome all generations into the theater to see new plays, and to empower playwrights to generate new work.

Each season, BETC selects one playwright through a national competition to join us in Boulder for a one-week residency.  During the residency week, the playwright works with a professional director, dramaturg, and actors to develop the selected script.  The week concludes with a public reading and post-reading conversation.

Our 2021 competition will open in Spring 2021.

BETC’s Generations program is made possible in part by the Sustainable Arts Foundation.
Generations Program Sponsors: Ann Bateson & Frank Everts

2020 Generations Playwright in Residence

Our 2020 winning playwright was born in Mexico City and grew up in Houston, Texas. As an actor, he voiced a number of characters in the Oscar- winning film Coco. He has appeared on Lucifer, Criminal Minds, NCIS: LA, The Bold and The Beautiful, Notorious, Henry Danger, The Good Wife and Blue Bloods. He has been in over 50 national commercials, including two Super Bowl ads. As a playwright, his play The Giant Void in My Soul was nominated for the 2018 Ovation Awards, The Los Angeles Critics Circle Awards, and The Stage Raw Awards. Neighbors: A Fair Trade Agreement was a Semi Finalist for The O’Neil Playwright Conference in 2016. It received productions at INTAR in NYC, the home of Latinx theatre, and at The Studio Theatre in Tierra Del Sol, Florida. He also co-wrote Spanish Class, which won Best Comedy at the NBC Short Film Festival in 2018.

In The Play You Want, fed up by the theatre world’s desires to box him in, Mexican playwright Bernardo Cubría sarcastically pitches “Nar-Cocos,” a play about drug dealers on Dia de los Muertos. Much to his surprise, the Public Theatre picks it up. With financial pressures mounting and a newborn at home, this is his chance at a commercial success. But when Scott Rudin offers him a Broadway run on the condition he further exploit his identity and the headlines, he must decide just how much he’s willing to compromise in order to finally be accepted. Click HERE to learn more about the creative team for the 2020 Generations reading. (Note: This play contains mature language. Viewer discretion is advised.)

Past Playwrights in Residence

BETC takes pleasure in supporting our parent playwright residents’ writing careers post-residency, and advocating for production of their plays through connections within the National New Play Network.

Generations Playwright Commissions