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Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company cares about playwrights who have kids. Of course, yeah, they care about other playwrights, too. But BETC Generations is the company’ s play writing competition and workshop opportunity for dramatists who have children under eighteen years old. 

 The venture has evolved. The first incarnation of Generations was a different idea entirely (then called The Generations Project). A couple of us would meet with a group of seniors over the course of several weeks, simply to help document stories from their lives. Then we split up and massaged these stories into a site-specific play. It was a successful event, and since Generations has morphed, it definitely feels more at home with the Boulder Ensemble family. 

 “Coming out of that, we were looking for a way to put more of an emphasis on new play development,” Producing Ensemble Director Stephen Weitz said. “We identified a funding source called Sustainable Arts Foundation which supports artists and writers specifically with families. It was a great connection to who we are as a company, so we switched it into an open play competition.”

The subject matter of the plays does not need to have anything to do with parenting. Other than the having-young-kids requirement, there are few limitations. The play must be a full-length, unproduced play requiring fewer than seven actors. 

 “That’s just to keep it to a level so that it’ s something that we could conceivably produce,” Weitz said. “Developing a play is like looking for a house. We look for a strong structure and strongly drawn characters. Clear narrative arc. When I talk to the writers, the first question I ask them is, ‘ for you, what is this play about? What do you want us to leave thinking about?’  And then, with a little guidance and love from our creative team, we’ re going to help mine the best story…I hear from a lot of playwrights. Other competitions are helpful, but a lot of them are not workshopping the plays in detail. Writers have told us that it’ s really exciting to get to work with a group of actors for a week, and to spend a little more time with the words of the play.”

I asked Heather Beasley, Director of Programs and Grants, how BETC Generations differs from other writing competitions. 

 “A fair number of other competitions offer the winning playwright a residency and a staged reading with public feedback,” Beasley said. “But we’ re the only one that offers a childcare stipend during the residency…I also think the quality of our residency experience is unique. We put in roughly 30 hours of table work, director/dramaturg/playwright script meetings, and staging time prior to the public reading, over just six days. The two playwrights who have completed the residency so far have both spoken about the intensity of our focus on their own goals for their work. Our creative team serves the winning play by making space for the playwright to rewrite, hone, and strengthen the script at the residency’ s center.”

And, music to many writers’  ears, BETC does not require submission fees—a factor that Simon Fill, the Generations winner from 2015 can appreciate. The program helped him “provide that elusive affirmation so many playwrights have to contend with,” Fill said. 

 “Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’ s professionalism, passion for my new play Burning Cities, their genuine desire to make the play as strong as possible while keeping my artistic vision and voice intact, their lack of ego—all these qualities permeated the play development process…Stephen, Heather, and the actors provided a great deal of feedback. I was present for every rehearsal, and revised during them. I did larger revisions day and night when not in rehearsals. The atmosphere at rehearsals was warm, passionate, and honest. There was a total focus on improving the play.”

Heather Beasley, again, emphasized the importance of including parents of young kids as writers. “Want more successful women playwrights and playwrights of color? Make sure more playwrights can keep writing, and cover their basic expenses while doing it, so they can keep writing through their parenting years…Parent playwrights need to tell the stories of our young families, or caring for our aging parents and kids at the same time, or the pressures parenting puts on a marriage, and all the many stories of middle age. Because they’ re our stories to tell.”

For more information, or to eventually submit to Generations (BETC starts accepting submissions again sometime late in the summer), visit http://www.boulderensembletheatre.org/. Overall, Generations has been fantastic for BETC, and Stephen Weitz feels like it’ s “a good mirror to who we are as a company,” adding…“All the members of our staff have young children. We fight that battle between doing good creative work, and supporting our families. Developing plays is important. If theatres don’ t take on the development of good work, then we as a company shouldn’ t be surprised if we can’ t find good BETC plays.”

jhartwell@dramatistsguild.com