2024 Blue Ink Festival

About the Plays

THE CONQUERED   (winner of 2024 Blue Ink Award)
by Ken Urban
directed Dexter Bullard^
Friday, Aug 2 at 7:00pm

featuring Audrey Billings^, Joslyn Jones^, Steve Key^, & Gabriel Matthews

Jane is adrift. She suffers a recurring nightmare in which a young man breaks into her house. She looks to her husband and therapist for answers. But her quest leads to a dangerous discovery.

To request a perusal script, please contact LVirkstis@WMEagency.com.

KEN URBAN is a playwright, screenwriter, and musician. His audio play VAPOR TRAIL was selected for the 2022 Tribeca Festival’s Audio Storytelling series and released as part of Playwrights Horizons’ Sound Stage that fall. His stage plays include A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK (Huntington Theatre Company, Trafalgar Studios in the West End), THE REMAINS (Studio Theatre), SENSE OF AN ENDING (59E59 Theatres, London’s Theatre503), NIBBLER (The Amoralists and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), THE CORRESPONDENT (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), THE AWAKE (59E59 Theatres, Chicago’s First Floor Theater), and THE HAPPY SAD (The Public Theatre/Summer Play Festival). He is a four-time recipient of the prestigious MacDowell Fellowship. Awards include Venturous Theater Fund Finishing Commission, EST/Alfred P. Sloan Science & Technology Project Commission, Weissberger Playwriting Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Independent Reviewers of New England’s Award for Best New Script, Headlands Artist Residency, Millay Arts Residency, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship. He is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and an affiliated writer at the Playwrights’ Center. Ken wrote the screenplay for the feature-film adaptation of THE HAPPY SAD, directed by Rodney Evans. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service/Broadway Licensing. He leads the band Occurrence and their latest album SLOW VIOLENCE was released in April 2023. Their music has been described as “a sonic tapestry that blends elements of indie pop, electronic music and shoegaze into a seamless whole” (PLASTIC MAGAZINE) and called a band that is “thinking big” (V13). The band collaborated with choreographer Dan Safer at MIT’s Theater Arts program on a devised dance theater piece based on the album. That production was filmed and will screen in New York City and Boston. His first TV pilot THE ART OF LISTENING was optioned by ITV and Madison Wells Media. He is currently working on five new stage plays and a feature film. Ken is the Senior Lecturer of Theater Arts and Director of Dramatic Writing at MIT. He has taught writing at Harvard University, Princeton University, Tufts University and Davidson College. He lives in Washington Heights with his partner Johnny.

GRIT
by Nick Malakhow
directed Ana Velazquez^
Saturday, Aug 3 at 1:00pm

featuring Bryanna Ciera Colón & TJ Thomas.

At Dunston-Hall Academy, Raymond, a returning junior, and Sasha, a new sophomore, meet and bond over being two of the “scholarship kids” at a mostly white boarding school, the stupid stuff their white hallmates say, feeling like fish out of water both at home and at DHA, and their passions for music and art. Their growing friendship is tested, however, when they must navigate a series of personal tragedies, uncomfortable revelations, and betrayals as the fall semester unfolds.

To request a perusal script, please go to his New Play Exchange (NPX) page.

NICK MALAKHOW (he/him) is a multi-racial, Dominican-and-Ukrainian-American writer and theater educator. His full-length work includes AFFINITY LUCH MINUTES (2021 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2022 Princess Grace Finalist), A PICTURE OF TWO BOYS (upcoming World Premiere at New Conservatory Theater Center, 2022 BAPF Finalist), SEEING EYE (Victory Gardens Ignition Festival, Fresh Ink Ink Spot Festival, finalist for the 2019 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and the 2018 LTC/HowlRound Carnaval), and GRIT (2021 Princess Grace Award Finalist, developed with Playhouse on Park). He has had work developed or produced by the Local Theatre Company, Butterfly Effect Theater of Colorado, Ithaca College Theatre Department, the Open Theatre Project, the Q Collective, the Boston Theater Marathon, and more. Nick was a Company One Playlab Unit member for C1’s 2019 season, and he is currently under commission by Seattle Rep.]

YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM
by Brittany Fisher
directed by Manny Buckley^
Saturday, Aug 3 at 4:30pm

featuring Venice Averyheart, Kevin Duvall, Ajax Dontavius^, Ernest B. Henton V., Jamía Amíra Taylor, & Wandachristine^

A family living in the Deep South struggles to come together – and the tension surrounding their very different beliefs reaches a boiling point – in this bizarre and darkly funny exploration of race, identity, and the deep-rooted trauma that continues to haunt the Black race in America.

To request a perusal script, please contact LVirkstis@WMEAgency.com.

BRITTANY FISHER is an NYC-based playwright with roots in Richmond, VA, and recent graduate of Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. Her play How to Bruise Gracefully won the 2021 Kennedy Center Lorraine Hansberry Award and was recognized by the Rosa Parks Award and Paula Vogel Award. Her play Your Regularly Scheduled Programming was a 2022 O’Neill NPC selection (to be developed in 2023) and recognized by the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Award. She was a 2018-20 Pipeline New Works Playwriting Fellow, and her work has been featured at and developed with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, National Black Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Conference, the Alliance Theatre’s Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, Cadence Theatre Company and Virginia Repertory Theatre. She received her B.A. from James Madison University.

^Ensemble members and Artistic Affiliates of American Blues Theater

About the Blue Ink Award

The nationally-renowned Blue Ink Award was created in 2010 to support new work. Since inception, we’ve named 14 Award winners, 148 finalists, and 233 semi-finalists. Nearly $10,000 in cash and prizes will be distributed to playwrights in 2024. Each year American Blues Theater accepts worldwide submissions of original, unpublished full-length plays. The winning play will be selected by Executive Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside and the theater’s Ensemble. Cash prizes are awarded to finalists and semi-finalists too.  All proceeds of the administrative fee are distributed for playwrights’ cash prizes.

Submissions for the 2025 Blue Ink Award open August 1, 2024. All submissions must be received by American Blues Theater by August 31, 2024 at 11:59pm. Playwrights may only submit one (1) manuscript each year for consideration.

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