The New Play Festival is set to take the stage this weekend at FAU. A highlight of the annual event is the Fair Play Initiative – a program dedicated to fostering the creation and advancement of LGBTQ narratives in theater.
The New Play Festival features readings of plays before they hit the stage. The event is produced by the Theatre Lab, FAU’s professional resident company. The festival takes place March 8-10 with the Fair Play Initiative taking place on March 10 and features readings of this year’s winner and last year’s winner.
The Fair Play Initiative is funded by the Our Fund Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to philanthropy benefiting LGBTQ South Floridians.
“Our Fund’s Arts and Culture Fund supports the telling and amplification of LGBTQ stories. The Fair Play Initiative has done a wonderful job at finding and elevating playwrights whose stories need to be told and heard,” said David Jobin, Our Fund Foundation CEO and president, in a statement.
This year’s winner is “Babs and Harold,” which was selected from over a hundred submissions across the country and follows a transgender couple in the 1950s of Virginia. The playwright is D.A. Mindell, a queer transgender disabled Jewish man and MFA candidate at Columbia University studying theater, with a concentration in playwriting.
“All of us at Theatre Lab were fascinated by the proposal’s humor and incisive social commentary,” said Matt Stabile, producing artistic director, in a statement. “Helping to provide a creative space and platform for a playwright like D.A. Mindell aligns perfectly with our mission, and we are incredibly grateful to Our Fund for helping us to provide this unique opportunity.”
Last year’s winner of the Fair Play Initiative that will also be read on March 10 was “La Paloma.” This play explores Miami's LGBTQ+ history at La Paloma, a gathering spot in 1937 for the queer community which faced a violent attack by the Ku Klux Klan, yet defiantly reopened two weeks later.
The playwright Andie Arthur is both a playwright and dramaturg, serving as the co-founding Artistic Director of Lost Girls Theatre, while also holding the position of executive director at the South Florida Theatre League and serving as adjunct faculty at New World School of the Arts.
The New Play Festival is in its eighth year, while this is the fourth year of the Fair Play Initiative.
There are options to purchase packages or individual event tickets, with choices like a six-event bundle priced at $99, a three-event bundle for $55, or single tickets available at $20 each.
“La Paloma” by Andie Arthur
Sunday, March 10 at 12 p.m.
Admission: $20
“Harold and Babs” by D.A. Mindell
Sunday, March 10 at 3 p.m.
Admission: $20