We believe that playwrights should have an active role in getting their plays produced, and our program will focus on turning writers into Writer/Producers who can meet the challenges of mounting a production while forging strong collaborations with directors, theatre companies, actors, and technicians. We welcome playwrights from around the country and Puerto Rico, and the program will end with a special event at Raíces Brewing Company on August 18, 2024.
Emerging Playwrights Project
Meet Our Playwrights
MEET THIS YEAR’S MENTORS
CRISTINA A. BEJAN has been a practicing theatre artist for over thirty years and is a proud member of the Colorado Theatre Guild, Dramatist Guild of America, the International Center for Women's Playwrights, and the 2022-2023 BETC Writers Group. A playwright, she has written nineteen plays, many of which have been produced in the United States and internationally. She has published six plays (with No Passport Press, Next Stage Press and Solis Press) and has collaborated professionally with Broadway director Lila Neugebauer, UK actress Rosamund Pike, and Romanian actress Maia Morgenstern. Her hit play "Districtland" was bought for TV development in 2015. Bejan has directed, assistant directed, sound designed, dialect coached, marketed, produced and worked as dramaturg or actor on countless productions. She trained at Northwestern University, Interlochen Center for the Arts and Washington DC's Studio Theatre Conservatory. She has collaborated with the Source Theatre (DC, Mead Theater Lab Program), Mosaic Theater Company (DC), Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (DC), Theatre J (DC), Washington DC Coalition for Theatre and Social Justice, Wilton's Music Hall (London), Teatrul Foarte Mic (Bucharest), Burning Coal Theatre (Raleigh, NC) and Fearless Theatre (Denver, CO), among others. Her work has been featured in the Colorado Women's Theatre Festival, Peace for Ukraine Readings (Baron's Court Theatre, London), Capital Fringe Festival, DC Black Theatre Festival, Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival, NC Women's Theatre Festival, Jersey City New Play Festival, and Rough Draft Playwrights (CO). She is certified in Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed and has also served as a Henry Awards Judge with the Colorado Theatre Guild.
Dubbed the Literary Prince, BRYAN-KEYTH WILSON is a noted multi-hyphenate/ award-winning playwright in the theatre and publishing industry. As a theatre artist/ producer, diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the forefront of every project he takes on. BKW started producing theatre Off-Off-Broadway at The Variety Cafe at Rockefeller Center with shows such as PAMLET and THE SUBWAY SERIES. BKW studied Musical Theatre with a Dance emphasis at Sam Houston State University. He is the founding artistic director of The Creative Co-Lab TX|NYC. Other plays written include a 2nd installment to the FOR COLORED BOYZ series titled LUV NO LIMIT/ a lovers ballad, sTrapped (Downtown Urban Arts Festival Finalist), The Caregiver, HOOD BOY, No Ways Tired, Annexed, Confessions of a Preacher’s Wife, the musical two ten-minute plays Worlds Apart, and dis-placed. Wilson won four literary awards for his choreopoem FOR COLORED BOYZ and produced a sold-out showcase Off-Broadway at Theatre Row for the 2022 Downtown Urban Arts Festival, where his show won Best Audience. He is a five-year faculty member of The Black Writers Reunion & Conference, founder of The Gulf-Coast Writers Retreat, and creator of the LIFT EV’RY VOICE International Playwright & Spoken World Virtual Festival. BKW is a proud member of The Latiné Musical Theatre Lab and The Dramatist Guild. Currently, Wilson is developing a musical on the life and legacy of Congressman John Lewis titled THE BOY FROM TROY.
OUR PARTNERS
Our partners Raíces Brewing Company and We Are Cultura will be hosting our Emerging Playwright’s Project Finale on August 18 from 11a-2p. The event will feature excerpts from the selected plays, a conversation with the playwrights, and a curated panel of local Boricua leaders discussing their experiences of living in Denver and their relationship to their culture. Join us for this inspiring and exciting event celebrating puertorriqueñidad in the heart of Denver!
Denise Zubizarreta, a Puerto Rican-Cuban multidisciplinary artist and our first Emerging Playwright to complete our developmental courses in our 2023 pilot program.
Her play Cody had a reading on March 6, 2024 at Buntport Theatre.
Playwrights accepted into our program will participate in the following:
Professional and creative development classes online that will cover networking, marketing, financing/fundraising, media coaching, script editing, story development, intimacy training, and more.
Participate in monthly virtual feedback sessions with Flamboyán and your mentor.
Work with a mentor to do up to three drafts of your script.
Complete a public staged reading, which includes marketing and managing ticket sales.
Post-reading, playwrights will have to complete a new draft and undergo script reviews from the Flamboyán team.
Once a script is deemed to be production ready, Flamboyán will offer writers the chance to produce their plays with the company, or if they wish to produce elsewhere, Flamboyán will provide resources and links to submission opportunities.
Playwrights will be paid a stipend for completing the program.
Submission GUIDELINES:
2024 Theme: Western Boricuas: Stories of Puerto Ricans West of the Mississippi
We are seeking plays by Puerto Rican writers in the diaspora who are based in or raised in the states west of the Mississippi. We want to bring to light Boricua stories that are not centered on the coasts or major cities such as New York and Chicago. The submitted play cannot have been previously produced at a professional level. There must be a completed first draft, no outlines will be accepted. Plays can be of any genre, including solo shows, immersive shows, and experimental plays.
Timeline:
Submission Requirements:
All submissions must include all of the following:
A cover letter detailing the playwright’s background and experience
An outline of a marketing plan
A proposed budget
A brief (one paragraph max) description of the work
Submissions are closed until early 2025.
On April 22, 2023 we completed our 8 week developmental classes at Redline Contemporary Art Center. We couldn’t have done this without their support.