CHICAGO – Bramble Theatre Companyis proud to present the third annual Festival of Unfinished Work in the new Bramble Arts Loft on the second floor of the historic Capital Garage building at 5545 N. Clark St, June 26 – 30. The press is cordially invited to attend Wednesday, June 26 at 7:30 p.m. The festival performance dates are Wednesday, June 26th through Saturday, June 29th at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 30th at 2:00 p.m. Tickets cost $25 each and can be purchased at BrambleTheatre.org.
The submission process for this year’s Festival of Unfinished Work began in the fall of 2023. A call was issued for original plays by Chicago playwrights that had not yet been performed. From the submissions, the Literary Committee, comprised of Bramble’s ensemble and staff, went through an extensive review process to narrow the submissions down to a list of finalists who would be presented to the Bramble Theatre Co-Founder and Artistic Director Karissa Murrell Myers for the final selection. Each 10-15 minute scene will be brought to life during the festival by a team of Chicago directors and actors.
The Festival of Unfinished Work was born out of a desire to give writers’ new work more exposure and provide them with development resources while their pieces are still in progress. Murrell Myers explains, “When we sat down with each of our ensemble members in 2019 and asked them what they wanted from Bramble, every single one of them answered ‘new work.’ A festival of new work seemed like the perfect opportunity to give writers a platform where their pieces in development would be heard.”
Another element of the Festival of Unfinished Work is audience participation. During the festival, audiences are encouraged to vote on which plays they would most like to see developed by the Bramble Theatre. Upon entry, audience members are given a handful of dried beans and can vote by throwing beans into cups labelled with the title of each show. This voting process influences which pieces will be performed by Bramble at a later date in a workshop and a public reading.
The complete program of the Festival of Unfinished Work can be found at www.https://www.brambletheatre.org/festival-unfinished-work-2024
