Carroll County Arts Council holds second annual playwright festival
The Carroll County Arts Council will host the second Marcia L. Bogash Playwright Festival at the Carroll Arts Center on Sunday.
An afternoon of staged readings of short plays by local playwrights, the event will be followed by a reception, according to a news release.
The festival’s mission is to provide local artists with an environment for the development and promotion of new theatrical works in memory of one of the county’s most celebrated arts advocates, according to the release.
On alternating years, the festival will feature plays written by either high school students or members of the community at large.
Lindsay Sier, theater coordinator at the Carroll County Arts Council, said the idea for the festival came about after the arts council’s playwriting group held a similar event at the arts center in 2019.
In 2023, the arts council held its first playwright festival in honor of Bogash, an avid supporter of arts in Carroll County who died in 2017.
“The estate of Marcia L. Bogash was looking to donate the rest of the funds to the arts center and with the people that were putting that together, we came up with something to honor her memory as she was a long-time director and member of the Carroll Players,” she said. “We figured a playwright festival would be a great way to honor her memory for local playwrights being able to get together and produce their shows.”
Sier said she hopes the festival will serve as a way to showcase local playwrights and their work.
“[The festival] is a good opportunity for both the playwrights to see their work out loud and to be able to have that great accomplishment of their work being produced and being performed by people,” she said. “Also, local Carroll Countians and anyone who wants to come see the show has the opportunity to support people in the community and see their work and also see what people are writing about in the community and helping support their endeavors.”
This year’s featured playwrights include:
- Jeff Dunne – The Boundaries of One’s Self
- Rocky Nunzio – A Very Apocalyptic Christmas
- Terence Powell – Intercourse on a Golf Course, of course of course
- Allison Fradkin – Heard Mentality
- Benjamin Hopkins – They Jumped/They Fall
- Kara Coffman – The Scattering
- Ramon Miranda Amaya – Birthday Manicure
- Erin Jones – Dress Code
- Tina Hoff – The Poet and The Philosopher-King
The Marcia L. Bogash Playwright Festival will occur at the Carroll Arts Center at 91 West Main Street in Westminster at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for ages 25 and under and ages 60 and up — an additional 10% off for CCAC members. Tickets can be purchased at carrollcountyartscouncil.org or by calling the box office at 410-848-7272.