information Burien Actors Theater

$12 tickets to see two plays

For about the price of a matinee movie ticket, enjoy two award-winning new plays during the 2019 BAT Playwrights Festival. Performances run April 26 through May 19.

BAT’s Festival offers four weekends of four thought-provoking and entertaining new shows written by Washington State playwrights.

Tickets are $12, and each ticket includes admission to two plays—a one-act followed by a full-length—and a short talk-back with the audience after each play.

The Burien Actors Theatre (BAT) production features specialty drinks themed to the Festival and plenty of free on-site parking, plus BAT’s famous opening night party.

THE FESTIVAL PLAYS

From April 26 through May 5, the one-act Not Food for Monsters is paired with the full-length Hardened Criminals. The dark comedy Not Food for Monsters, written by Devin Rodger and directed by Heather Bernadette, explores what happens when an uptight front office manager at a high school loses her self-control for the first time, finding herself in the ensuing chaos. In the full-length drama Hardened Criminals, written by Suzanne Bailie and directed by Devin Rodger, a father pursues an unorthodox solution to his daughter’s drug addiction with unexpected results.  

From May 10 through May 19, the one act The Great Fish & Jonah is paired with the full-length Goldendale. The Great Fish & Jonah, written by Matthew Weaver and directed by Rachel Rene, is a humorous modern take on the classic story of Jonah and the Whale—er—Great Fish. In Goldendale, written by Kevin K. Berry and directed by Rochelle Flynn, the Martins are selling their home in a small, conservative farming town in Washington—until they find out the couple buying are two men.

After each play is performed, audience members are invited to participate in a talk-back with the director and playwright. These talk-backs are an opportunity for the audience to discuss the show with its creators and for the playwrights to get honest audience response to their work.

These plays contain some adult language and/or mature content, except for The Great Fish and Jonah. BAT's policy is to inform audiences of content but to let parents, guardians and teachers make decisions that they feel are appropriate for the youth and teens in their care.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. at Burien Actors Theatre, 14501 4th Ave. S.W. in Burien.

The BAT Playwrights Festival is sponsored by the 4Culture/King County Lodging Tax, the City of Burien and Pickled & Preserved.

For tickets and other information, go to www.burienactorstheatre.org or call 206-242-5180. Burien Actors Theatre is located at 14501 Fourth Ave. S.W. in Burien.

THE CASTS, DIRECTORS AND DESIGNERS

Stage director Heather Bernadette directs the Not Food for Monsters cast of Melissa Collins Henderson (Ms. Wardell) and Kinsey Lahn (Chloe).

Stage director Devin Rodger directs the Hardened Criminals cast of Michael Mendonsa (Tom), Susan Echols-Orton (Julie), Shawna Petty (Beth), Phillip Wheeler (Nate) and Kris Keppeler (Sharon).

Stage director Rachel Rene directs The Great Fish & Jonah cast of Haley Forrester (Jonah) and Rex Waters (The Great Fish).

Stage director Rochelle Flynn directs the Goldendale cast of Connie Murray (Doris), Scott Green (Jesse), Adam King (Jeffrey), Stela Diaz (Colleen), Tim Takechi (Steve) and Steve Murphy (Jim).

The creative team for the show is:  Maggie Larrick, set design; Craig Orsinger, lighting design; Cyndi Baumgardner, props and set dressing; Eric Dickman, sound design; John Lynch, fight choreography, and Heather Bernadette, Festival stage manager.

ABOUT THE BAT PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

The mission of the BAT Playwrights Festival is twofold:  to encourage Washington State playwrights to pursue their craft and to showcase new unproduced plays written by Washingtonians.

Playwrights are invited to submit their scripts, which are evaluated by a panel of judges who select the winners. BAT produces the winning plays in the Festival. Top winners in the one-act and full-length script categories are produced in the Festival as fully staged shows.

BAT officially launched the BAT Playwrights Festival in 1999. The Festival has typically been produced every other year.  This year, BAT has chosen four playwrights to be honored with awards.

ABOUT BURIEN ACTORS THEATRE

Exciting live theater has been a tradition in Burien since 1955. Incorporated in 1980, Burien Actors Theatre is a leading producer of quality live theater serving residents of the Seattle and south Puget Sound areas.

BAT gives audiences an intriguing and invigorating theatre experience with unusual and fantastical productions they can’t stream online or see anywhere else. The company’s mission is to treat audiences to productions of the highest artistic integrity that excite, engage and involve both the local and expanding theatrical communities in the Puget Sound region.

BAT is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) entity and operates on revenue from ticket sales, donations, grants, sponsorships and volunteers.