Meet the 2021 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow
We are thrilled to announce our 2021 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow!
Photo: Daniel J Vasquez
BLEU BECKFORD-BURRELL
We are proud to name Bleu Beckford-Burrell the 2021 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow. Beckford-Burrell will receive a $10,000 award and an additional $10,000 budgeted for developing several new plays over the course of the year.
From Artistic Director Michael Walkup:
"Bleu treats the stage as a very large canvas to tell stories and she populates them with characters—often from her hometown of New York City—whom you want to get to know. She’s always on the lookout for human folly and keeps a sharp eye on her characters; no one gets off easily, which in Bleu’s work sometimes leads to comedy and sometimes to tragedy. Bleu will use the resources of the fellowship on multiple projects, and specifically to develop a play she’s been really wanting to write, taking a big risk with a work that uses the spectacle of theater in ways she hasn’t explored as much before. We’re excited to be supporting her at this moment of exploration, and proud to continue to deepen our work with such a talented playwright."
BLEU BECKFORD-BURRELL is a first-generation Jamaican-American actor/playwright. Born and raised in New York City, she also works for non-profit organizations where she teaches acting to teens. Her plays include: P.S.365 (2019 O’Neill Finalist), showcased at EST (Youngblood Workshop Series) and The National Black Theatre (Keep the Soul Alive reading series); Lyons Pride (2018 BAPF, Princess Grace Award Finalist, 2019 The Kilroy’s Honorable Mention, and Yale Drama Series Runner Up), showcased at Playwrights Realm (Ink’d Festival of New Plays) and EST (Bloodwork Reading Series); La Race (2020 Normal Ave Finalist and O’Neill, BAPF Semi-finalist,) upcoming showcases at Faultline Theatre (Irons in the Fire) and Page 73 (Virtual Residency). She is a member of the Interstate 73 Writers Group and a Colt Coeur resident. She received the Playwrights Horizons Jody Falco & Jeffrey Steinman Commission for Emerging Playwrights (2020) and has been nominated for South Coast Repertory Elizabeth George Emerging Writer Commission (2021). M.F.A. Rutgers University.
BleuBeckford.com
We are also delighted to announce:
2020 Fellow Emma Goidel will continue into a second year of the Fellowship program with an additional $10,000 cash award. Both Emma and Bleu will be able to continue their Fellowships until theater resumes and they can put their development budgets toward in-person collaborations.
The value of getting in a room with a director and professional actors is one of the core opportunities of the Fellowship, and we’re not going to call it complete until both Bleu and Emma have had that opportunity.
—Michael Walkup, Artistic Director
Bleu was selected via Page 73’s annual Development Programs Application. We received over 400 applications in 2021. Page 73 partners with Beehive Dramaturgy Studio on our annual selection process. Beehive selects and manages the talented, paid industry evaluators who help Page 73 read the early rounds of our application process each year.
