Binghamton’s Know Theatre is celebrating a major milestone this month — the 22nd annual Playwrights and Artists Festival, a signature event that blends visual art, original music, and new short plays inspired by local artwork.
“Twenty-two years — amazing!” says Know Theatre Artistic Director Tim Gleason. “Every year we select three works of art over the summer and send them out to playwrights. They choose one that inspires them and write a short play based on it.”
Gleason says the submissions are evaluated through a blind reading process. “We have readers who don’t know the playwrights at all,” he explains. “They narrow it down to fifteen, I read those, we score them, and the top two plays for each artwork are produced. The process is fair, and it keeps the focus on the writing itself.”
This year brought in around 40 submissions — fewer than some years, but still plenty to fill the bill. “We’ve had as many as 93,” Gleason notes. “It depends on whether a playwright shares it to a big online group — then it explodes! But 35 or 40 is a good number. And it’s great to see some familiar names return alongside new ones.”
Over the years, the festival has drawn playwrights from as far away as Canada, Australia, and South America. It has also grown to include composers, who write original pieces inspired by the same artwork. “I’d love for someone to take over that part of the festival,” Gleason laughs. “But it’s wonderful to see how the same painting can spark both a play and a piece of music.”
This year’s featured artworks are by Rich Harrington, Camden Brown, and Jules Gauteng. Each night of the festival focuses on one artist’s work. “If you come on Friday, you’ll see the plays inspired by Rich Harrington,” says Gleason. “Saturday features Camden Brown’s Beautiful Boy, and Sunday is all about Jules Gauteng’s Gabriel with a Bottle of Red Jazz.”
Audiences are encouraged to take in the art and the performances as a unified experience. “You get to see how each painting inspired two very different plays and a piece of music,” Gleason says. “Afterward, we have coffee, cookies, and a talkback with the artists, composers, and sometimes the playwrights. Watching the visual artist’s reaction is always my favorite part — they’re amazed at how others interpret their work.”
The 22nd Annual Playwrights and Artists Festival runs November 21–23 and 28–30, with performances at 8:00 p.m. each night at Know Theatre, 74 Carroll Street in Binghamton. Audience members can preview the selected artworks and find ticket information at knowtheatre.org