Rich Espey's FOLLOWING SARAH Sweeps BPF Season XXXI

The Baltimore Playwrights Festival announces the results of its Season XXXI judged competition for new works. The Carol Weinberg Award for Best Script, along with a $250 cash award, went to Rich Espey for his play "Following Sarah". The $100 Second Place award was won by Kevin Kostic for "Passport," and the $50 Third Place award went to Mark Scharf for "Hired Gun." Honorable Mentions went to: "Shana Unsettled" by Ronda Cooperstein, "Lethal Injection" by Michael Reimann, "The Last Shall Be First" by Percy Thomas, and "The Things We Do – An Evening of One-Acts", featuring "Protest" by Adam Meyer, "A Good Brain is Hard to Find" by Rebecca Wyrick, and "Replay" by Mark Scharf.

The First Place Award for Best Production went to Fells Point Corner Theater's production of "Following Sarah", directed by Anne Schoemaker, while Theatrical Mining Company took both Second and Third Places with their productions of "Hired Gun", directed by Stacey Bonds, and "Passport", directed by Barry Feinstein, respectively. "Shana Unsettled," co-directed by Janel Miley and Jim Knipple for Fells Point Corner Theater, "Lethal Injection," directed by Larry Pinker for The Vagabond Players, "The Things We Do – An Evening of One-Acts", directed by Lynn Morton for The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theater, and "The Last Shall Be First," directed by Percy Thomas for Heralds of Hope Theater at Sojourner Douglass College, all received Honorable Mentions.

The Winners were announced at an Awards Dinner and Ceremony which took place at The Vagabond Players on Sunday, September 23rd. The Baltimore Playwrights Festival congratulates this year's winners, and would like to thank all the the playwrights, theaters, directors, actors and technical support whose participation in this year's Festival made the BPF's Thirty-First Season a roaring success.

For more information on this year's productions and The Baltimore Playwrights Festival, go to www.baltplayfest.org.