Big Bridge Theatre Consortium

BBTC commissioned Margot Connolly in July 2022 to write BBTC's third play. "Havurah [A working title]" will be workshopped at the Hope Repertory Theatre during the summer of 2024, and will begin its rolling opening during the 2025-26 academic year. This project used the services of the Jewish Plays Project, the nation's leading development company for new Jewish plays.``

Margot Connolly (https://www.writemargotwrite.com) is a playwright and librettist originally from Pleasantville, NY. Her plays include Belfast Kind (Winner, JPP's Jewish Playwriting Contest, Patty Abramson Prize Finalist), Quiz Out (Princess Grace Finalist, 2019 Kilroy’s Honorable Mention), The Twitch (Princess Grace Finalist), and Tough (Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival Finalist). Her work has been produced and developed through Repertory St. Louis, Primary Stages, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Playwrights Center, the Jewish Plays Project, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and The Juilliard School, among others. She's the recipient of an EST/Sloan commission for her play Hello, World, a former Core Apprentice at the Playwrights Center, and has been a finalist for the Jerome Fellowship, the Emerald Prize, and the Princess Grace Award. She received her BA from Bennington College, her MFA from the University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop, and is a recent graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights’ Program at Juilliard.

BBTC commissioned Rohina Malik in July 2019 to write BBTC’s second play. The Hijabis began its rolling opening during the 2021-22 academic year. This project used the services of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with Middle Eastern stories and beyond.

Rohina Malik (rohinamalik.weebly.com) is a critically acclaimed, award-winning Chicago playwright and solo performance artist. She was born and raised in London, England, of South Asian heritage. Her one-woman play Unveiled was developed and had its world premiere at the 16th Street Theater, where it received critical acclaim. Rohina’s play The Mecca Tales was produced by Chicago Dramatists in 2015 and nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play.

In addition, her play Yasmina's Necklace had its world premiere at the 16th Street Theater in January 2016, directed by Ann Filmer, and was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play, and was remounted at the prestigious Goodman Theater.

She is a resident playwright emeritus at Chicago Dramatists, an Artistic Associate at the 16th Street Theater, and an artistic associate at Voyage Theater Company in NYC. Malik was selected to receive the 2018 Lee Reynolds Award, given annually to a woman active in any aspect of theatre whose work has helped to illuminate the possibilities for social, cultural or political change. 

Malik's plays have been produced at the 16th Street Theater, The Goodman Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, Crossroads Theater, Chicago Dramatists, Next Theater, Brava Theater, Voyage Theater Company, Silk Road Rising, Theater Project Baltimore, Mustard Seed Theater, New Rep Theater, Greater Boston Stage Company, and Water Tower Theater in Dallas.

Unveiled was presented in two South African theater festivals: The Grahamstown Arts Festival and the 969 Festival in Johannesburg.

Rohina is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.   

BBTC commissioned Arlene Hutton in July 2017 to write BBTC’s first play. The Shakers of Mount Lebanon Will Hold A Peace Conference This Month began its rolling opening during the 2019-20 academic year.

Arlene Hutton is best known as the author of The Nibroc Trilogy, which includes Last Train to Nibroc (NY Drama League Best Play nomination), See Rock City (Spirit of America Award) and Gulf View Drive (LA Weekly and Ovation Award nominations). Her plays have been presented at FringeNYC, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Off- and Off-Off-Broadway, and at theatres across the U.S., in London and throughout the world.

Her works include Letters to Sala, I Dream Before I Take the Stand, As It Is In Heaven, The Three Sisters Brontë, and Happy Worst Day Ever, commissioned by Cincinnati Playhouse and winner of the 2010 Macy’s New Play Prize.

A member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, an alumna of New Dramatists and a resident playwright at Access Theatre, Hutton is a three-time winner of the Samuel French Short Play Festival, an eight-time finalist for the Heideman Award, a finalist for the Francesca Primus Prize, and recipient of the Lippman and Calloway Awards, an EST Sloan Commission and a NYFA grant.

Her residencies include the Australian National Playwrights Conference, New Harmony Project, Blue Mountain Center, MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. Hutton’s scripts are published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Playscripts and Overlook Press. She is on the faculty for the Sewanee School of Letters and teaches playwriting at The Barrow Group in New York City.

The Shakers of Mount Lebanon Will Hold A Peace Conference This Month has been produced by the following universities and schools:

• Hope College (Michigan): November 2019
• Point Loma Nazarene College (California): November 2019
• George Fox University (Oregon): February 2020
• North Park University (Illinois): April 2020 - cancelled due to Covid-19
• Seattle Pacific University (Washington): November 2020
• The University of Sioux Falls (South Dakota): November 2020
• The Bear Creek School (Washington): November 2020