B.J. Burton

B.J. Burton's plays include MADDIE ON HER WAY HOME (Bay Area Playwrights Festival, semifinalist, 2024), LOBELIA LODGE, FOR THE RECORD, HUNTING SEASON, ROOM FOR LOVE, GOOD NEIGHBORS, PIZZA AGAIN, and A SKY FULL OF STARS. Her short play, ROOMMATES, is part of "Conversations in America: 2020 Vision - The Year We Saw Everything" presented by Women in the Arts and Media Coalition. Honors include two Fellowships in Playwriting from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and winner of the Pennsylvania Playwriting Award. She was a finalist for the Heideman Award, a finalist in the New York Screenplay Competition, a finalist twice in the Set in Philadelphia Screenwriting Competition, and a semifinalist in the Nicholl Fellowships. Her work has been produced and/or developed at InterAct Theatre Company...

B.J. Burton's plays include MADDIE ON HER WAY HOME (Bay Area Playwrights Festival, semifinalist, 2024), LOBELIA LODGE, FOR THE RECORD, HUNTING SEASON, ROOM FOR LOVE, GOOD NEIGHBORS, PIZZA AGAIN, and A SKY FULL OF STARS. Her short play, ROOMMATES, is part of "Conversations in America: 2020 Vision - The Year We Saw Everything" presented by Women in the Arts and Media Coalition. Honors include two Fellowships in Playwriting from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and winner of the Pennsylvania Playwriting Award. She was a finalist for the Heideman Award, a finalist in the New York Screenplay Competition, a finalist twice in the Set in Philadelphia Screenwriting Competition, and a semifinalist in the Nicholl Fellowships. Her work has been produced and/or developed at InterAct Theatre Company, Hedgerow Theatre, The Refinery at Steel River Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Source, Pittsburgh New Works Festival at City Theatre, Six Women Playwriting Festival, Players Club of Swarthmore, Colonial Playhouse, The Brick Playhouse, Widener University, Rosemont College, and others. She has received generous support from The Dramatists Guild Foundation, PEN America, The Authors League, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

Her short works are published in anthologies including:
"Cookie and Grace" in 5-MINUTE PLAYS FOR TEENS (Applause);
"Quarry Road" in THE BEST SCENES FOR KIDS AGES 7-15 (Applause); and
"Jake's Speech" in ONE ON ONE: PLAYING WITH A PURPOSE - MONOLOGUES FOR KIDS AGES 7-15 (Applause).
"White Roses and Gooseberries" is published by YouthPLAYS.

She is the author of THE PHILADELPHIA CONNECTION: CONVERSATIONS WITH PLAYWRIGHTS (Intellect Books/University of Chicago Press, 2015), which can be found in universities and libraries all over the world.

One of her favorite projects, TYPING, a short film she directed based on her play produced at The Brick Playhouse, was screened at FirstGlance Philadelphia Film Fest.

Her poetry and short stories have been published in Santa Barbara Literary Journal, The Lost Blonde Anthology on Existence, Door is A Jar, WayWords, Plainsongs, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Philly Fiction, Philadelphia Poets, Another Breath (anthology), Mural Arts Philadelphia - Peace Haiku (online), The Suburban and Wayne Times (Christmas Story), and elsewhere.

Her M.F.A. is in Creative Writing - Playwriting from Rosemont College, where she taught for several years, and her B.A. is in Theatre from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She has also trained at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, AFI, UCLA Extension Writers' Program, Playwrights Horizons, and Villanova University's Graduate Theatre Department. She has studied with Michael Hollinger, Bruce Graham, Willie Reale, Michael Hauge, and others.

Memberships include The Dramatists Guild, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, International Centre for Women Playwrights, and Honor Roll.

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Scripts

Maddie on Her Way Home

by B.J. Burton

1
Cast Size
6
Genre
drama

After caring for her mother for many years, Maddie finds herself beyond grief-stricken over her passing. Having lost her job, the rent due and facing homelessness, Maddie has no choice but to accept her sister's offer and move from her home in the Northeast to her sister and brother-in-law's house in the rural South. There, she discovers the power of sisterhood in unexpected places.

After caring for her mother for many years, Maddie finds herself beyond grief-stricken over her passing. Having lost her job, the rent due and facing homelessness, Maddie has no choice but to accept her sister's offer and move from her home in the Northeast to her sister and brother-in-law's house in the rural South. There, she discovers the power of sisterhood in unexpected places.

White Roses and Gooseberries (TYA)

by B.J. Burton

Cast Size
2
Genre
drama,
young audiences

Catherine and Jenny, her cousin, travel with a wagon train along the dangerous Overland Route from Missouri to Oregon. Trying to avoid another night of beans and more beans, they look for gooseberries to make a pie. While Jenny worries about food and the future, Catherine assures her there is much to discover, along the trail and within herself. PUBLISHED: YouthPLAYS.

Catherine and Jenny, her cousin, travel with a wagon train along the dangerous Overland Route from Missouri to Oregon. Trying to avoid another night of beans and more beans, they look for gooseberries to make a pie. While Jenny worries about food and the future, Catherine assures her there is much to discover, along the trail and within herself. PUBLISHED: YouthPLAYS.

For the Record

by B.J. Burton

1
Cast Size
7
Genre
drama

It's the late 1990s, and newspapers across the country are shrinking, if not vanishing completely. Anita, a passionate reporter at a small town newspaper, fights to find the truth of a breaking story, while struggling against office chaos, dangerous corporate politics, and her own economic crisis.

It's the late 1990s, and newspapers across the country are shrinking, if not vanishing completely. Anita, a passionate reporter at a small town newspaper, fights to find the truth of a breaking story, while struggling against office chaos, dangerous corporate politics, and her own economic crisis.

Good Neighbors

by B.J. Burton

1
Cast Size
5
Genre
drama

Strange things are happening in Marjorie's apartment. Her most treasured possessions, among other things, are disappearing. Her daughter, her best friend, and her therapist think she's losing her mind. But Marjorie believes what her instincts tell her. As she moves closer to solving the mystery, will she stop the perpetrator before the unthinkable happens?

Strange things are happening in Marjorie's apartment. Her most treasured possessions, among other things, are disappearing. Her daughter, her best friend, and her therapist think she's losing her mind. But Marjorie believes what her instincts tell her. As she moves closer to solving the mystery, will she stop the perpetrator before the unthinkable happens?

Hunting Season

by B.J. Burton

1
Cast Size
6
Genre
drama

What happens when the bottom drops out of your life and the only place to go is home? Home...filled with caring people who love you. Home...full of secrets, lies, and heartbreak. A multi-generational family struggles to deal with the aftermath of a hunting accident a year after the tragic event.

What happens when the bottom drops out of your life and the only place to go is home? Home...filled with caring people who love you. Home...full of secrets, lies, and heartbreak. A multi-generational family struggles to deal with the aftermath of a hunting accident a year after the tragic event.

Lobelia Lodge

by B.J. Burton

Cast Size
7—8
Genre
comedy,
drama

It's the first week of summer, and Elsie and her friends get together at their cabin in the woods for some relief from the world. Elsie works to repair the old place, but the others are too distracted by their own problems. The women-only weekend is interrupted when two men tumble out of the woods, who may or may not be friendly. As conflicts erupt between the hold of the past and the need to let go, Elsie...

It's the first week of summer, and Elsie and her friends get together at their cabin in the woods for some relief from the world. Elsie works to repair the old place, but the others are too distracted by their own problems. The women-only weekend is interrupted when two men tumble out of the woods, who may or may not be friendly. As conflicts erupt between the hold of the past and the need to let go, Elsie discovers the fate of the lodge as she rediscovers the importance of friendship. PUBLISHED: Samuel French.

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A Sky Full of Stars (one-act)

by B.J. Burton

Cast Size
4
Genre
comedy

As Mary writes her romance novel, she gets into conflict with her characters, who have their own ideas about the story.

As Mary writes her romance novel, she gets into conflict with her characters, who have their own ideas about the story.

Pizza Again (one-act)

by B.J. Burton

1
Cast Size
2
Genre
romantic comedy

Two strangers meet unexpectedly on a park bench outside a pizza place. The man is waiting for a pizza. The woman is waiting for courage to confront her boyfriend, who is waiting in the restaurant. Each tries to help the other as they navigate the rough waters of broken relationships.

Two strangers meet unexpectedly on a park bench outside a pizza place. The man is waiting for a pizza. The woman is waiting for courage to confront her boyfriend, who is waiting in the restaurant. Each tries to help the other as they navigate the rough waters of broken relationships.