B.J. Burton

B.J. Burton

B.J. Burton's plays include MADDIE ON HER WAY HOME (BAPF, semi-finalist, 2024), LOBELIA LODGE, FOR THE RECORD, HUNTING SEASON, ROOM FOR LOVE, GOOD NEIGHBORS, PIZZA AGAIN, A SKY FULL OF STARS, and THE DANGERS OF LIGHTNING. 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 (available on...
B.J. Burton's plays include MADDIE ON HER WAY HOME (BAPF, semi-finalist, 2024), LOBELIA LODGE, FOR THE RECORD, HUNTING SEASON, ROOM FOR LOVE, GOOD NEIGHBORS, PIZZA AGAIN, A SKY FULL OF STARS, and THE DANGERS OF LIGHTNING. 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 (available on YouTube). 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.

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, was screened at FirstGlance Philadelphia Film Fest.

Her M.F.A. is in Creative Writing - Playwriting from Rosemont College, 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.

Plays

  • Maddie on Her Way Home
    After caring for her mother for many years, Maddie finds herself 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.
  • For the Record
    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.

  • The Dangers of Lightning
    Paula feels ready for a life overhaul. She's tired of working at this café in the middle of nowhere. Paula's waiting for a mystery man, but she has to be careful with this guy, knowing how easily passions can ignite. Bree's job at the magazine is on the line. She's been screwing things up lately. Now Bree's meeting a stranger for a crucial interview, and he hasn't shown up. The...
    Paula feels ready for a life overhaul. She's tired of working at this café in the middle of nowhere. Paula's waiting for a mystery man, but she has to be careful with this guy, knowing how easily passions can ignite. Bree's job at the magazine is on the line. She's been screwing things up lately. Now Bree's meeting a stranger for a crucial interview, and he hasn't shown up. The lives of four people converge and transform when they're stuck in the Pine Barrens in the middle of Hurricane Danielle.
  • Good Neighbors
    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
    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
    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.
  • A Sky Full of Stars (one-act)
    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)
    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.