BOISE, IDAHO: Boise Contemporary Theater will host their second annual BIPOC Playwrights Festival Aug. 1 6.  

The festival gathers playwrights, directors, and actors to partner and participate in performances and readings at Boise Contemporary Theater, and is supported in part by Boise Cascade, a local wholesale distributor of building materials. Said Trina Finley Ponce, diversity, equity, and inclusion director at Boise Cascade, in a statement, “We’re excited to support the BIPOC Playwrights Festival to amplify historically underrepresented voices and to learn from stories that promote the diversity of human experiences…Whether in the workplace or on the stage, assembling a wider pool of talent brings creative perspectives and inspiring conversations that can engage, connect, and unite us.” 

This year’s festival will include a full production of the popular one-man show Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, starring Ryun Yu; and readings of two new works, Being Black Outside by Vinecia Coleman and Fear and Wonder by Jason Tseng. Benjamin Burdick, BCT’s producing artistic director, said in a statement, “We are incredibly excited at this lineup of amazing new playwrights, as well as Jeanne’s wonderful play about the life of Gordon Hirabayashi.”