FST Announces Lineup for its 2025 Burdick Play Reading Festival

March 26, 2025 | Sarasota

Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is proud to announce the lineup for its 2025 Burdick New Play Festival, featuring three staged readings of new works by contemporary American playwrights. This year’s Festival presents My Brother Jake by Dave Osmundsen, Zoom Therapy by Lucile Lichtblau, and Dog Mom by Tate Hanyok. Readings will take place on April 18, April 25, and May 2 at 3PM in FST’s Keating Theatre.

New play development is at the heart of FST’s mission. Festivals like this provide works in progress with a platform, live audience, artistic support, and valuable feedback, helping nurture new plays from page to stage. To date, FST has produced 37 world premieres, many of which began in its New Play Development program.

Each playwright featured in the Festival will travel to Sarasota for a week of rehearsals with FST’s artistic staff and guest artists. After a week of development sessions, their work will be presented as a script-in-hand staged reading, followed by an audience discussion to further refine the play.

“New plays don’t develop in a vacuum — they require intense hard work and collaboration,” said FST Associate Artist in charge of New Play Development, Nancy Rominger. “Much like children, they don’t arrive fully formed; it takes a village to nurture them. You, our audience, are an essential part of that village, playing a vital role in shaping these plays. I can’t wait to see these original works come to life on our stage and to witness the unique ways in which you respond to them.”

“We have the ability to shape these stories with the help of a live audience, who are essential to the creative process,” added Catherine Randazzo, FST Associate Artist. “I’m particularly excited about this year’s Festival because we welcome three new playwrights whose work is new to FST. The importance of allowing them to have an audience to help shape their plays cannot be overstated. The feedback and interaction from a live audience are invaluable in refining and enhancing the storytelling, ensuring that the final production resonates deeply with viewers.”

A full Festival schedule can be found at the end of this release. Subscriptions to all three readings range from $15-$25, and single tickets are $10. Tickets are now available at FloridaStudioTheatre.org or by calling FST’s Box Office at (941) 366-9000.