Arts and Entertainment | Friday, August 16, 2019 | By Hangar Theatre 
The Hangar Theatre's Big Play Festival! Directors- front row, left to right: Godfrey Simmons, Jr., Beth Milles, Bob Moss. Photo by Rachel PhilipsonThe Hangar Theatre Company wraps up its 45th summer season with the Big Play Festival! (BPF!), featuring lightly staged readings of three big plays, all featuring the theme of the American family. The festival includes: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorrainne Hansberry; August: Osage County by Tracy Letts; and You Can't Take It with You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The casts and directors consist primarily of artists who live in the Ithaca area or who have appeared in a Hangar Mainstage production this season. The BPF! runs August 22-31, and one ticket will grant access to all three plays.
Hangar's Artistic Director, Michael Barakiva, conceived the BPF! with the community in mind. "I was so impressed with the amount of talent in this area that I wanted to create programming that would feature it on our stage." He was also excited to share the form of the staged reading with the Hangar audiences. "The spoken word is the fundamental building block of our theatrical tradition," states Barakiva. "It's drama, boiled down to its most essential elements."
