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BSBV is sponsored by Joe & Donna Levine and Ty & Julann Warren, and partially funded by Larry & Leanne Mitchell.
BSBV EVENTS & GALLERY
Free Community Event
OUR ROOTS
October 25th, 7:30pm at Barter’s Smith Theatre
Join us this fall for the launch of Our Roots, a new event series curated by BSBV which focuses on highlighting local heroes working to preserve and uplift Black Appalachian culture and history. We will be visited on October 25th by Black in Appalachia (BIA) Director William Isom II as he screens his cut-film documentary, The Eastern Kentucky Social Club, followed by a guided talkback with BSBV Co-Director James Jiggetts and fellow BIA associates Ron Carson and Tina McDaniel. This evening of celebration and thoughtful discussion will be the first of many to come, and you don’t want to miss out!
RSVP HERE!
5th Annual SHINE: Illuminating Black Stories (Spring 2026)
4th Annual SHINE: Illuminating Black Stories (Spring 2025)
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Community Event (Summer 2024)
BSBV SUBMISSIONS
By submitting your work to Black Stories Black Voices, you are helping Barter Theatre curate a Black Appalachian Canon of both the past and the present. Whether you reside in Appalachia or not, we welcome any and all Black writers to submit relevant works.
Submissions sent in prior to November 15th, 2025 will be considered for a staged reading during Barter’s 5th Annual SHINE: Illuminating Black Stories in Spring 2026.
If you already have a piece of work set in Appalachia, we encourage you to submit it. If you do not have any Appalachia-inspired works but would like to write one, please consider a topic from our official Shine 2026 prompts list.
For any and all questions or content submissions, please email our Co-Directors James Jiggetts and Geovonday Jones at bsbv@bartertheatre.com
- Playwright must be Black.
- Monologues must be set in Appalachia. (Click Here list of qualifying states/counties as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission)
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Monologues must be 3-5 minutes in length.
- Monologues must be unpublished and not have had a professional production.
- Monologues must be submitted electronically.
Scene Submission Guidelines
- Playwright must be Black.
- Monologues must be set in Appalachia. (Click Here list of qualifying states/counties as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission)
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Monologues must be 5-10 minutes in length.
- Monologues must be unpublished and not have had a professional production.
- Monologues must be submitted electronically.
Full Length Play Submission Guidelines
- Playwright must be Black.
- Plays must be written by an Appalachian playwright or the plays must be set in the Appalachian Region. (Click here for list of qualifying states/counties as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission.)
- Plays must be full length.
- Plays must be unpublished and not have had a professional production.
- Plays must be submitted electronically.
