NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival

04/27/2026

Don't make us hurt you.
You know you want to submit your play to our twenty-fifth annual provincewide playwriting competition. We know you want to do it by the deadline of this Thursday, May 1. We have every confidence we won't need to send our enforcer after you.

Here's what you need to know!
Contest winners will have their work featured as part of the 2026 NotaBle Acts Summer Theatre Festival, to be held in Fredericton, July 23-August 1.

New Brunswick playwrights have the opportunity to submit work in three main categories, one for 7-10 minute short plays, one for 30-60 minute one-act plays, and another for 10-20 minute site-specific plays. Two additional categories of the contest are specifically for young playwrights in New Brunswick Middle and High schools.
Winning playwrights will also receive a cash prize and script mentoring from a professional playwright.

The contest rules and guidelines, as well as instructions on how to submit scripts, are available online at www.nbacts.com. Questions about the contest can be directed to [email protected] or (506) 458-7406. The contest deadline is May 1st, 2026.



NB Act archival photo from: The Pugilist by Jake Martin

04/23/2026

Auditions for Bard in the Barracks: Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Winter’s Tale, April 28 & 29

Open auditions will be held for the Bard in the Barracks productions of William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Winter’s Tale on April 28 and 29 at Memorial Hall on the UNB campus. The plays will be performed outdoors in downtown Fredericton and will run in repertoire from June 17-July 5, with rehearsals (mainly evening hours), scheduled intensively starting early in May.

Roles are available for actors of a variety of ages, and casting of many roles in both plays may be fluid in terms of gender. Auditions will take place from 7:30-10:00 PM on Tuesday, April 28th and Wednesday, April 29, with the possibility of callbacks from 7:30-9:30 PM on Thursday, April 30. Those auditioning are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the plays beforehand. Auditions will consist of readings from the plays, with no other advance preparation necessary.

To book an audition, please email [email protected], indicating your availability for the audition dates and which day and time you prefer, if any (actors will be called to audition in small groups for a period of 30-60 minutes). Actors may be cast in one or both plays (if willing) at the discretion of the directors, but may indicate a preference of play (if any) when booking their audition.

Anyone interested in auditioning who is unable to attend either of the audition dates or desiring further information can contact the director at [email protected]. Expressions of interest from persons who would like to assist with the productions in an exclusively musical or crew/technical/design capacity are also welcome. All members of the company will receive honorariums for their work.

04/20/2026

Bard in the Barracks to Perform The Winter’s Tale and Love’s Labour’s Lost for 20th Anniversary 2026 Season

Bard in the Barracks is celebrating our twentieth year of staging powerful, thrilling, and immersive outdoor Shakespeare productions in Fredericton by staging two plays this summer, one for the first time and one not seen on our stage since 2012.

Taking the stage for its inaugural Bard production will be the tragicomic romance The Winter’s Tale, a moving story of jealousy, betrayal, and reconciliation. When Leontes, the king of Sicilia, impulsively accuses Queen Hermione of committing adultery with the Bohemian king, Polixenes, he shocks those closest to him. Loyal friends and family are cast aside, and a newborn’s life hangs in the balance. A unique blend of courtly tragedy, country comedy, love story, and theatrical magic, The Winter's Tale features lively characters (including the roguish pickpocket Autolycus), Shakespeare's most notorious stage direction ("Exit pursued by a bear"), and his most surprising ending. The play, one of Shakespeare’s last and a perennial audience favourite, will be directed by John Ball and staged under a big tree in an intimate, stationary thrust-stage format in a downtown Fredericton park.

The Winter’s Tale will be joined on stage by Love’s Labour’s Lost. In this witty and farcical romantic comedy, the King of Navarre and three of his closest male followers vow to dedicate themselves to a strict course of study and celibacy just before four comely young women from France arrive at the kingdom for a prolonged ambassadorial visit. The not-altogether-unpredictable comedy that follows is rounded out by subplots featuring an egotistical lovelorn Spaniard and a pedantic schoolmaster who decides to direct a woeful gaggle of thespians in a play that rivals that performed by the Rude Mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for sheer comic awfulness. Last performed by Bard in the Barracks in 2012, Love’s Labour’s Lost will be directed by Len Falkenstein and Jake Martin.

Keep watching this space for more information about the plays and auditions (scheduled for April 28-29), with our detailed performance schedule and ticket information on the way later in May.

04/19/2026

Guess what? We're going to have an exciting announcement for you tomorrow afternoon, right here, about our 2026 summer season!

Any predictions which plays we'll be staging this summer? The accompanying photo might provide a hint or two, if you're an astute Bard in the Barracks fan!

First reply with a correct guess will win a pair of tickets!

Fredericton Capital Region Tourism

Photo: Larry Holder

04/12/2026

NotaBle Acts' 2026 Provincewide Playwriting Contest is now open for submissions!

The clock is ticking towards the deadline for our twenty-fifth annual provincewide playwriting competition. Contest winners will have their work featured as part of the 2026 NotaBle Acts Summer Theatre Festival, to be held in Fredericton, July 23-August 1.

New Brunswick playwrights have the opportunity to submit work in three main categories, one for 7-10 minute short plays, one for 30-60 minute one-act plays, and another for 10-20 minute site-specific plays. Two additional categories of the contest are specifically for young playwrights in New Brunswick Middle and High schools.
Winning playwrights will also receive a cash prize and script mentoring from a professional playwright.

The contest rules and guidelines, as well as instructions on how to submit scripts, are available online at www.nbacts.com. Questions about the contest can be directed to [email protected] or (506) 458-7406. The contest deadline is May 1st, 2026. PARC - Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre Solo Chicken Productions .ca

Photo: Kyle Albright

04/04/2026

NotaBle Acts' 2026 Provincewide Playwriting Contest is now open for submissions!

It's just under a month until the deadline for our twenty-fifth annual provincewide playwriting competition. Contest winners will have their work featured as part of the 2026 NotaBle Acts Summer Theatre Festival, to be held in Fredericton, July 23-August 1.
New Brunswick playwrights have the opportunity to submit work in three main categories, one for 7-10 minute short plays, one for 30-60 minute one-act plays, and another for 10-20 minute site-specific plays. Two additional categories of the contest are specifically for young playwrights in New Brunswick Middle and High schools.
Winning playwrights will also receive a cash prize and script mentoring from a professional playwright.
The contest rules and guidelines, as well as instructions on how to submit scripts, are available online at www.nbacts.com. Questions about the contest can be directed to [email protected] or (506) 458-7406. The contest deadline is May 1st, 2026.
Saint John Theatre Company Chicken Productions

Photo: Michael Holmes-Lauder

04/04/2026

04/01/2026

Ryan Griffith’s Greetings! From Gumdrop Mountain runs at Theatre UNB Thursday through Saturday this week!

03/27/2026

NotaBle Acts' 2026 Provincewide Playwriting Contest is now open for submissions!

2026 is NotaBle Acts' 25th anniversary season, and we want you to be a part of it!

NotaBle Acts Theatre Company is seeking submissions for its twenty-fifth annual provincewide playwriting competition. Contest winners will have their work featured as part of the 2026 NotaBle Acts Summer Theatre Festival, to be held in Fredericton, July 23-August 1.

New Brunswick playwrights have the opportunity to submit work in three main categories, one for 7-10 minute short plays, one for 30-60 minute one-act plays, and another for 10-20 minute site-specific plays. Two additional categories of the contest are specifically for young playwrights in New Brunswick Middle and High schools.

Winning playwrights will also receive a cash prize and script mentoring from a professional playwright.

The contest rules and guidelines, as well as instructions on how to submit scripts, are available online at www.nbacts.com. Questions about the contest can be directed to [email protected] or (506) 458-7406. The contest deadline is May 1st, 2026.
ca Saint John Theatre Company Solo Chicken Productions
Theatre New Brunswick Theatre UNB Bard in The Barracks Theatre Company