About
The mission of the Baylor New Play Initiative is to foster excellence and innovation in new American works. We believe in the potential of theatre to inspire, challenge, and engage the human spirit. As such, this initiative cultivates new work as a means of generating respectful dialogue, expanding artistic horizons, and enriching our communities both locally and nationally.
This project aims to engage with the broader artistic community and facilitate greater exchange between Texas theatre and the American theatre scene. We bolster new and established artists in the creation of new works through artistic and financial support. The BNPI invites lovers of the arts, both patrons and creators, to join us in forging new frontiers and possibilities in American theatre.
Benefactors
Preston and Ronda (Massey) Kirk, Waco area natives, are 1968 graduates of Baylor University, he in Journalism with Drama and English minors, and she in Business with a teaching degree and later a master’s in finance from the University of Texas at Dallas. Their meet-up in the Baylor Bookstore has led to a 57-year marriage. They returned to Waco in 2000 after a 51-year absence.
The Kirks are lifetime members of the Baylor Line Foundation, as well as members of The Old Main Society and the 1845 Society. Preston conceived a U.S. playwrights competition more than 10 years ago, proposing it to the Dept. of Theatre Arts and underwriting research into playwrighting festivals for more than three years. The current result is a more carefully crafted Baylor New Play Initiative offering The Kirk Prize of $15,000 in its first year and funding to support the biennial festival for decades to come.
Preston was an entertainer at Six Flags Over Texas for two summers while attending Baylor, but “washed out” of his drama major and became an award-winning reporter for United Press International and a founding editor of three business periodicals. In 2020, while a PR/Mktg. consultant, he returned to “the boards,” on the Hill Country Community Theatre stage.
Ronda joined him the next season and was a regular on HCCT’s Play Reading Committee, while he served on its Board of Governors, promoted the now 40-year old theatre and they both acted at all role levels in dozens of productions. The highly successful 2007 HCCT Playwriting Festival inspired this “legacy project for our alma mater,” Preston concedes.
The couple, often appearing together, have worked on more than 35 films/movies; in web spots, 12 TV series or pilots and dozens of local, regional and national commercials and photo shoots. Their 23 years of acting-as-an-avocation ended in June 2023, but they remain active members of the Theatre significant interest group through Lifelong Learning at Baylor’s Mayborn Museum, as well as avid theatregoers in Central Texas.
The couple has carefully defined the objectives of The Baylor New Play Initiative.
1) To create a premier U.S. playwrights festival. 2) To assist emerging playwrights in generating engaging, entertaining, profitable and successful original plays for stages worldwide. 3) To further enhance the City of Waco as a significant metropolitan center for theatrical arts. 4) To reinforce fresh opportunities for Baylor students in the academic and artistic fields of theatre study.
Preston and Ronda thank you for your participation in BNPI’s inaugural event and welcome your support and encouragement of live theatre and future Playwrights Festivals at Baylor University in Waco, TX.