Playland Productions is a theatre company in Simsbury, focusing on original scripts.

Bio:

Its founder, Betsy Maguire, is a playwright, as well as an actor, director, and producer. Betsy is the recipient of the 2019 Jon Lipsky Award for Excellence in Playwriting, Best Comedy and Best Drama festival awards, and the winner of Connecticut Stories on Stage. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the International Museum Theatre Alliance, and the Connecticut Women Theater Network. 

As a playwright of twenty-five years and over forty plays, Betsy has written stories that have come alive in Mark Twain’s Hartford home, the Simsbury Cemetery, the Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine in East Granby, Lost Acres Vineyard in North Granby, and the exhibit hangars at The New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks. She has a passion for historical research and for writing women-centric stories, and created the anthology play series, "The Seat Beside Her."

Most recently, Betsy is concentrating on writing fictional, full-length plays, suitable for any producing organization. Licensing requests and inquiries can be addressed to [email protected] or [email protected].  

Artistic Statement:

One of many wonderful things about theatre, is getting to work with all kinds of creatives, and to make memories, together. I love actors, and I love to write for them; what a joy, to watch talented performers elevate my words. Directors challenge me and my preconceived notions, and I welcome their vision and viewpoints. Designers and technical artists have skills that I can just marvel at, so far outside my own capability. All of which, is to say: I am one lucky playwright. 

My passion is writing about women -- brave, strong, forgotten, and misunderstood. The most prominent thread that runs through my work is the sacrifice people are willing to make, for those they love. Over two decades of playwriting, I’ve explored themes of motherhood, domestic abuse, alcoholism, PTSD, racial bias, gender expression, grief, disability, suicide. And the lighter topics, too, of course; I am very proud of my Best Comedy award, although my heart (and my pen) will always be rooted firmly, in dramatic storytelling.