Abingdon Theatre Company continues its mission in creating opportunities for all voices to be heard. With this in mind, the company will produce a Fall Festival of Short Plays, a two-week virtual festival shedding light on stories by people of color. A diverse panel of judges, theatre professionals who are Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), will select 6 new short pieces created and performed by people of color. At the conclusion of the Festival, the panel will select a winner who will receive a stipend to be used to support further exploration of their piece and will be invited to become an “Artist-in-Residence.” The Abingdon Theatre Company has committed to producing the winning piece as part of their “Around the Table” free reading series. Through the outreach, online readings, and finally the staged reading of the winning piece, the hope is to engage around 1,500 people of color and to create a more diverse environment at Abingdon.