Developing Fresh Voices for the 21st Century
About Us
Develop your vision for the stage with Tennessee Playwrights Studio
We're a development lab for Tennessee playwrights, and we're looking for strong, brave, even fierce voices. Bring a point of view, a handful of characters and a kick-ass narrative, and we'll get along just fine. No one can deny that we live in a pivotal moment in this country's history. When historians look back at the early 21st century, they'll examine our art, our music, our STORIES. Let us help you tell yours on stage.
Participants meet one Sunday per month at the Darkhorse Theatre Chapel in Nashville. After developing their scripts with the help of peer feedback and readings by local actors, TPS writers will present their working drafts to the public in late fall.
Tennessee Playwrights Studio is committed to inclusion and a safe, harassment-free work environment.
Kenley Smith
directs the 2019 TPS program. He came to Nashville in 2011 as an Ingram New Works playwright, and he facilitated the Writing Room at Nashville Rep from 2015 to 2017. Earlier, Kenley founded Studio Roanoke, a new-works venue in Virginia that put up some 30 first or second productions from 2009 to 2012. His plays, including DEVIL SEDAN and EMPIRES OF ETERNAL VOID, have been produced in Chicago, Nashville, Memphis and Omaha; AKUMA-SHIN received its world premiere last spring at Sacred Fools Theatre in Los Angeles. All three plays were MainStage selections at the Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha. Learn more about Kenley and his work here.
Molly Breen
is an actor who loves working with new plays/playwrights. She has originated roles in more than 15 new, full productions and has acted in several new play festivals, including Nashville's Ten Minute Playhouse, the Writing Room at Nashville Rep, the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival and NYC & DC Fringe, along with regularly performing in local Nashville theatre productions. As a writer, she has received fellowships with the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Mary Anderson Center for the Arts. She is represented by the McCray Agency. Actors interested in participating in TPS workshops or readings can send headshot/resume/ age range to molly@tnplaywrights.org.
our home for 2019
TPS partners with Actors Bridge Ensemble
We're delighted to be working in partnership this year with Actors Bridge Ensemble. ABE has long been an advocate for new works, producing 14 world and 70 Nashville premieres. and always provides Middle Tennessee audiences with bold, challenging theatre. We can't think of an organization that better shares our goals and outlook.
Beginning in February, our monthly workshops will be in Actors Bridge's space in the Darkhorse Theatre Chapel at Charlotte Avenue and 47th Avenue N. in Nashville. Our 2019 Reading Festival will run for a week in late fall, also in the Chapel.
ABE's next production, CITIZEN: AN AMERICAN LYRIC, runs March 22-31.