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 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, EMPIRES OF ETERNAL VOID and MAIDENS, have been produced in Chicago, Nashville, Memphis and Omaha; AKUMA-SHIN received its world premiere in 2018 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
the Program Coordinator for TPS, is an actor who loves working with new plays and playwrights. She performs with many Nashville theatre companies, has appeared on stage in Atlanta, Kentucky, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. and has also originated roles in more than 15 world premiere productions. As a writer, she has received fellowships with the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Mary Anderson Center for the Arts. Actors interested in participating in TPS workshops or readings can send headshot/resume/ age range to molly@tnplaywrights.org.
our home for 2020
TPS partners with Actors Bridge Ensemble
We're delighted to be working in partnership again with Actors Bridge Ensemble! ABE has long been an advocate for new works, producing dozens of world and 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 March, our monthly workshops will be in the Actors Bridge Studio behind the Darkhorse Theatre at Charlotte Avenue and 47th Avenue N. in Nashville. Our 2020 Reading Festival will run for a week in December, also in the Actors Bridge Studio.
Actors Bridge will present Eve Ensler's THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES on Feb. 12 at City Winery; tickets are available here. ABE's continuing program, FIRST TIME STORIES, runs on the third Friday of the month.