2024 New Play Festival

Tennessee Stage Company is excited to announce the next step in our New Play Festival's evolution.

Over the past 34 seasons, TSC has had the pleasure to read, stage, and produce 100s of scripts from playwrights all over the world, including 31 world premiere stage productions. We have had the honor of working with incredibly talented playwrights and practitioners in that time and wouldn't change it for the world.

For our 35th season, we decided to narrow our lens from worldwide to our hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. With the deep roots of storytelling that accompany the Appalachian mountains and its foothills, Tennessee Stage Company wants to cultivate our artistic soil, making it a fertile ground for the playwrights and practitioners of Knoxville to grow.

The first step in this transition begins now, in February 2024 with this Night of Shorts. Tennessee Stage will carry on Tiger Lily Theatre's torch of producing new short works -- with a few twists of our own. Founding board member Crystal Braeuner, joined TLT's Artistic Director, Jennifer Brown and member Jennifer Alldrege in starting this, "Knoxville-based company focused upon both full-length plays with great roles for women and an annual night of unpublished short pieces. The Night of Shorts brought new playwrights from the community and across the country together, and provided a slew of fun roles for local actors." This year's Night of Shorts, while paying homage to Tiger Lily Theatre and the women upheld the short play form in Knoxville, will also serve as an integral part of this festival's growth.

As for the future, over the next few years, Tennessee Stage Company will be changing the scope of the New Play Festival to focus on the process of playwrighting. In 2024, we will begin accepting locally written, full-length plays where the ink is still wet. We will focus on training up dramaturgs and directors to act as resources and facilitators in supporting the stories each playwright looks to tell. Through year-round table work opportunities, consistent constructive feedback, staged readings and performance-focused productions, Tennessee Stage Company looks to set a flourishing foundation from which playwrights can build their stories from the script up.

New Play Festival 2024: Night of Shorts

2 Table Readings. 1 Staged Reading. 9 Shorts.