January was a huge month for theatre in Knoxville, and one reason for this burst of theatrical activity during this season is Tennessee Stage Company’s annual New Play festival. This year’s New Play festival was held from January 6 through January 18, featuring a full two weeks of local theatre spanning works in development to full-fledged productions. While I wasn’t able to attend every event (the spirit was willing but the schedule was packed!), I did get a nice sampling of this year’s offerings, which was a testament to the dedication, inspiration, and artistic sensibility of Knoxville and its surrounding areas. The New Play Festival is a space to celebrate everything that our region has to offer.
Tennessee Stage Company, the New Play Festival facilitator, is a nonprofit professional theatre company operating since 1989 and whose mission is to, according to their website, “enhance the cultural life of the community through performance and education while providing professional opportunities for regional artists.” New Play Festival is one of three major programs the Tennessee Stage Company operates, the other two being Knoxville Shakespeare and various educational and outreach programs for local artists of all ages. This mix of cultural celebration and professional collaboration was evident through the festival’s many events offerings. This year’s New Play Festival featured 4 main categories of events, including a spotlight production, staged readings, table readings, and free community events. Attendees can choose from purchasing a festival pass that grants access to all events or individual tickets. The festival’s events were held in a variety of local venues related to the arts in Knoxville, from Addison’s Bookstore in the 100 Block of Gay Street, the CBT Lab Theatre on UTK Campus, and even the Historic Westwood home in Sequoyah Hills.
This year’s spotlight production, Landscape With Color by Knoxville-based playwright Jeannette Brown, was special as the festival’s main event because it incorporated local history and architecture, wrapping up some of the most important historical artifacts of Knoxville’s little-known art history all into one intimate showcase. In case you missed it, my review of Landscape can be found here.
The second group of events were staged readings of plays still under development, and this year’s festival lineup featured staged readings of three new plays, all held at CBT’s LAB Theatre on UTK campus: The Polders by Alex Drinnen, Potential by Emily Pope, and A Sad Vampire by Aleah Vassell. While I was only able to attend A Sad Vampire (see my review here), I also stayed afterward to attend a “talkback” that incorporated choreographer and performer Liz Lehrman’s Critical Response Process, allowing the playwrights, actors, and audience members to collaborate in critical, effective, and constructive ways to improve dramatic works in progress. From this process, it is evident that our community is dedicated to the growth of arts; even these smaller events had an impressive audience turnout, and I saw many familiar faces at each event I attended.
The third grouping of events were table readings, which can be a little different for those who are expecting to see “theatre.” Table readings are the most stripped-down part of the play development process, where roles are cast but not much “acting” is taking place aside from what the actors can do with their voices; they are quite literally sitting at a table with the script in front of them in most cases, and audiences are watching them read (with a little flair!) Plays that secured table readings this year were Theatre of Operations by Craig Smith, Audience Wanted by Sherridan Smee, Painter by Derek Davidson, and Shrinking Violet by Gabriella Runnels. I attended the table reading of Shrinking Violet at Addison’s Bookstore, and it was such a great venue for that stage of the play development process. Readers were seated behind the coffee bar, and it was very cozy to be surrounded by all the antique and rare books in Addison’s while hearing the reading. Another Critical Response Process session was held after this reading, and all works in development received this process, highlighting the educational benefits Tennessee Stage Company has to offer and the professionalism of the entire process.
In addition to these ticketed events, Tennessee Stage Company collaborated with Next Rung Productions (a local play development program) to host a free community event, Four Steps Forward. This event was a rapid-fire gamification of the theatrical process, where writers and actors drew prompts and names and created new monologues from the results that were debuted during the event, all in support of local nonprofits. According to Next Rung’s website, this event showcased a “one-of-a-kind blend of fresh writing, spontaneous performance, and heartfelt advocacy that highlights the voices and values of East Tennessee artists.”
Throughout these two weeks, festival goers (or anyone looking for a night out on the town) could stop by Tern Club, Knoxville’s niche tropical-themed cocktail lounge, for a drink customized specifically for the festival: the Writer’s Block. And if attendees weren’t able to make it to the 100 Block of Gay Street for Tern Club’s offering, they could finally get their party on at the New Play Festival’s closing celebration. Held in the Sunsphere in World’s Fair Park, the closing celebration was a fitting finale where playwrights, actors, directors, and the community can come together to revel in the work and art showcased throughout the past two weeks.
The New Play Festival will return to Knoxville in January 2027, and applications are currently open for submissions, which close June 30. Tennessee Stage Company is seeking “plays that explore the cultural, political, emotional, and imaginative terrain of the Southern experience in bold, unexpected ways” for next year’s festival, noting that all genres are welcome but submissions should be limited to playwrights who currently live in or have deep roots in the East Tennessee region. Submissions can be sent in at https://tennesseestage.com/new-play-festival/
