Tennessee Stage Company has just announced the 2027 New Plays Festival, to be held in Knoxville from January 5–17, 2027. The festival lineup was announced during a special preview event on August 23 at the Emporium Center in the 100-block of South Gay Street.
During the evening event, attendees were entertained with the dulcet tones of The Burleson Brothers, a Knoxville-based trio who perform a roots-driven mix of Americana, bluegrass, and Appalachian music, with catering by the local Sweet P’s Barbecue. It was a fitting reception for the announcement of the 2027 New Plays Fest theme and featured plays, which get at the heart of what makes the art of Appalachia so unique and compelling.
This year’s lineup of plays address homecomings, transformations, and grief—all things that haunt the hills and hollers of Appalachia. Co-Program Director David Ratliff opened the announcement by reminding us that “love has a remarkable habit of outliving the people who give it to us,” and it is this love for our area, its people, and the experiences that shape life in Appalachia that seem to connect and drive the stories to be featured in the upcoming festival.
The festival’s offerings are divided into 4 main categories: table readings, staged readings, free community events, and a spotlight production. Table Readings for the 2027 festival include four new, in-development works: Bigfoot Mountain by Marius Palmour, which follows a skeptical audio engineer who joins a Bigfoot hunting reality show; Goatman by Jen Jarnagin, the story of a pair of siblings intent on scattering their late mother’s ashes in the mountains; Intersextions by Peggy Douglas, about two Southern housewives who stumble into an unexpected chosen family; and Rumination by Madison M. Mansouri, a portrait of a woman trying to hold herself together on the brink of her 30s. These plays will be read live to audiences in more intimate settings, so no stages or costumes for these events.
Staged Readings include 14 Exceptions by Greg Congleton, a close examination of divisions and connections in the aftermath of the Civil War; Ghostwritten by Alexandra Noelle, the story of a violinist haunted by the ghost of her late husband and the music they composed together; and Imaginary Species by Jerico Bleu, about a troubled man bent on revenge who is forced to confront his past. Staged Readings get a bit more development than table readings and are performed onstage, but in a more stripped down, developmental manner.
The Spotlight Production of this year’s festival marks a first for Tennessee Stage Company, because it is the first musical to be presented by the festival. The Gray Man, with book, music, and lyrics by Eric Sorrels, combines the sounds and stories of Appalachia, set against the background of three hurricanes and told through the figure of the Gray Man, a local legend to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, residents. Staged in Clarence Brown Theatre’s Lab Theatre, it promises to be an innovative and exciting capstone to the event, setting new expectations for what The New Plays Fest can offer Knoxville into the future.
In addition to these paid events, the upcoming festival will feature four free community events that anyone is welcome to, even if they have not purchased tickets to the festival proper. These include a revival of Page Against The Machine, facilitated by Next Rung Productions, where playwrights, actors, and audiences work together in a showdown between human writing and Artificial Intelligence. New to the festival this year is the Young Playwrights Showcase, which will celebrate the work of local high school playwrights in the area. The Writers Workshops, hosted by Knoxville Poet Laureate Linda Parsons, will educate attendees on how to increase theatricality in their work, and, as always, the Festival Wrap Party is open to all in celebration of the stories that celebrate our region and the artists who define it.
Stay tuned for more information about tickets, venues, and other information at https://tennesseestage.com/.
