Nashville Rep Writing Room Readings Begin Next Week

The Writing Room, an extension of Nashville Rep's Ingram New Works Festival, was created to nurture local playwrights. On December 7, 8, and 9 and December 14 and 15 scripts from this project will be presented as staged readings for the public.

Playwrights are Rachel Agee, Rebekah Durham, Mary McCallum, Kenley Smith, and Shawn Whitsell.

About The Writing Room

Playwrights currently residing in Middle Tennessee were selected for involvement in The Writing Room via an open application process and invited to participate in a nine-month development program led by Nate Eppler, Nashville Rep's Playwright-in-Residence and facilitated by Ingram New Works Lab Alumni, Kenley Smith. Through readings and rigorous feedback, each playwright developed a new play for the stage in a supportive and creative environment.

"We have wonderful artists in Middle Tennessee," says Smith, "and The Writing Room is built to take advantage of that. In these readings, the audience will see playwrights who are stretching beyond their comfort zones. That's so exciting!"

The Ingram New Works Project has not only led directly to the development of thirty-five new plays for the stage in its six years but has also led to dramatically increased interest in new plays and playwriting in Nashville - audiences and artists alike. To serve that interest, The Ingram New Works Project launched The Writing Room to specifically focus on local playwrights.

"The Writing Room is one of the ways Nashville Rep gives back to the artists who make up this city's vibrant arts ecosystem," says Eppler. "The Rep gives these Nashville artists space and support to do what they do best: Tell a few great stories."

The Writing Room Playwrights and Schedule

2015 Nashville Rep Writing Room Playwrights are: Rachel Agee, Rebekah Durham, Mary McCallum, Kenley Smith, and Shawn Whitsell.

The Writing Room public readings will take place at 7:30 pm in Studio A at the Nashville Public Television building, located at 161 Rains Avenue, Nashville, TN 37203.

Dec. 7 - $20 or $10 by Mary McCallum

Dec. 8 - March Fourth by Rebekah Durham

Dec. 9 - The Virus by Rachel Agee

Dec. 14 - En-Contracted by Shawn Whitsell

Dec. 15 - Maidens by Kenley Smith

Admission is free for all performances. See below for script synopses.

About the program's name

Nashville is a city of writers. Recording studios and labels across Music City offer Writing Rooms to musicians on their way to their first hit single. A writing room is a place to hammer out the notes, a place to raise the bar, and a place to be inspired. Nashville Rep offers the same thing to Nashville playwrights.

$20 or $10

By Mary McCallum

Dec 7 at 7:30pm

After a run-in at a convenience store, Tyler is haunted by the revenge-seeking, black male teen victim. Tensions escalate as both families struggle to deal with the tragic event. As media pressure continues to mount, the community is confronted with issues of race, class, and police handling of the case. One moment forever changes two lives, and the men must face their altered futures and the impact of their actions.

March Fourth

By Rebekah Durham

Dec 8 at 7:30pm

Cassi has secrets. Family secrets. Secrets are her comfort zone. But how uncomfortable will she be when those secrets are revealed? And will she have any family left?

The Virus

By Rachel Agee

Dec 9 at 7:30pm

America is obsessed with Brene Brown and TED Talks and Facebook articles about pursuing your bliss. Life is too short to spend it doing a job you hate! But reasonable adults do it because reasonable adults are... reasonable. But what if they didn't have to be? What if there was a drug you could take that would help you have that fulfilling dream job you've dreamed about so much? Would you take it? What if you didn't have any choice? What could possibly go wrong?

En-Contracted

By Shawn Whitsell

Dec 14 at 7:30pm

In a world in which African Americans are legally considered second-class citizens, Nathaniel is a black man on the rise in corporate. When handed a task that calls for him to compromise his integrity, Nathaniel has to choose between his beliefs and his freedom.

Maidens

By Kenley Smith

Dec 15 at 7:30pm

Jozef, a 10-year-old boy in Gdansk, Poland, has an odd souvenir - a woman's shoe. It comes from a hill called Biskupia Gorka, where he has witnessed something on a warm July day that he'll never forget.

In the spring of 1946, five SS Aufseherinnen (female guards) from the Stutthof concentration camp are sentenced to death by a Soviet/Polish tribunal. Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, infamous for her cruelty and known as the "Beautiful Spectre" by the camp inmates, shares a cell block with 22-year-old Elisabeth Becker. Together, they wait out the five weeks until they are scheduled to hang. Elisabeth maintains her innocence and enlists the help of Lech, a Polish guard, to begin crafting a letter-writing campaign to the President of Poland. Jenny, who knows Lech from his previous job, uses that information as leverage to begin a project of her own.

Nashville Rep's 2015-16 season sponsors include The HCA Foundation on behalf of HCA Tristar, Ingram Charitable Fund, Metro Nashville Arts Commission, The Shubert Foundation, and Tennessee Arts Commission.

Nashville Rep is a non-profit theatre bringing classic and contemporary theatre to Nashville that inspires empathy and prods intellectual and emotional engagement in audiences. The 2015-16 season consists of Rapture, Blister Burn, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Christmas Story, Good Monsters, and Chicago. The season concludes with the Ingram New Works Festival in May, a showcase of new works created in Nashville for the American Theatre.