Arts Beat: How can Memphians write a script? Start with a seed
(Photo illustration by Kelsey Bowen/The Daily Memphian)
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A new program aims to help 10-12 Memphis-area playwrights develop a full-length script draft in 10 weeks.
At the end of the program, which is free to enter and participate in, one play will receive a public, staged reading.
Applications are open for LoneTree Live’s Seed to Script Playwright Development Program through Dec. 7. If they don’t have a script, applicants can submit other forms of writing, such as a short story or poem. Applicants must be living within 75 miles of the Memphis metropolitan area.
“We’ve been doing this event called 24-Hour Plays,” said Julia Hinson, executive director and founder of LoneTree Live. “As part of that, we have playwrights write a play overnight and then (the directors and actors) create the play during the day.”
The play is performed for an audience that same night.
Hinson noted that Playhouse on the Square and Germantown Community Theatre both put on new plays.
Playhouse does so via its annual NewWorks@TheWorks contest, which is open to local, national and international writers.
Germantown Community Theatre does so via its Teresa Jordan Emerging Local Playwrights Competition. It’s open to writers in Shelby County and surrounding areas.
Also in the Memphis area, Hattiloo Theatre began its 10-Minute Play Festival for Shelby County writers in 2025.
“I was like, there’s all these places that do new works, but no one’s really fostering the playwriting,” Hinson said.
With part of LoneTree Live’s mission being to foster new talent, Hinson saw a need.
“Look around in our community of Memphis and (I) just feel like, ‘There’s probably a lot of people that have stories to tell, but don’t know how,’” Hinson said.
Hinson founded LoneTree Live in 2011 while living in Omaha, Nebraska, as the Lone Tree Theatre Project. Since 2017, it has partnered with TheatreWorks for live performances. LoneTree Live holds workshops and classes in acting, movement, ensemble work and storytelling.
Hinson said the Seed to Script program is suitable for writers of all levels.
“There could be someone who’s written a couple plays and get sort of a new approach on how to write a play,” she said. “But also if someone is just like ‘I just want to write a play.’ Maybe I’m a filmmaker and I would like to write a play. Or I’m a poet. I’d like to write a story. It really is a process that can meet anybody at any level.”
The program will meet on Sundays for 10 weeks, with sessions lasting 2-3 hours, from Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, through March 15, 2026.
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Evan Linder, a Memphis-native playwright, director and actor, will act as a facilitator. He is co-founder of Chicago’s The New Coordinates (formerly The New Colony), which specializes in new plays.
Linder’s plays include “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche” and “Byhalia, Mississippi.”
“Byhalia, Mississippi” won Playhouse’s NewWorks@TheWorks competition in 2014.
“(Linder) has over 15 years of experience of walking playwrights through a process of how to write a play,” Hinson said.
Hinson and Linder will select the LoneTree Live’s Seed to Script participants.
After the program is completed, the goal is that writers leave with an 80-90 page draft. One person will receive a staged reading in April 2026, as well as a $100 stipend.
The other parts of LoneTree Live’s mission are to push the boundaries of theater (via non-traditional storytelling) and to create community with every offering.
Hinson has this advice to would-be Seed to Script applicants.
“... They’re sitting there with just that little bit of a spark, like, ‘Am I qualified?’ Yeah. That little feeling is all that qualifies you to apply,” she said.
Those who apply but don’t get selected this time should apply again, Hinson said, noting that the plan is for the program to recur.
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The Arts Beat LoneTree Live theaterElle Perry
A native Memphian, Elle Perry has earned graduate degrees from the University of Memphis and Maryland Institute College of Art. She’s written for publications including the Memphis Business Journal, Memphis Flyer and High Ground News, and previously served as coordinator of The Teen Appeal.
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