Memphis-based theatre company Voices of the South is hosting its first creative writing workshop program. The ten-month long Mid-South Writers’ Lab endeavors to help cultivate up and coming Southern writers who could potentially perform on the Voices of the South stage.
“Part of the mission is to create, cultivate and produce new plays by Southern writers, and I kept asking my team how are we cultivating new Southern writers? To me, we weren't really pursuing that mission,” said Teddy Eck, who joined the company as Executive Director this January.
Eck said that he’s looking for a diverse group of five writers from Southern backgrounds who are working on plays, poetry, fiction or any kind of narrative adaptation. The goal is to have the works performed, but Eck stressed that the key motivation is to rally community resources to support the next wave of Memphis writers.
Writers will meet monthly with each other and lab facilitator Leslie Barker, Director of Outreach and Education for Theater Memphis. A company of five actors will act or read the writers’ latest developments, and a feedback session will immediately follow.
“The goal is to help each writer with their individual process and how they wish to work and what they wish to cultivate,” Eck said.
Writers are paid a $200 stipend and the actors will receive $25 per performance. The Mid-South Writer’s Lab is made possible through support from the Jenaim Foundation and ArtsMemphis.
Applicants should send a sample of their work or a one-page proposal of the piece they plan to write and workshop to
midsouthwriterslab@voicesofthesouth.org.
Actors should send their resume and answer as to why they are interested in acting in the lab and performing new works to the same address.
The application deadline is May 31.
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