YOUNG SOUTHERN WRITERS PROGRAM
HIGH SCHOOL & COLLEGE STUDENTS
JULY 23–26, 2025
Learn more about playwriting and write a play of your own with a professional playwright commissioned by ASF! Students will be selected by a special committee of theatre professionals to spend the week at ASF. Young writers will have the opportunity to learn from a playwright who has mastered their craft, and they’ll participate in a 10-Minute Play Festival. At the conclusion of the 10-Minute Play Festival, one student will receive the Critics Choice Award, and one student will be honored with the Audience Choice Award.
GUIDELINES:
- High School students (grades 9–12) and College students (18+) may apply.
- Applications must be submitted by Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
- Students with experience in creative writing preferred, but not required.
- At least ONE letter of reference from a teacher or adult not in your family.
- Applicants who do not complete the entire application or submit supplemental documents will not be considered.
- 2025 YSWP invitees will be announced on Friday, June 20, 2025.
For questions or more information, email us at [email protected].
Instructors
Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder
YSWP High School Workshops
Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s plays include Looks Like Pretty, Fresh Kills, Everything That’s Beautiful, Gee’s Bend, The Furniture of Home, The Flag Maker of Market Street, White Lightning, Georgia Mae James Unplugs America, Provenance, and most recently, Zelda in the Backyard. Her work has been produced/commissioned/workshopped by Royal Court, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center, Arden, New Conservatory Theatre, Sloan Foundation, Geva Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Triad Stage, Pioneer Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Little Fish, and B Street Theatre, among others. She is currently the Tennessee Williams Playwright-in-Residence at Sewanee: The University of the South. Proud NYU/Youngblood alum. www.wilderwriting.net
Nathan Maxwell
YSWP College Workshops
Nathan R. Maxwell was born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They received their undergraduate degree in Theatre from Troy University and received their MFA in Playwriting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Their plays my town and Shady Acres: gospel iii of iv were developed at Rutgers University and received readings at Ensemble Studio Theatre. They were the recipient of the Mississippi Theatre Association Adult Playwriting Award for their play The Kid in 2016.