ABOUT YOUR PLAYWRIGHT DEVELOPMENT MENTOR:
Harrison Young (he/him) is the Tennessee Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild of America. As a Theatre graduate from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Improvisation alum from the Peoples Improv Theater-NYC, he has performed in many comedies and new works which taught him how to write his own comedies. During the pandemic, he was the Literary Manager for the Tennessee Stage Company as they converted their annual New Play Festival to an online international format. He started Next Rung Productions in 2019 and supported his first playwright through this program in 2020. Since then, Blank News named him "Knoxville's Finest Dramatist" in their 2024 readers' poll.
Writing credits for productions and readings* include: ONLINE FIGHTING (Game Play Festival with the Brick Theater, production at the Peoples Improv Theater, Living Room Theatre*, New Play Festival with the Tennessee Stage Company, Farragut High School, Gibbs High School, Wild Thyme Players); SECRET DISCLOSURES (series at the Treehouse Theater); GRANDMA'S DEATH DISH (Tiger Lily Theatre, Chance Residential Center); ALASKAN ASSASSINS (Tiger Lily Theatre, Lights Up with Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga*); ASKING FOR A FRIEND (Santa Monica Theatre); NO PROPS (Tiger Lily Theatre); ASPHALT AND ASPHYXIATION (Tiger Lily Theatre); FREE SAMPLE (24 Hour Plays - Memphis with LoneTree Live), and THE INCONSEQUENTIAL CUPCAKE! (Bad Theater Fest at St. Paul's Theater). In addition, he wrote select scenes for THE GREAT VANISHING (Skeleton Rep), a scene in LIVE FROM THE ANARCHIST JURISDICTION (One-Minute Play Festival with the Dramatists Guild of America*), and co-wrote the play RAFT (Phoenix Theatre Company*, PRIDE at Home*, New Play Festival with the Tennessee Stage Company). His playwriting was most recently featured with THE FESTIVAL (Night of Shorts with the Tennessee Stage Company), TWO BAD DAYS (Next Rung Productions at the Old City Performing Arts Center*, New Play Development Series with the Tennessee Stage Company*) and ANOTHER LETTER (Silver Stage Players).
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Performing credits include new plays like the world premieres of THE HUNGRY HEART (Carpetbag Theatre) and HOPPY'S TRUNK (New Play Festival with the Tennessee Stage Company). He also created new shows weekly with VICE CREAM, a long-form improv house-team with the Treehouse Theater. He was most recently featured story-telling on the WORLD Channel in an episode of STORIES FROM THE STAGE, filmed at the Cumberland County Playhouse.
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Long-term teaching credits include mentoring playwrights through Next Rung Productions since 2020. Shorter-term teaching credits mostly include a variety of comedy and story-telling workshops across multiple residential centers. He taught writing and improvisation with Sundress Academy for the Arts, ten-minute plays with the Knoxville Writers' Guild, directing with the Silver Stage Players, perspectives with Playhouse on the Square, tensions between playwrights and generative AI with the Dramatists Guild of America, and stage combat independently. In addition, he has been a guest instructor on show blurbs in Vanderbilt's Program for Talented Youth and co-writing in Chattanooga's Center for Creative Arts. He also supported as a dramaturg for SNALLYGASTER (New Play Festival with the Tennessee Stage Company).
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Published article credits include The Dramatist magazine and Broadway Baby. In addition, he has reviewed plays for the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Most recently, he interviews local playwrights in his column with Blank News called THE WRITER'S WAY.
"RAFT can be admired on a number of levels, most assuredly as a tremendously demanding and revealing vehicle for two actors."
Arts Knoxville
"The entire concept is so creative [...] Really love how lighthearted [ONLINE FIGHTING] is, yet the characters are believable and dynamic."
Farragut Press
"[NO PROPS] possesses all the nuts and bolts stagecraft needed to make solid theatre from the ground up [...] Clever and enjoyable."
Knoxville Theatre Club
​"Very very clever [...] It's the opposite of talking down to your audience, right, it's letting your audience in on the joke [...] There's a lot of really great skill in [ALASKAN ASSASSINS]."
Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga
"A seasoned stage artist [...] He knows how to push and pull the crowd's attention, setting up punchlines, unafraid of pregnant pauses, and building a series of satisfying climaxes that ultimately serve to create one of [STORIES FROM THE STAGE]'s most roundly satisfying works."
Knoxville Theatre Club
"Absolutely riotous. This is a man who just locks onto a certain style that is needed for the character and needed for [acting in FLAMING GUNS OF THE PURPLE SAGE] as if he's laser-guided. He makes choices that have me rolling in the aisles every night."
Sounds of Knoxville Theatre
“We knew from Harrison’s work that table readings with talkbacks can work well [when converting the Tennessee Stage Company's New Play Festival to an online format]."
Maryville Daily Times
"Impressive [...] We hope to offer this workshop [teaching ten-minute plays] again in the future."