Ten Minute Play Festival

About the Event

Program A will be performed Thursday and Friday night, and Program B takes the stage Saturday night and Sunday matinee. Audiences are encouraged to attend both programs to experience the full lineup of performances.

Theater Bug proudly presents The third annual Theater Bug Ten-Minute Play Festival! The Festival offers audiences a chance to experience eight brand-new short plays and celebrate Nashville’s newest voices. Written by Nashville students, these ten-minute plays are full of amazing characters, beautiful language, real-life drama, and laugh-out-loud-comedy. The plays explore a range of contemporary topics including the struggles of growing up, the push and pull of family ties, and the eye-popping adventures of an intergalactic beverage salesman.

The young writers featured in the 2025 Ten-Minute Play Festival are Asatira X, Huck Paisley, Iyanuoluwa Otukpe, James Walker, Jamya Conner, Jasper Paisley, Luka Bosen, and Tarin Bowles.

In addition to the eight new ten-minute plays, the Festival features a sneak peek from this year’s Playground Production written by Theater Bug student, Madison Medor. Madison was a featured playwright in the 2024 Ten-Minute Play Festival and her new full-length play will premiere this spring at The Theater Bug.

-Have you Ever tried Starboard Milk™ by Jasper Paisley Forgotten by Tarin Bowles
-Sneak Preview from summer Musical: Stories Sneak Preview from Spring Playground Play: The Sleepover by Madison Medor
-Good. Not Great by Jamya Conner
-Give or Take by James Walker

Original ten-minute plays were submitted by Nashville-area students and selected through a professional reading process. The selected playwrights were invited to a week-long workshop to continue to develop their plays led by Nate Eppler, Director of the Playground at The Theater Bug, and the Theater Bug’s Managing Artistic Director, Cori Anne Laemmel.

The plays will be presented as staged readings featuring both The Theater Bug’s incredible young performers as well as professional local artists. The Ten-Minute Play Festival proudly features local professional actors and directors including Bakari Jamal King, Anastasia Teel, Rachel Agee, Lauren Berst, Diego Gomez, Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva and more.

Please note: Some plays feature mature themes and language. Please use discretion when bringing audience members under 13 years old. Tickets are $15 and are available online at thetheaterbug.org. Tickets can also be purchased at the door for $18, if available. Limited numbers of subsidized and complimentary tickets are available for those who may not be able to afford the ticket price, limit two per family. To request these tickets, please email auditions@thetheaterbug.org.

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