The Jasper Project is delighted to congratulate Columbia theatre artist D. K. Turner who is the winner of our 2026 Play Right Project for his original play, The Counting Table!
In its sixth year, Jasper’s Play Right Project (formerly known as our Play Right Series) was created to help enlighten and empower audiences with information about the process involved in creating theatrical arts, while at the same time engineering and increasing opportunities for SC theatre artists to create and perform new works.
The keystone of the project is an open call for new and original plays written by South Carolina playwrights. Submitted scripts are sent to a panel of judges who select the one play that stands out above the rest. During the summer immediately following selection, Jasper invites community members to join us as Community Producers who meet with the cast and crew of the winning play four Sunday afternoons to learn more about how a play makes its way from the page to the stage.
In September, the winning play is produced to the “staged reading” level of development, published in book form, and filed with the US Library of Congress.
The public is invited to attend the performance and honor the Community Producers who make the project possible.
Deon "DK" Turner is a Columbia, SC-based writer, actor, and photographer. He is currently completing his MFA in Acting at the University of South Carolina. When not performing at USC, Trustus Theatre, or with The NiA Company, he develops original scripts and works across the state as a professional photographer. Turner’s writing explores the economics of Black South Carolina life and relationships to land, labor, faith, and institutional systems. "The Counting Table" is his first submission to the Play Right Project and is part of a larger collection of South Carolina plays currently in development. He is grateful for this opportunity to work with Jasper and thanks his family, friends, and the artists who have impacted and continue to shape his journey.
Become a Community Producer!
Jasper is now seeking Community Producers interested in participating in this process.
Community Producers are community members and theatre aficionados invested in the development process and supportive of the state’s literary and theatre talent. In exchange for a modest financial contribution Jasper Community Producers will be offered insider views of the steps and processes inherent in creating theatrical art by attending readings, rehearsals, informative talks, and presentations, including conversations with the actors, director, playwright, stage manager, costumer, and sound and lighting designer. The result: Community Producers learn about the extensive process of producing a play and become invested personally in the production and success of the play and its cast and crew, thereby becoming diplomats of theatre arts.
Your options:
Community Producer - $250
Actor Sponsor - $500
Director Sponsor - $750
Play Sponsor - $1000
Your name, no matter what level you sponsor, will appear in the published book The Counting Table as a Producer, as well as in the playbill for the performance, and NEW THIS YEAR in an article in the fall issue of
Jasper Magazine!
Read more about the Community Producer Schedule below!
