Recognizing the 2026 Jasper Play Right Project Community Producers

The 2026 Jasper Play Right Project is well underway with a packed house of cast, crew, and our all-important Community Producers.

Community Producers essentially fund the production of the winning play to the Staged Reading level of development. Their work began on Sunday July 12 with their first gathering around a table of wine, cheese, and treats to witness Jasper’s first Table Reading of DK Turner’s The Counting Table.

Between now and Sunday, September 13th, the Community Producers will gather three more times to go deeper into the process of play development and then finally, on the 13th, they will take their reserved seats to witness the highly produced Staged Reading.

Thank you to our 2026 Jasper Play Right Project Community Producers!

Stan Conine

Jennifer Gunter

Larry Hembree & Joe Hudson

Linda Khoury

Richard & Nancy Layman

Tricia & Henry Motes

Bill Schmidt

Wade Sellers

Kirkland & James Smith

Gwinette Taylor

Keith Tolen

Jon Tuttle

Cindi Boiter & Bob Jolley

 

You don’t have to be a Community Producer to see the finished product though. Tickets are now available to join Jasper and the Community Producers for the official Staged Reading of The Counting Table followed by a meal inspired by the play itself.

Special Thanks to Columbia Music Festival Association for serving as the host of ALL Jasper 2026 Play Right Project events, including the Big Show on September 13th!

Learn more about the Jasper Play Right Project

CALL for PLAYWRIGHTS -- Jasper Project Opens its Call for Scripts for the Play Right Series 2025

Play Right Series: 2025 Call for Submissions

The Jasper Project announces the 5th cycle of its Play Right Series, a collaboration between area theatre artists and Jasper Community Producers—or theater aficionados, supporters and even newcomers. The project will culminate in summer 2025 with the staged reading of a brand-new South Carolina play. 

Submitting A Play

The play submission window is now open. 

  • Playwrights must be natives or residents of South Carolina.

  • The winning playwright must be present for development sessions with Community Producers in Columbia during the summer, 2025 (specific dates to be determined later), and must agree to offer program credit to The Jasper Project at any subsequent productions or publications.

  • Plays may address any topic, using language appropriate to the subject matter; we are not, however, considering musicals or children’s plays. 

  • Submissions must be one-act plays, 45-75 minutes in length, typed according to industry-standard format (see our Sample Format). 

  • Please include, as a cover sheet, a one-page bio of the playwright and description of the play, including cast size and any unusual technical demands, bearing in mind that smaller and fewer are usually preferable.

  • One submission per playwright, please.

  • Please submit your play no later than February 15, 2025  to playrightseries@jasperproject.org

 

Play Selection

When the submission window closes on February 15, 2025, the Play Right Series committee will read and select a play for development through the spring and summer.  “Development,” in this case, means round-table readings with paid actors and directors and attended by Community Producers and Professional Others, followed in the summer by rehearsals and presentation at Harbison Theatre in early September. 

The process will be facilitated by Jasper Community Producers—audience members invested in the development process and supportive of the state’s literary 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 and rehearsals, and 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.

Previous winning plays have included:

Sharks and Other Lovers by David Randall Cook

Moon Swallower by Colby Quick

Therapy by Lonetta Thompson

Letting It Grow by Chad Henderson