2026 Knoxville Shakespeare Season
Auditions for all three of our Knoxville Shakespeare productions will take place at First Presbyterian Church, 620 State Street, 37902.
Email Tom@TennesseeStage.com to reserve your spot today!
New Play Festival 2026 Auditions
Auditions will consist of readings from the scripts. The New Play Festival is anticipated to consist of eight plays: three table readings, four staged readings and a full production of Jeanette Brown’s Landscape With…
For more information call us at 865 546-4280.
Saturday, September 20, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
September 21, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
First Presbyterian Church, 620 State Street, 37902
Knoxville Shakespeare On The Hill Auditions
Knoxville Shakespeare On The Hill will audition for our spring 2026 production of Henry IV, Part One to be directed by Madison Mansouri and consist of an all female cast.
Saturday, October 4, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Sunday, October 5, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
First Presbyterian Church, 620 State Street, 37902
Auditioners will be asked for 2 contrasting monologues of no more than 1 minute each at least one classical. The directors of the summer Shakespeare shows will also be sitting in on these auditions.
Henry IV, Part One will begin rehearsals on or about April 1, and will perform May 7 – 17, 2026 outdoors at the Mabry-Hazen House Historic Home.
Knoxville Shakespeare Auditions
Saturday, February 21, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Sunday, February 22, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
First Presbyterian Church, 620 State Street, 37902
Auditioners will be asked for 2 contrasting monologues of no more than 1 minute each at least one classical. Auditioners may be asked to sing a few bars of something they like.
Knoxville Shakespeare 2026 Season
The Merry Wives of Windsor to be directed by Tom Parkhill and Allison Crye
Henry V to be directed by Tom Parkhill and Jennifer Alldredge
Rehearsals will begin at the end of May and the performances will be July 16 – Aug. 9 outdoors at Ijams Nature Center.
Preparation:
- Auditions consist of 2 contrasting monologues:
- Preferably both with metered language, although 1 classical, and 1 contemporary is okay too.
- Time: 60-90 seconds,
- Music:
- A song– if you can carry a tune at all, we’d love to hear you sing a little. Radio tunes over musical theatre style. (Cannot sing? No big deal!)
- Musical Instrument– if you play an instrument you have access to, come play a little tune for us.
- Technical Interview:
- If you would like to be considered for set design, lighting, sound, carpentry, props, or costumes, we’d love to talk to you. Feel free to bring any portfolio examples you may have, if any.
- List of Conflicts:
- Please be sure to bring any and all known conflicts you may have from the day of audition through August 11th so we can best place you.
While this audition is for all three Knoxville Shakespeare productions for 2026, we do, from time to time, need to hold special auditions. However, attending this audition or submitting a video audition, offers you first position in filling any roles that become available later.
Who Should Audition?
We encourage all hopeful auditioners to join us. Shakespeare may seem scary, but we promise, you’ll find a place with us. If you would like some more information about our company, please check out A Word About Our Practices.
Tennessee Stage Company is a company– meaning we audition each year for multiple plays, generally casting the performers who audition in the same year, in multiple shows. We have folks who have joined our company year after year for 30 years and others who have just started their journey as performers. We have an internship program that offers a multi-year track; students are paid a stipend for the season and generally choose a technical focus such as lighting, sound, set construction, costuming, props, marketing, or stage management. For more information, feel free to email Tom@TennesseeStage.com or H.Caitlin@TennesseeStage.com.
Location of Auditions and Parking
Church Street View of First Presbyterian Church
This view is from the Church Street Entrance.
The RED arrow points to the door you will enter and exit from. The BLUE Arrow is the tunnel you drive through that leads to the upper and lower parking lots. See the Clinch Ave photo below for more details. We ask that you park in the lower parking lot.
Overhead View of First Presbyterian Church
Street Parking is available on Church Street, but please check the meters for active free or Pay to Park hours.
*For those with a handicap placard, there is a handicap parking spot here. If there are open, unassigned spots in the upper level, you may park there.
Lower Parking Lot View from Clinch Ave.
View coming from Clinch Ave headed towards S Central Ave. Accessible from S Central (one way) and Clinch Ave. You will walk around back to the Church Street Door to enter.
Click Here for The Google Maps Link to the Church Street Entrance
Click Here for the Google Maps Link to the Clinch Ave Parking Lot Direction
All dates and information are subject to change. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more information!
New Play Festival
Auditions for the 2025 Tennessee Stage Company New Play Fest have concluded for the year, with rehearsals underway as we speak! If you would like to learn more about our New Play Festival process, check out our New Play Festival Page or our Instagram, where you can see interviews of the 2025 Playwright Cohort.
The best way to learn about festival and it’s growing processing is to attend the festival. Tickets are on sale now . Our Table Readings are all free events, but due to space restrictions, we suggest attendees reserve their seat ahead of time.
As with all of our productions, if Ticket Price poses a barrier to entry to for you, please shoot us an email at community@tennesseestage.com . We are here to create art for our community– won’t you be our neighbor?