JANUARY 4—10, 2026
1-WEEK RESIDENTIAL WORKSHOPS IN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’ MISSISSIPPI DELTA
tennessee williams
scene study
Featuring Practical Aesthetics Acting Technique
Tuition
$695 Full Participant | $350 Active Auditor
TAUGHT BY KAREN KOHLHAAS
PLAYWRITING
TAUGHT BY LUCY THURBER
Tuition | $695
the workshops
January 2026 marks the 4th year of these winter workshops. Actors and playwrights from all over the country meet in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the childhood home of Tennessee Williams to work deeply on craft, learn about Williams, and enjoy the rich Mississippi Delta culture.
The 2026 workshops meet January 4—10 which means travel dates are January 3 and 11. Participants are responsible for their own travel, housing and meals.
Everyone starts the week with a tour through the town and surrounding area, beginning at the Tennessee Williams Rectory Museum. Many of Williams most famous plays are set in, or refer to the Mississippi Delta, including CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (Blanche and Stella’s home), THE GLASS MENAGERIE (home of Amanda Wingfield’s gentleman callers), and ORPHEUS DESCENDING. SUMMER AND SMOKE and THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE are set in the rectory itself. We then tour the town, reading monologues and scenes at the actual sites they’re set in, and then we drive out to the Mississippi River. We finish with dinner at Moon Lake, the site of Blanche’s husband’s tragic suicide in STREETCAR. Moon Lake is featured in all of Williams’ Delta plays.
During the week both the playwriting and acting groups have daily class and daily time for writing or rehearsals. Wednesday is a day off (the only request for improvement by the first group!). There is some evening programming including play readings and historical talks. Morning yoga is an option with the excellent teachers from Delta Yoga. We finish with public performances of the Williams scenes, and writer’s scenes read by the actors. Our last day ends with dinner and Blues in town.
tennessee williams scene study with karen kohlhaas
Tennessee Williams wrote about a dozen plays set in the Mississippi Delta and over two dozen others, as well as over 70 short plays. Projects and partners are chosen ahead of the workshop so that actors can get to know their plays and scenes well before arriving. We analyze and act the scenes with Practical Aesthetics acting technique. Partners bring in scenes of increasing length, reaching 15-20 minutes. Scenes are fully staged with set pieces, props and costumes. The community attends the final performance on Saturday. PREREQUISITES | No previous experience with Practical Aesthetics or Tennessee Williams is needed. Full participant actors must have previous acting training (send resume with application). Active Auditors should have deep interest in the subject matter and can do ‘paper project' script analysis on Williams scenes of their choice. HOW TO APPLY | Click the link to send an email. Actors, please include your resume or description of your previous training.
playwriting with lucy thurber
We are thrilled to have Lucy returning this year. She is a phenomenal teacher of playwriting. She teaches a very high-energ, inclusive, risk-taking workshop with lots of feedback and group support. Her first Clarksdale group proceeded to meet once a month after the workshop, until all had finished full length plays with public readings. Do not miss this chance to study with Lucy. PREREQUISITES | Participants should already be writing. Transfer from another writing form (fiction, poetry, etc) is welcome.
HOW TO APPLY | Click the APPLY link to send an email, and please include a bio or resume, and a writing sample.
transportation
The nearest airport is Memphis, about 75 miles away. For those not renting cars, there will be airport pickup and dropoff on arrival and departure days, within certain windows. When you register you will receive air travel recommendations. Cars have always worked out easily with some people renting, or driving to the training, and sharing and chipping in for gas.
Housing
There is a range of places to stay in Clarksdale from about $60/night and upwards. There have been some donated rooms in the past for those who otherwise could not afford to come, please inquire about that. When you register you will receive housing recommendations.
MEALS
Participants are responsible for most of their own meals. I host a couple of group dinners. Most of the B&Bs in town have kitchens and/or include breakfast food. There are several restaurants.
bios
KAREN KOHLHAAS
Karen is a theater director, teacher, author, filmmaker and Tennessee Williams scholar. FULL BIO
lucy thurber
Lucy is the author of twelve plays: Where We’re Born, Ashville, Scarcity, Killers and Other Family, Stay, Bottom of The World, Monstrosity, Dillingham City, The Locus, Perry Street, The Insurgents and Transfers. Transfers was part of The New York Stage and Film 2016 Powerhouse Season and produced at MCC in 2018 . Lucy helped create COMMUNITY WORKS at Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she wrote Orpheus in the Berkshires and Once Upon a Time in The Berkshires and Taiga in The Berkshires. The Insurgents was produced at Labyrinth Theater Company and Contemporary American Theater Festival. Her five play cycle The Hill Town Plays was produced Off Broadway by Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater in-conjunction with The Cherry Lane Theater, The Axis Theater and The New Ohio Theatre. Her play SCARCITY was originally produced at The Atlantic Theatre. Lucy wrote the text for QUIXOTE, conceived and directed by Lear deBessonet, a site-specific performance with the Psalters made for and with The Broad Street Community, also with Lear deBessonet and produced by 13P, Monstrosity. Lucy is published by Dramatists Play Service. She is an alumni of New Dramatists, A member of 13P, Labyrinth Theater Company and Rising Phoenix Rep. She got to spend time with Sundance Theatre at UCROSS in Wyoming. Lucy has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Houses on The Moon, Yale Rep. Williamstown Theatre Festival, A.C.T. and Steppenwolf Theatre. She is the recipient of Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting Fellowship, the first Gary Bonasorte Memorial Prize for Playwriting, a proud recipient of a LILLY AWARD, an OBIE Award for The Hill Town Plays and The Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwriting Award and OFF BROADWAY ALLIANCE - BEST PLAY for TRANSFERS produced by MCC. She has written for SWEET BITER on STARZ and is a writer Producer and AMC’s NOS4A2 and Amazon’s OUTER RANGE and YOUTH. She has written screenplay’s for Debra Granik, Rachel Weisz and Maven. Lucy has developed with FX, HBO, Nanette Burstein, Sarah Paulson and Lena Dunham.