Thomas Brandon

Being an Ashland New Play Festival winning writer was surreal in the best possible way. Writers are used to working solo, suffering alone through the agonies of the creative process. But being a part of ANPF meant that I suddenly was surrounded by a team – all brilliant, all subsuming their considerable talents to our common task: helping me make the play better today than it was yesterday. And far from feeling like I was a cog in a large machine that manufactured readings, I felt like the entire process of ANFP was designed to curate itself to my needs and the needs of my play. It was an altogether too rare, completely charming experience. And one the kind of communal joy that I hope every writer, typing alone in a quiet room, gets to experience one day.

Thomas Brandon

Pocket Universe, ANPF 2021