For the longest time I was told my accent would hold me back and that being Southern was something I needed to hide for fear of the assumptions that come along with that distinction. The face of the American South is changing, and with those changes comes the opportunity to reassess how we define Southern identity. Over ten days in the summer of 2018, we visited 12 southern towns and interviewed over 350 people about what it means to be Southern today. With playwrights Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, Addae Moon, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, and David Lee Nelson, the trip was captured in a documentary by Caleb Zorn. The research culminated with the New Southern Canon, one of the largest commissioning initiatives in the history of American theatre.