When Tiffany Donald enrolled in a playwriting class in her senior year at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, she had no idea how much that decision would affect her future. One of the plays Donald wrote in that class, "Welcome Home, Junior" recently won first place in a major Midwest college theater competition and will now be entered in the national level of the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C.

With that honor tucked in her pocket, Donald has been asked by several major universities to apply to their graduate programs in playwriting, according to Dean Yohnk, who teaches the UW-Parkside playwriting class. And "Welcome Home, Junior" will be considered for publication by the Dramatist Play Service, one of the premier play-licensing agencies, Yohnk said.

That's not all. Its association with the KCACTF festival makes Donald's play eligible for a number of other awards and honors, including the Loraine Hansberry Award for African American Playwrights.

All of this is a wonderful surprise for Donald, who graduated from UW-Parkside in December with a degree in communications. While she has always loved writing and theater, the Milwaukee resident had never written a play before Yohnk's class.

"Before this happened, I was planning to go to Marquette and study psychology and mediation," Donald said. "I would love to be able to teach, or help people in some way."

Now, with generous offers from graduate schools at Ohio University and Boston University to study playwriting, she has some bigger decisions to make.

"I'm hoping I might be able to combine things, working with theater in some way that helps people," Donald said. "This is a blessing and a great opportunity."

In the mean time, UW-Parkside is planning a full-scale production of "Welcome Home, Junior" for this coming fall, and Donald has been invited to have her play presented at next year's KCACTF Region III Festival in Michigan.

The play tells the story of Junior Reels who is about to return home after an extended prison stay. Reels' younger brother, Michael (a football star with a college scholarship), feels ignored as his mother prepares joyfully for the return of her older son, who Michael only knows as a disappointment to his family. All the while, the boys' mother continues to grieve over the death of her husband, a renowned minister.

While the play's story line and characters are not modeled after anyone in her own family, Donald credits her mother as her indirect inspiration for "Welcome Home, Junior."

"I have always admired my mom's character," Donald said, describing her mother as a strong, patient and just woman. "She is really the one who taught me the importance of the family unit and the support system it provides."