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Within the field of drama therapy, a robust empirical research base is currently lacking. As a response, the research committee of the North American Drama Therapy Association conceived of and developed a research mentorship pilot program intended to connect early-career drama therapy professionals with seasoned drama therapy researchers to promote the production of scholarship. The pilot program featured two potential mentorship routes: research (ie, focus on the development of basic research skills) or publication (ie, move completed research through the publication stages). Of the five mentor partnerships two were research-focused, and three were publication-focused. A pre-post qualitative survey design gathered initial expectations among all participants and follow-up reflections on perceptions of success/challenges. Thematic analysis of pre-surveys showed that participants had hopeful expectations, a willingness to learn, concerns about time and resource availability, and a motivating desire to make community connections. Post-survey responses suggested that mentees felt supported by mentors, there were issues with time management and lack of access to academic resources, mentees possessed insufficient foundational research knowledge, and community connections were established. Implications for a more formalized and larger-scale program that accounts for these findings are discussed.