AWARD-WINNING PLAYS from the PLAYWRIGHTS NETWORK
of the AMERICAN ALLIANCE FOR Theatre & Education
The updated 2008 directory is now available! Click here.
 

 NEW PLAYS by Member Playwrights

 What Do Playwrights Need To Know?
21 answers from Sandra Fenichel Asher, Max Bush, Diane Crews, Carol Korty, Joanna Kraus, Judy Matetzschk, James Still, and Dorothy Webb. 

(This handout was originally prepared for a Box Lunch Discussion at the 2001 IUPUI/Bonderman National Playwriting Symposium in Indianapolis, IN.)

• Learn your craft: Read lots of plays by other people in the field. See how other playwrights solve the problems of exposition, character and plot development, conflict, climax, and so on. Take classes. Attend workshops. Read books on playwriting, even if they're not about theater for young audiences. 
• Know the field: Attend plays. Get involved with a theater group, on stage or behind the scenes. 
• Present yourself and your work professionally: Submissions should be typed, formatted, clean, bound, and absolutely in compliance with theater and contest guidelines. 
• Get to know people who produce plays, get to know their tastes, their passions, the challenges that their theaters deal with. Not every play you write is going to be right for every theater -- even if they've done one of your plays in the past, or even if they've done plays that seem similar to your play. 
• Listen to anyone who will talk to you with respect about your play. And also to those who don't respect your play. Listen especially to recurring criticism, and especially to someone who understands your play and still has some problems. Listen, but don't let anyone rewrite your play for you. Listen for what will help you write the play you want to write as well as it can be written. Accept comments and critiques graciously. All criticism is constructive if you learn to use it constructively! 
• Enter contests, such as the IUPUI/Bonderman event and the AATE Unpublished Play Reading Project. These offer feedback on your play and how it is coming off the page to people who don't know you. 
• Get productions any way you can: civic theater, high school, professional theaters. Theaters ALMOST NEVER produce unsolicited manuscripts from people they don't know. Get to know them. Or see if they have a staged reading program and go for that. 
• Directors can't often read unsolicited, whole scripts. There just aren't enough hours in a day. Send a letter with the play's casting and production requirements, a synopsis of the action, and info about its production history - all BRIEF! With that should come the first five or six pages of the script and a self-addressed, stamped postcard for a reply. 
• Most directors want to read new work and want to find new people to work with, but playwrights need to network so directors can get to know them. Companies are much more likely to commission someone they know (even a little bit) than people they don't know. Attend conferences, network, talk to publishers, directors, and other playwrights. 
• Don't wait for somebody to champion your play -- take matters into your own hands. Do a reading of your play -- in your living room, in a classroom, in a bar... wherever you can do it and really listen to what you've written... ask friends, ask actors, ask kids -- just get a group of people together and read your play aloud. If you want to discuss it afterwards, have some questions ready to ask everyone... get what YOU want from the reading. Which means try to figure out ahead of time what you might want. 
• Try to find someone you respect, like, trust -- to mentor you as a writer, or to mentor a particular play. You can always ask -- the worst that can happen is someone will say no. Don't take that personally. 
• Theater companies and other organizations commission plays for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they want to work with a particular playwright, and are open to a new play suggested by that playwright. Or they may want a particular play written and feel a certain playwright will do a good job for them. Try to get commissions from theaters and artistic directors with whom you've developed a relationship. 
• Either way, it's important that the playwright retain control over the script, and that the contract between the commissioning organization and the playwright reflect that control. This means that while the playwright is open to suggestions, the script will be written without undue outside interference and the copyright and all future rights after the commissioning group's production will belong to the playwright. 
• To find a reputable publisher who will represent you well, check out the publishers listed in the AATE Directory of Award-winning Plays. These are publishers who promote their plays through national conferences and events and represent the top playwrights. Visit their booths at conferences. Send for their catalogues. Explore their Web sites. And read their plays! 
• Don't try to publish your play too soon. Publishers often require several productions before they'll consider a script for publication. If you play is good, it probably could be better. Don't send it to a publisher until you're sure that EVERY MOMENT WORKS. Do your rewrites based on productions and audiences (not just workshops). During this time also try to interest publishers by letting them know about the play, try to get them interested in following the growth of the play through its different productions. Don't send a publisher your first draft. Even if they ask for it. Most playwrights writing for young audiences do not have agents. There's just not enough money in it to interest agents. Some playwrights hire entertainment lawyers to negotiate individual contracts. Those who belong to the Dramatist Guild can have a lawyer look over contracts for them. A good publisher becomes your play's agent, negotiating and collecting royalty fees for you. They split book fees and royalties with you. They do NOT expect any advance payment FROM you. 
• Treat artistic directors, producers, and publishers like people -- not like tickets to your future. Choosing a season, investing in a play or a writer -- it's all highly subjective and a bit mysterious. It has a lot to do with whether or not that person feels he or she can sell this play to the public. 
• Be generous to other writers. Envy will kill you. 
• Try not to be discouraged; try not to give up. But remember: There's a difference between being persistent and being annoying. 
• If you can avoid it, don't go into this field. There's almost no money, and very little respect. If you must write, marry well. And love the work, because that's what it's really all about.

 Important Links For Playwrights
The Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices
The Bonderman Workshop and Symposium
USA Plays for Kids and America Writes for Kids are now linked to about 400 authors' and playwrights' Web pages, plus other useful resources.
Interested in joining our Playwrights' Network list-serv? E-mail Dorothy Webb @ dwebb@iupui.edu
For more information on Playwrights In Our Schools contact John Newman @ john.newman@slc.k12.ut.us
For more information on the Award Winning Play Directory or AATE Member Plays contact: Drew Chappell @ drew.chap@mindspring.com
For more information on the Publisher's Showcase contact Jeremy Kisling.@ jkisling@lctonstage.org
A Directory of Plays of Jewish Interest for Young Audiences by Sandy Asher 
 

 Resources for High School Playwrights 
Download this helpful .pdf list of resources for High School Playwrights.
 

Playwrights' Network Projects

 Playwrights In Our Schools
The Children's Theatre Foundation of America (CTFA) has awarded a grant to the Playwriting Network of the American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE) that will enable five award-winning playwrights to develop works-in-progress in AATE-member secondary schools. The "Playwrights In Our Schools" project seeks to bring playwrights into the schools and bring schools into the process of developing new plays. For more information on Playwrights In Our Schools contact john.newman@slc.k12.ut.us

 Directory Of Award-Winning Plays
This publication list award winning plays featuring the AATE Distinguished Play Award, the AATE Unpublished Play Reading Project, ASSITEJ/USA Outstanding Play Citations, the IUPUI/Bonderman Finialists, and the Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices selections. The listing is updated regularly and available at the AATE conference or through the above link. For more information on the Award Winning Play Directory or AATE Member Plays contact: Suespring42@aol.com

 AATE Member Plays
All playwrights who are current members of the American Alliance for Theatre & Education are invited to submit two synopses of up to 75 words each for this listing. Plays may be published or in-progress. Listings updated twice a year. See above link. For more information on the Award Winning Play Directory or AATE Member Plays contact:sandyasher@gmail.com

 Publishers' Showcase
Publishers work with the Playwright's Network to identify new works important for the field. The Publishers' Showcase uses professional actors in a stage reading at the AATE conference every other year. For more information on the Publisher's Showcase contact: raverill@sunflower.com