Imagine seeing this in the guidelines of a playwrights’ opportunity:   *If your play is selected, you are responsible for a $100 participation fee. You are also responsible for finding a director, casting the show, supplying sets, figuring out tech and lighting, running rehearsals, and, in all truth, filling seats. Just so you know, […]

  Every so often, on Official Playwrights of Facebook, a debate erupts about the merits of the ten-minute play. Naysayers contend that there’s no such thing as a ten-minute “play”; it’s an exercise, it’s not real writing, it’s a sketch, and so on. Proponents counter that a good (and they do acknowledge that, as with […]

      I fear the writing on the wall.   Before I was ever a playwright, I was a freelance writer. It’s a flexible career that has allowed me to live where I want, raise kids while I work from home—and one I never thought would be outmoded. I write primarily for smaller publications, […]

  (If you don’t know what TRADE A PLAY TUESDAY is, please click here to read the guidelines and learn how to participate.)   This week, TRADE A PLAY TUESDAY (TAPT) celebrates its two-year anniversary. Except for a handful of Tuesdays, it has run every single week, and, every single week without fail, playwrights have shown up to trade […]

  There is no submission fee. Likewise, there is no pay or no prize money.   Have you seen this, this new disclaimer on play submission opportunities? Stated boldly as though there is actually some sort of correlation between not charging a fee and not paying royalties? As if this is so logical that if […]

  Are you shocked?   Not too long ago, I wrote a post called YOU WANT OUR UNPRODUCED TEN-MINUTE PLAYS WHY? that was probably the tip of this iceberg; it expressed frustration, but tried to frame it in a logical approach to ten-minute play submission, one that we could feel good about. I have always […]

  THE TREND TOWARD WANTING (NEEDING?) UNPRODUCED TEN-MINUTE PLAYS: FACTS, FICTION, AND REASON   As with most blog posts I write that aren’t part of a regular series, this one came about because this topic has reached fever pitch among playwrights. Ten-minute play festivals are ubiquitous and have been for some time; in fact, on […]

  I read a lot of ten-minute plays. Not only do I co-curate BUA Takes 10: GLBT Short Stories, but I run TRADE A PLAY TUESDAY and often participate myself (contrary to some beliefs, I do NOT read every play that comes in, only if I’m trading myself), as well as read for several other festivals and […]

  TRADE A PLAY TUESDAY (#TAPT) IS STILL CURRENT AND HAPPENING AS LONG AS THIS NOTICE IS HERE.    Please remember, #TAPT is for short plays and scenes only. If you have full-length plays you’d like feedback for, please review the guidelines for Playwrights Offering Free Feedback (#POFF).   One Tuesday, in January 2014, I […]