A few weeks ago, in the midst of reading submissions, I started a mini-tweetfest of lines that should be eliminated from plays entirely. With a hashtag of #retirethisline, I sent out a bunch of tweets, and encouraged some others. Because Twitter is fast and furious and they were easy to miss, I thought […]

    As always, if you don’t know what RIPP: Real Inspiration for Playwrights Project is about, please click here (the original idea) and here (the evolution of that idea) to get some context before reading).   FROM ROBYN FLATT, EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, DALLAS CHILDREN’S THEATER   “It is a tough world out there for playwrights now that boards […]

  In trying to choose a title for this blog post, I started out with something like “Why Women Need To Submit,” and realized just how awful that sounded. But in the context of play submissions—something I advocate fiercely—there is something worse: according to informal polls and at least one study, women submit fewer plays […]

  I make a lot of submissions. More than a few hundred a year, as anybody who knows me can attest. And submitting that much–no surprise–yields results in the form of readings, workshops, and productions, as I’ll recap at the end of next month. But before I do that, i.e. before I subject myself to […]

    As promised, another installment of RIPP. And, as always, if you don’t know what RIPP: Real Inspiration for Playwrights Project is about, please click here (the original idea) and here (the evolution of that idea) to get some context before reading.   FROM ABIGAIL ROSE SOLOMON, FOUNDER, ROSALIND PRODUCTIONS   “I’m sort of a one-woman show; I […]

    Buffalo United Artists is currently in the process of reading submissions for BUA Takes 10: GLBT Short Stories, and we’re so overwhelmed by submissions that don’t follow guidelines that I’m feeling compelled to address the issue. Because it’s not an isolated incident. Submission after submission just ignore the guidelines that we thought were […]

  Well… it’s been a long time since I’ve written a RIPP post. (If you don’t know what RIPP: Real Inspiration for Playwrights Project is about, please click here (the original idea) and here (the evolution of that idea) to get some context before reading.)   Part of the reason it’s been so long is that I’ve been super […]

  It has been six months since I launched TRADE A PLAY TUESDAY (TAPT); I almost can’t believe it’s been that long, but sure enough, the date on the original guidelines post is January 14.  For those who don’t know, TAPT is a simple, one-to-one, give-and-take feedback system for short plays and scenes; in short, […]

  I’ve been thinking a lot about goal setting, something achievers swear by and life coaches encourage and everybody from athletes to business tycoons practice: determining what you want and the steps it might take to get there. Without goals, you can feel like you’re working hard and never getting anywhere.  Every journey has a […]

   From DEE JAE COX, CO-FOUNDER/PRESIDENT/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S THEATRE PROJECT   ( If you don’t know what RIPP: Real Inspiration for Playwrights Project is about, please click here (the original idea) and here (the evolution of that idea) to get some context before reading.)   “I’m sure you know the statistics, only 20 percent of plays that do […]