Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. This is my actress daughter’s favorite quote, one that’s been adopted by her twin sister—a computer coder/YouTuber—who has it as her computer wallpaper. It’s my favorite now, too.   Never let up […]

  In my blog post, How To Submit So Your Plays Get Produced (recently recorded as a Dramatists Guild webinar!), I talk a lot about getting your work out here. And why it is so important because you’re not only showing people that you’re consistently in the game, not a hobbyist but a serious contender, […]

  Ready for a little rant? I’ve kind of had it with complaints about the purported one-and-done mentality of American theater. I’ve had it because it’s simply not true; more, there are no facts to support this presumption.   Before I get into my actual argument, I will concede up front that most contests do indeed […]

  Last year in my 2013 submission recap, I simply reported how many theaters I’d submitted to, and how many I’d heard back from. I’m going to go about it a bit differently this year, and make some comparisons over the past three years, because I think—I hope—it will be telling.  (I’m a few days […]

  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).   Before we begin, let’s congratulate Sean Daniels on his new appointment as Artistic Director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre!   And now, as […]

   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 CYNDY MARION, PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, WHITE HORSE THEATER   “White Horse Theater Company is a very small not-for-profit off-off Broadway theater company […]

    As I wind down the RIPP series in preparation for something different in the new year, I’m gathering together some of the shorter bits I have. Though shorter, I hope they are no less inspirational. In this group, the advice is all about how to, as one playwright friend says, reduce the clutter, […]

    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 […]

    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 […]