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TEN YEARS A PLAYWRIGHT: celebration and reflection

  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 […]

THAT ELUSIVE SECOND PRODUCTION

  **Warning** This is a long one… but readers have been asking for it… Be careful what you wish for ????   “My play had a great world premiere, and now I can’t get a second production, because it’s been produced already.”   I hear this a lot, and I address some of the problem […]

HOW I GOT EIGHT FULL-LENGTH PRODUCTIONS THIS YEAR

  If there’s anything I’ve noticed, it’s that playwrights keep their marketing methods extremely close to the vest. I’ve often asked “So how did that production come about?” only to have the question ignored (sometimes repeatedly), or answered “Oh, I’m persistent,” when I want—what we ALL want—is specifics. My Real Inspiration for Playwrights Project (RIPP—all […]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRADE A PLAY TUESDAY (AND A PLEA FOR HELP that isn’t $$)!

  Today, TRADE A PLAY TUESDAY (TAPT) celebrates its one-year anniversary (okay, it’s actually tomorrow, but today is Tuesday, so…). Except for three Tuesdays, it has run every single week, and every single week, playwrights have shown up to trade plays. There have been nearly a thousand traded, and more than a few have gone […]

2014 SUBMISSION RECAP: YOU CAN’T ARGUE WITH NUMBERS

  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 […]

FINAL RIPP POST #52: SEAN DANIELS, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MERRIMACK REPERTORY THEATRE (FORMERLY ARTIST-AT-LARGE, GEVA THEATRE CENTER)

  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 […]

RIPP #51: CYNDY MARION, PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, WHITE HORSE THEATER

   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 […]

RIPP #50: REDUCING THE CLUTTER: A COMPILATION POST

    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, […]

RIPP #49: FROM ROBYN FLATT, EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, DALLAS CHILDREN’S THEATER

    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 […]

RIPP #48: ABIGAIL ROSE SOLOMON, FOUNDER, ROSALIND PRODUCTIONS

    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 […]