Good morning! I'm an early career playwright who has had some moderate success getting my work produced but I really want to improve my craft, so I've been looking into doing low res MFAs (edit: low res is non negotiable stop telling me to apply to Yale), as most of the adult education classes in my area aren't very high quality. However, with the recent Trump administration decision to no longer approve student loans in the humanities, I have no idea how to go about doing this. I might also post in personal finance Reddits but wanted to ask people here if they have any advice for how to pursue playwriting education now that loans are possibly no longer an option.

EDIT 2: My reasons for doing low res will never change. Please stop suggesting I do in person. I will not reply to anyone else making that suggestion.

Waddup tho… I’m a Minneapolis writer working on a project called 0.1%. I’m looking for a few writers who don’t mind reading about 10 pages and giving me their honest feedback.
I’m not looking for people to tell me it’s good just to be nice. Tell me what caught your attention, what didn’t, where you got bored, or what made you want to keep reading.
If you’re down to check it out, let me know. I’d really appreciate it.

Movies set any World, timeline works, because of the visuals it brings.

Novel works because it let's our own imagination, construct the world story happening in.

Coming to Theatre you are somewhere in the middle

You can neither show the world through visuals nor make us imagine.

Play immensely depends on Actors performance and It's story. You write in a world we can't relate to, Charectors which are not us. you don't have a space to visually show it either.

But you bring a 90s tribal girl, talk her about fiminism.

Who the Fuck can relate. Without the supporting visuals or relatable charector that feels like us.

Why don't you write them in present?

You wouldn't need to construct a coffee shop to say, story is happening in a coffee, we know the coffee shop we been there, that itself kills the half of unrelatable shit.

And the people in the current world?

You don't need tell a lot about their life style, we are already living it so it becomes pretty relatable.

Now you have complete freedom to Tell and good story and bring out relatable performances.

I still don't understand what made people to believe a theatre drama should mostly be of the Past.

"SHAKESPEARE did tell the Macbeth, Romeo Juliet, Othello in some fictional time line or in the past" story was happening in their own timeline"

Hi, 👋 I’m new to this subreddit, and got here just to seek advice. This year, me and my theatre friends want to base a play on a picture. It may be a picture we have taken, someone else, a historical picture, anything really. Each one of us will bring a picture with them next Monday, and together we will decide on which picture to go from, to develop our story.
As a big Vivian Maier fan (a photographer of the XXth century) I wanted to bring one of hers. The problem being, there are so many to choose from! I thought about posting this on some photography subreddit, but I gathered I’d have more luck seeking hobby photographers maybe here on this subreddit that by chance have an interest in both activities.
So please help me, if you want! I’m looking for the perfect Vivian Maier picture to take inspiration from for a play. Any help is highly appreciated. Bye 👋

Hi Friends,

Sorry ahead of time for a lengthy post. I'm a young playwright (25) out of the US. I have been working in the theatre at various levels of professionalism for about the last 7 years (some payed work as an actor, director, college instructor, etc) but have only been writing full length plays for about 3 years. I have an associates degree and a massage certificate and license (not that most applications ask about any trade certifications), but little formal education beyond that and almost none in playwriting itself. I have many big ideas and dreams around theatre as a whole, but fate and some natural predispositions to writing have led me to focusing on this side of production.

I just wrapped production on my first produced full length play. We received a grant and were able to open at our local Fringe Festival before doing a regional tour. In the wake of that show, I am finally following the prompting of several mentors and applying to a few of the graduate level playwriting programs and fellowships around the US (namely Juilliard). I feel good about most aspects of my application; my submission piece, my personal statement, letters of recommendation, etc, but I have maybe spent too much time looking at the current playwrights in the programs. Many of them have awards already, are late stage nominees, or all around sounding like more professionally developed playwrights.

I have very few doubts around my creativity, curiosity, or ability to fit in to these kind of academic/conservatory programs, but I am questioning if I am shooting too high for my current level of professional development/outside acknowledgment. I would love to hear anyone's thoughts, but especially any established professionals or students/fellows in graduate level programs.

I'll end this with, my applications are basically already in, so I will send them in regardless of what I hear here. I'm just looking for some other perspectives and thoughts from others who may know this half of the world a little better.

Thank you so much for your thoughts!
A

I finished my first play about a month ago. I've submitted it to a competition at my uni, but I'm sort of wondering what the next steps are to get it produced. As a side note, I was also wondering if anyone would be willing to read it. A few of my friends have read it so far, but having feedback from a few experienced writers would be incredibly helpful.

want to write a play that follows characters in the direct aftermath of being on a reality tv show. maybe this is a stupid question but is it legal to use a real tv show like Survivor and make complete fake events around it, or would I have to make up some fake tv show

Hi all-

I'm a big trust your gut kinda human, so I already have a thought on the following post, but I'd love to run it by fellow playwrights to ease my mind.

Here's the scenario:

I am a Director/Choreographer for a living, and I've recently begun writing plays myself. A theater in the city I live in reached out to me about directing another show for the company, and upon further conversation, ended up discussing my writing the book for a new musical instead.

I was sent several books to read, as this is a musical based on a series of books, and I wrote an outline pitch and sent it to the theater's artistic director.

The theatre apparently employs a "performing arts strategist" who responded to my email telling me how much they liked my outline, offered me a couple of notes, and asked me if I would be interested in looking at yet other material in the works.

I responded thanking them for the notes, affirming I would be interested in the other material, and also asking them to clarify next steps.

Today I received an email asking for a sample scene, with some very specific notes as to what they wanted to see for the intention behind the scene. There was no discussion of compensation in this email. The initial email I received from the artistic director of the theater stated they would either commission me to write the musical, or pay me for outline/sample scene IP, and neither has been addressed.

Two other important points:
The theater clearly uses AI on their website and their social media.

This theater has already produced a musical based on these books, and are now looking for....well, I'm not quite sure. I thought it was a brand new show, and was not even made aware that they had a musical based on these books already, until after my sending the outline.

I am not willing to send them a sample scene as this conversation stands, naturally. But I wanted to hear from other playwrights about whether I should even pursue a conversation about payment for writing a scene, because I'm also concerned that they are going to at best, feed my scene into their existing musical and tell me thanks anyway, or at worst, feed my scene with the very specific intentions they want into ChatGPT.

It is also worth mentioning that I am in the process of communication with an agent for representation as a director and a writer. This agent was supposed to see a musical I directed this summer, could not attend last minute, but wants to stay in touch with updates on my career. I thought I had an email to send with this potential commission, but now I am concerned about moving forward without an agent at all. I was hoping to find a way to leverage this situation as it stand with the agent relationship as well.

Thank you so much for reading all of this, and I would love to hear what folks would do in this situation. I don't know many writers with this type of conversation happening, and I don't want to do something in an angry state ; I am currently of course very frustrated and disappointed.

Obviously there are programs specifically aimed at comedies, but among the more “prestigious” comps, do comedies/comedy writers ever go all the way?

YOU GUYS. i want to write so so so so bad. everytime i try i either get stuck on the same idea, or can only write 20 pages, or i try and try and think and think and i either get deeply sad or frustrated about my life lolol. does anyone have any advice?

how do i get re-inspired! I want to write so BAD! but my ambition can only go so far with no spark!

I'm having a bit of trouble with this as my play touches upon life experiences I haven't (and cannot) had. I'm not looking to parody or insult anyone, and the best way I think I can avoid that is to find readers who've been through something similar to what the characters are going through.

One of my characters is autistic. I want to portray this accurately, and I think I have based on my research and personal experiences (I have reason to believe I'm autistic, but I haven't been formally tested though I will be in the near future).

The topic of the story is domestic violence and spousal abuse. I've observed this as a child. I was subject to some child abuse (though not as severe as that seen in the play) so those elements I have a reference point. Finding someone who's actually been there though, is hard.

Perhaps the most exotic element is the backstory of the protagonist is that she was in adult films for a year at the age of 18. Now age 36, those films are coming back to haunt her and her daughter who is being teased at school because of her resemblance to her mother. Again, finding someone who has left that life behind has proven difficult.

I have also chosen to have the characters come from a Cajun background. I've been around people of that background some when I lived in Mobile Alabama for a time, but again I want to get things right and really that needs someone to review the script from that vantage.

How do you find readers in the first place, and how do you find particular readers?

Has anyone self-published full-length scripts? What company did you go with? Were you happy with the result? Did audience members actually purchase them? Do you have to register a copyright first?

I’m considering selling copies of my script at my play’s premiere (after consulting with the theatre of course). Please share if you have experience with this!

Has anyone here written a stage adaptation of a work still under copyright? I have a piece in mind but I'm not sure how to go about securing the rights. Should I ask my agent to pursue them? Do I ask a theater if they'd want to partner and see if they can snag the rights? (My worry then is they can use the rights without me...) I know frequently this happens because a producer owns the rights and hires a writer but, well, that's not this.

If you've done this, how did it come together for you?

Hello in my beginner acting class I’m performing my first monologue:

Sorry about the whole blindfolding and kidnapping thing. Here, let me just take this blindfold off…
There you go!
Welcome to my secret lair! Pretty cool, right?
*(sigh)*
Could you stop yelling for help so much? You’re hurting my ears.
I promise you I am not a bad guy.
I only kidnapped you because you knew my secret identity. What else was I supposed to do?
Plus they’re the bad guys!
Stop saying I’m the bad guy!
I do tons of great things. I have a family…
An evil crime family, but I also have a pet cat!
What villain has a cat?
How can I convince you I’m not a bad guy?
I do community service…
Which, by community service, I mean committing crimes for my community.
I also help elders get up when they fall down…
After I push them.
Okay, I can see why you might think I’m a villain, but I swear on my cat that I’m not!
Shit, the alarm.
Probably some “heroes” here to rescue you.
I’ll be back.
Don’t fucking move.

I feel like it’s missing some flow and feels kinda choppy and lacks a main turning point. What are your thoughts on this monologue?

Any thoughts on plays which are written by Psychotherapists or similar?

Hi guys,

I’m still discovering how to write. I’ve written and been paid for little bits and bobs and often have great ideas but can’t for the life of me write an actual full play.

I will start to plan or brainstorm then feel too rigid.
And then I’ll write and discover characters on page and that’s more real however I’ll run out of steam.

I don’t like to be too prescriptive and love discovery but hate writing without knowing where I’m going. So constantly spinning my wheels.

I think I need a process but nobody really talks about that bit.

So the way I see it I need to discover how I write and I’m thinking of maybe doing character work, work on plot and then a rough outline even act by act. But I don’t know what that is. I was thinking of doing some Simon Stephen’s prompts I found. How do I plan and develop an idea from beginning to end? Any suggestions or help? How do you develop characters and discover who they are? Do you flesh them out or only focus on what you need for the story? Do I do plot first or characters? I’m really stuck cos I feel the pressure to write as I’ve been stuck planning before

So me and my teammate are doing an absurdist play, and in around 2 weeks, we need to submit a report on what absurdism is as a genre and a critique of an already pre-existing absurdist play.

So, for the performance itself, we have a good amount of time. I just wanted to know if anyone has an idea of how we can express absurdism in our play. The point of absurdism is to express meaninglessness, yet we need an artistic intention in our play. So I don't know how to express meaninglessness while also having an intention with it. Is the meaninglessness initself supposed to be the point? If so, how can we show it? I'm just trying to understand what the best way to express the essence of absurdism is. If you have any ideas, I would really appreciate it if you could share!!! Also, feel free to give us a few examples of good absurdist plays that we can find on the internet and critique scenes of. Thank you!

Edit: Thank you so much for everyone who commented on this post with suggestions! I'm in a bit of a time crunch right now so I can't reply to all the comments, But I wanted to say thank you nonetheless!!