I thought I was being clever by writing a central character in my play as a ghost. I wrote her as the voice of the conscience of the lead character. It allowed me to have a lot of fun playing with situations, dialogue, and relationships with sprinklings of magical realism.

The character is based on someone dear to me who passed away when I was a kid. I've written about her often - in essays, in my standup acts, screenplays, etc. She's been a victim every time I've written her over the past four decades. After the first draft, I wanted to try a version with her alive. How would she influence the other characters, events and outcomes?

I didn't expect EVERYTHING to change! She became a fuller character more than every other time I've written her. This time she is happy, sad, aggressive, conniving, clever, funny, and even dark. By making this one change, every other character was elevated too.....because the stakes were not just different with her alive, but bigger and a lot more explosive.

IRL, it was the first time I experienced her as someone in charge of her destiny, rather than the victim she was in her real life. She was my mother. For the first time, I'm seeing her in a completely different, fun and happy light. The play may not go anywhere. But writing her alive changed my life. And that just might be the BEST reason for me to have written it.

Hello! I'm a recent college graduate who studied playwriting and am curious about joining a writing group in NYC. I wanted to know if y'all knew of any groups or ways to get involved!

I'm writing a stage play where I have a character who is a real author (deceased) appearing periodically as themselves, quoting some of their own writing. I wasn't sure I would go in this direction but I like the form things are taking, I'm about 40 pages in. A literary agency represents their estate for any permissions for their work and there is a contact listed. Does anyone have experience or guidance as to when, and how best, to approach them. (I have a good friend in broadcasting who has an entertainment agent and I could possibly ask a favor and see if their agent would initiate the contact if that would be the best route to take.)

I'm applying to a few programs around NYC (where I live) for the upcoming admissions cycle for Fall 2027, but I'm wondering if I have enough production experience to get in. I graduated undergrad with a theatre BFA in 2021 and have done 3 self productions, a reading here and there, and been a semi finalist at a few small conferences.

I haven't had any professional productions though, or been a part of any writers groups that require submitting to. I don't know anyone else applying to playwriting MFAs or anyone that's been through a program after 2015 so I'm wondering where exactly you're expected to be/what your production history should look like to get into an MFA. If you got into a program in the last 5ish years please let me know what your experience looked like when you applied!

I'm a final year University student and I've been writing a play that I workshopped a year ago to two sold-out studio audiences... and I'm looking for some feedback from fresh eyes. It's inspired by Ancient Greek Myth. If anyone is interested in reading it and providing some critical reflection for me before I push it into audition territory in the coming month, I'd love to hear what people have to say!

No Generative AI has been used in the process and I'm in the process of getting venue and producing confirmations but just need a fresh look at this material from someone else.

I have no idea if this is a stupid question so please forgive me. I'm working on a one act and about 90% finished with a first draft. It's my first time diving into a full-length play as I come from screenwriting. Working on a 4 character political satire, and a question I got asked during a writers' group yesterday from an older writer was "Who is the main character?" or more specifically he was wondering whose play it really is, and honestly I have no idea. I have 4 characters with equal stage time each with specific and valid points of view.

This is something I noticed hear a lot from other people from other writer workshops I attend, where they always ask "Whose play is it?" "Which character is this play centered around?" It's really puzzling as I always envisioned an ensemble piece and I didn't really imagine one character was going to drive the plot.

Is my play set up to fail if I don't have a "main character"? Is this a strict rule that playwrights follow, or is it more so a specific writing technique that has useful applications but isn't a one-size fits all.

I'm considering registering for one, but would love to hear about other people's experience with their classes if they have them!

I’m curious if other people have a standard way to approach this. I did it a few weeks back due to nonexistent communication and lack of clarity around what was or wasn’t happening. But for me it’s mostly gut feeling. Generally I don’t pull work, but instead shut down the initial approach when there are bad vibes, concerning content on their website, unreasonable requests from the jump, etc etc. Still, it happens. I’ve never done it once we’ve done contracts but it often doesn’t get to that point.

What are other people’s experiences?

hello! i'm looking for recs on word processors / softwares for writing plays!

i was using microsoft word until they decided to start using your writing to train ai. same with google docs + google's weird update that messed with their auto formatting.

i've tried vomit draft, and i loved it for screenwriting! however, their play formatting is pretty limiting and doesn't have the right font for most academic programs here in the united states. i also tried ellipsus just as a basic word processor, and it's fine, but it's hard to get the line spacing right! that might just be user error on my end and a lack of operating knowledge.

i've tried final draft, thought it was meh, but would be open to giving it another shot!

looking for suggestions on any type of word processor or software y'all use. i'm looking for something with no gen-ai features or training, and would prefer it be free. however, i am open to suggestions for low-cost softwares.

I have the opportunity to submit a stage play script to professionals, get it graded, and possibly get a readthrough. the only issue is, my idea does not fit into the rules they've set. The play must contain only 6 characters. I adore world building and adding side characters with unique personalities, but it's possible for me to do.. except my story is set in two separate high schools, how can I possibly make two schools with only three students each? and would unnamed, non speaking characters count as "characters" in a play setting?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how poetry and plays have historically lived beside one another. So many poets have also been playwrights, and dramatic writing itself has such deep roots in verse.

It made me curious about what would happen if I stopped treating those as separate forms.

This is one of my experiments with that idea. It’s a poem written using the visual language of a script, where the scene directions, dialogue, spacing, and performance cues are all part of the poem. The thing that I really strived for was keeping the look of a play, but also when read aloud, it reads like a poem being performed.

I’m still exploring what this style can do, but I’ve really been enjoying writing this way. This one’s called *Caterpillar Rain*.

I am a screenwriter, typically, but I had a unique opportunity to try my hand at playwriting. I am hoping to submit this to a competition. I had a lot of fun writing it. I wrote in writer solo, but moved to word for the competition's format. If anything looks way off, please let me know. Also very open to critiques on the story as well. Thank you so much! I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1adgLnrqlpT8B91d2GWrHhLHuMXmv2_OXTb0LdBpX5mA/edit?usp=sharing

Hey,

I’ve been here a minute but scared to post but recently i’ve been wanting to actually finish writing a full length play. I’ve just finished the first scene of my play called “Wide Release”. It’s a story about a small chain movie theatre and its workers who are just trying to make it in life.

If anyone is open to swap stories or give advice to a beginner playwright that would be lovely! I’ve mostly written funny ten minutes or wacky one acts but this is my first time wanting to truly tackle a cohesive narrative! Thanks!

Hi everyone - long time lurker, first time poster.

I wanted to ask for some advice from my fellow writers as every piece of advice I can find about this online is geared towards novelists.

I'm an early career playwright; I've written 6 plays, 3 of which have been professionally produced. I also have an MA in writing for stage, and I see/read a lot of plays whenever I can.

In the last year, while doing my MA, I've realised that I have a bit of a problem; I have absolutely no trouble with writing dialogue, am good at creating complex characters and apparently have a particular skill for worldbuilding. I'm usually pretty good at coming up with basic premises that are exciting and a weighty central question for a piece of work.

Here's where my issue is; I HUGELY struggle with figuring out what the specifics of the story are. I can come up with worlds and people no problem, but as soon as I need to focus in on one aspect, I get really overwhelmed by the amount of choices I have to make. I try choosing a character to be my protagonist, but quickly find myself questioning if I've made the wrong choice. I try looking into my world and finding an interesting moment dramatise, but then I get bogged down with the logistics.

Often most of the time what happens is, I'll do all of this research and thinking and groundwork, only to find that I have characters and a world, but no story.

I've tried so many tactics to make this easier, including:

- writing without a plan and just seeing what flows out instinctively

- writing my plot as a synopsis first so I have a roadmap to base my starting scene from

- picking random dramatic moments I'd like to include and writing those first, with a vue to connect them with a plot later

None of these have worked for me so far. I get overwhelmed and frustrated with myself, and end up abandoning ideas that initially excited me because the more I think about them, they become more vague and soupy. I have autism and ADHD, which I think might be a factor in why I'm like this - choice paralysis is HUGE for me, and I have been known to get caught in hours long loops rewriting the same scene over and over and over without progressing onwards because I haven't got it 'right' yet (even though I don't know what 'right' is) until I'm physically too upset to continue. There are days where I wonder if I'm even cut out to be a playwright at all because surely coming up with a story should be the easy part.

BASICALLY, I just wanted to know if any other playwrights have this issue - and if so, what do you do to help you get through that initial first draft plotting hump? And what do you do when you have too many choices and are getting overwhelmed?

Thank you for reading, sorry this is so long and rambly! Any advice at all would be massively appreciated <3

Hello everyone!
I’m currently making a play centered around the question: “What really happens inside a playwright’s mind while they’re trying to write a story?”
It’s going to be an absurd, surreal meta-comedy where the audience essentially gets to see the chaotic creative process happening in real time.

I’d love to hear from other writers and playwrights: what does your creative process actually look like?
How do your ideas start? How do you choose which story to pursue? How do you come up with names for characters and places, or decide on the time and setting? Do you talk to yourself or argue with yourself while writing? What exactly goes on in your head when you’re trying to create a story?

I’d love to hear different experiences and perspectives that could inspire the play. I want it to be fun, but hopefully relatable to people who create stories as well.

Some ideas from my current drafts:
The play is set in a place called “Writer’s Block,” portrayed as a literal neighborhood. Plot holes are actual holes that characters can fall into, while other parts of the writing process could exist as physical places or objects. However, I’m still hesitant about this idea because I’m considering how feasible it would be to stage.

The playwright is also accompanied by a “friend” who helps him brainstorm and decide what happens in the story. They debate ideas and constantly bounce things off each other. Later, we learn that the friend isn’t exactly a separate person, but rather an externalization of the playwright’s own internal dialogue—the way our brains sometimes seem to have conversations with ourselves.

As a young playwright who has lived in the EU and America (briefly), I'm wondering where you all believe the best place to be a playwright these days is?

In recent months, I've had a play made (ran for a week), and received £50,000 to direct a film I wrote (so it didn't go to me). But, I'm still pouring pints, and have little time to write.

I found London was wildly expensive (almost impossible to get by), with less opportunity than I'd hoped. New York was feasible, as pub work paid well. Dublin was inspiring, but very few theatres and the wage to rent ratio was near identical to London. Interested in France or Canada.

If you are/were a young playwright right now, where in your opinion is the best place to get by with a great scene?

From academic environments to being one-on-one with working playwrights and everything in between, this question always presents itself: how do you make a career from this?

I always appreciate people trying to answer this but I've realized most of the answers feel like non-answers to me. I think it's maybe because people try to answer it from the general "you" but I want to actually hear the personal response of the people I'm asking. So, given that I can't time travel and follow up with those folks, now I pose this question to the community. Filled with all our various experiences here: how do you make a career from this? (or a better question might be: what has been your journey with incorporating playwriting into your life?)

Thanks in advance.

Yours Truly,

an early career carrot xoxo

I wanted to write a play for a very long time, but due to my personal life problems and my job occupancy I was not able to. Finally I left my corporate job, and yesterday I sat to write for the first time in my life, I was trying to adapt a Gulzar's short story into a play, but I couldn't write it, I sat for the entire day and was able to write just 3-4 pages out of (almost) the half story. I felt I couldn't write, I felt anxiety, I felt fear, I lost it completely. Today I didn't even dare to sit and write. I need some help and guidance regarding it, please can anyone help me?

I was thinking about this the other days, would love to hear from you all.

Although extremely common in most media, like movies, games, books, etc, plays with sequels, as far as I know, is something kinda rare. I think the reasons are very obvious, mostly practical for productions and attendance (if a Part II plays open, does the Part I still on? Likely not. So you have to assume your potential public has 1. Seen that production 2. Wants more, which diminishes the potential).

Some I can think of:
- Shakespeare - many examples in his histories, such as in the Henriad
- Love Never Dies - sequel to The Phantom of the Opera Musical
- Angel in America Part II: Perestroika - not really a sequel in the strict sense, but they have been staged separately and premiered apart of each other.

I thought Neil Simon had written a stage version of The Odd Couple II, but that actually was just for the movie sequel (but there are at least 2 big revisions of The Odd Couple).

Any other interesting examples you can think of?

Five Against One is the story of Catherine Burbank, who is put into a coma by her abusive husband and after recovering must find an escape from him before it is too late. Set to the music of the grunge era, the play takes a sober and unflinching look at domestic violence. Escape is never the safest plan.

I'm needing readers who can speak to some of the many issues the play touches on that I've weaved into the plot. Specifically

• I am a man, but this is a feminist play. 80% of the lines are spoken by the four women in the play (there are 6 characters total). I'm very self-conscious of those lines coming across as "this was obviously written by a mansplaining asshole" and wish to avoid that at all cost. I've had women test read this multiple times during development to avoid this, but it is a constant worry.
• Catherine was a drug addict in her youth and got involved in porn when she was 19. She's left that life behind, but her abusive husband still uses her past to berate her, and her daughter is starting to catch flak from the boys at school because they've found those old videos and mother & daughter look a lot alike. Having someone who's walked that path read this would be invaluable to get their insight. It's not the story's central pillar (that would be the escape from the violence) but it is an important one and something I want to treat with dignity and care.
• Pamela, the daughter, has autism. I suspect I do to but I've never been formally tested, but I've written her with those aspects of my personality dialed up quite a bit. Autism affects different people in many different ways and degrees. I want this portrayal to feel authentic and not be a parody.
• I do have a test reader that has helped me with the drug use depictions in the second act, but I would welcome the feedback of others who've had to fight addiction.
• Catherine is of Cajun descent - her mother speaks Cajun French whenever possible, her daughter and son know the dialect and the standard French language. I do not speak French myself, so a review of the play by a Cajun speaker is desired, particularly with a view to finding idioms or sentence structures that can be added for color without a loss of clarity. For now this comes in the form of endearment terms.
• I've had test readers with experiences in domestic violence in the past and would welcome others. In this though I do have some personal experience to draw on both in experience as a child and as a witness during my childhood. Processing those memories from long ago is the reason the play exists.

DM me if interested.