If you recently wrote a play, you’re probably eager to get your creation on stages across the country soon as possible.
But what about publishing? Should you publish your play first, or put on a few productions? In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about making your playwriting dreams a reality.
How to Publish a Play
Below are 6 tips for getting your play published and produced.
1. Finish writing and editing your play.
This is probably an obvious first step, but you need to start by writing an excellent play that will appeal to your target audience.
Although the medium may be different, you still need to do market research much like you would for a book. Who is the ideal audience for your play? How old are they? Where do they live? These are all important things to consider while you’re writing and after, when you’re finding a home for your play.
You should also thoroughly self-edit your work, and ask at least several people whose opinions you trust to read it and provide feedback.
Your play should be in the best shape you can manage before you submit it to theaters or publishers. But at the same time, you’ll need to keep an open mind and accept that your script won’t really be done. You should be ready to make even more changes based on the feedback you receive from editors, theater groups, agents, or publishers.
2. Enter playwriting contests.
One great way to gain exposure for your play and increase its chances of being produced or published is to enter playwriting contests.
Often, the prize for such contests is publication or production, but equally important is the fact that your play will be read by people in the industry, regardless of whether you win the grand prize. Those readers might be interested in bringing your play to their local theater.
3. Send your play to theaters.
While it might seem counterintuitive to produce your play before getting in published, many publishers will not even consider a play unless it has a sizeable production history.
If you’re concerned about getting your show on Broadway, off-Broadway, or even off-off-Broadway, don’t worry. It’s enough to start with your local theater or thespian groups within your community. Send them your script, or invite them to participate in a reading, so you can really see your script come to life and make adjustments as necessary.
The Dramatists Guild provides a resource directory that serves as the ultimate database for theaters, agents, festivals, contests, workshops, retreats, and other submission opportunities. The directory is free to members, though annual dues are $90. To be eligible for membership, you must have written a completed script.
4. Produce your play.
Once you’ve found a theater or group willing to take on your play, it’s time to work on the production.
Unless you’re highly experienced, you shouldn’t try to make this a one-man show. Go to see lots of productions and take notes, and make sure you understand how how a technician will break your script down, a producer will create a budget, and how the actors will bring your characters to life—but be ready to hand over some control of the project.
If you want to be your own producer, try to build a strong team of theater artists, including technicians, actors, and prop managers. It’s definitely possible to pull off a streamlined production in a small venue without going into piles of debt.
Alternatively, you might also check out theater festivals in your area. Many even provide the venue and take care of marketing. But regardless of how your play gets produced, the important thing is that your work reaches an audience (however big or small), and hopefully a few critics who’ll have something nice to say about it.
5. Research play publishers.
Once you’ve got some productions under your belt, it’s time to hit up publishers. To help you with your research, we’ve got a complete list of play publishers currently accepting submissions.
Make sure that you carefully review and follow each publisher’s submission guidelines. Unless you’re specifically asked not to, it’s always a good idea to write a compelling query letter to pitch your play.
It’s basically a cover letter that aims to grab an editor or agent’s attention. Of course, you’ll also want to summarize the production history and any notable reviews or honors.
6. Consider self-publishing.
Of course, if you’re having trouble getting a traditional publisher to bite, you can always opt to self-publish your play. This works pretty much the same as self-publishing a book.
If you choose the self-publishing route, having productions under your belt beforehand is less important; you can work on that after, and eventually try again to get picked up by a larger publisher.
And by self-publishing, you’ll retain the copyright of the script and full control over eventual productions. In this article, Hillary De Piano shares her experiences with self-publishing a play.
How Hard Is It to Get a Play Produced?
It’s not easy to get a play produced—don’t expect to write a great play, and have theater companies and producers banging down your front door the next day. You have to go to them.
But, as we explained in Step 4, with time and dedicated effort, you can absolutely succeed at getting your play produced if you send your script to local theaters and organizations and network with people in the industry.
Publishing a Play
Publishing your play is just one step toward bringing your script to life and creating an experience that will touch hundreds of theatergoers.
Most importantly, you should focus your efforts on writing a top-quality play that audiences won’t soon forget, and putting on a great production, even if it’s small-scale. Then, you can work on immortalizing your words by getting the script published so more people can find and enjoy it.
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 15 Tips for Writing Your First Play
- 15 Play Publishers Currently Accepting Submissions
- How to Turn Your Book into a Screenplay
- How to Publish a Book: The Ultimate Guide to Book Publishing in 2021
As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.
Is it OK to have simultaneous submissions of the same play to different theaters, or should you wait until one theater rejects it before you submit it to another?
It’s terrific that you want to help new playwrights, but some of the information needs correction.
#3: This is no longer accurate. The annual dues for Dramtists Guild are $130 US, $140 Canada, and $150 for international. Additionally, membership requires a writer to have had a “production performed in front of a paying audience OR a script published by an established or known publishing/licensing house” (which has been the case since at least 2018). Proof of this is required via a “program, poster, a review link or a link to the published work”, although a “clear photo of the published work is acceptable.” Because of the production requirement, Dramatists Guild is not a free resource for information as indicated here. Better is to join the playwriting subreddits, where current lists are available.
#4: You’ve gone straight from standing to running a marathon. Unless you have have connections, no theater company is going to risk a full production with an unpublished playwright, when they could fill those seats with a known play. A more viable route is to find a local theater who will hold a table read of your script. A staged reading is another great first step, and will get your play in front of people (possibly even producers). More important, these essential first steps will give theaters a risk-free opportunity to see if they want to produce your play, which is what getting published hinges on.
#6: Self publishing, if you want to be a working playwright, won’t do much for you. (Also important to note: most of the large stageplay publishing houses will not touch a play that been independently published.) Publishing companies do more than just print your play, they also license it for production and ensure there aren’t multiple theater groups oversaturating the area with the same play (you should consider yourself fortunate if you have this problem!). If you self-publish, there is nothing stopping a community theater from buying a single copy of your script, and then making as many copies as they need, and you will never see another dime – not from scripts, and not from performances of your work (and, yes, it happens more than you’d think). Theaters that do this aren’t being malicious; they’re trying to keep the doors open another season and they see it as a “victimless crime” (if they see it as a crime at all). Protect your hard work. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to getting published. If there were, everyone would already be published. :)
Thanks for the information, J! We’ll work on updating the post.
Yes I enjoyed the post because I did not have any clue about publishing the stories I just have the talent but how to it up I didn’t know now I see the light keep it up guys helping give me more am not educated but talented , creative
Hi Kabelo, I hope you found the post helpful and motivating to finally get your work out there! Best of luck :)
Don’t plays need to have a copyright?
Hi Virginia, yes, plays should be copyrighted. In this post I was mostly focusing on how to get a play picked up by a publisher or self-publish it, but I’ll work on updating it to include some info regarding copyright :)
Kaelyn…. I enjoyed this post very much. What’s your opinion on a [new] service for playwrights: A company of professional actors who will read (and record that reading) of your play for $X; or, who will block out your play on a stage without sets or costumes (also recorded) for $Y. It would give the playwright a sense of what the script would sound like and/or ‘move’ like on stage.
Hey CJ! Thanks for reading the article. I’m not Kaelyn, but here are my two cents. The idea is interesting and makes it possible for playwrights to see their plays in action without having to go for a full production. A possible challenge though is attracting playwrights who are willing to shell out money for the service. I imagine most playwrights would have access to a network of actors and stagehands who they could tap into to do something similar.