A world premiere of a new play is a moment to be celebrated. Seasoned playwrights know that it’s not a sprint or even a marathon. The new play development process from first draft to opening night is a decathlon in which very few playwrights reach the finish line. In fact, out of a total 37 productions that opened on Broadway in 2025, Broadway World reported only 11 new play productions. American Theatre Magazine by the Theatre Communications Group revealed that 16 new plays received the Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards to help fund their world premiere productions at regional theatres across the United States. The exact numbers for Off-Off-Broadway and smaller non-profit, local theatre companies and black box stages are a little harder to estimate. There are thousands of plays produced across the United States.
However, I can assume that the ratio of local, non-profit new play world premieres to canon play productions or revival productions is relatively the same as our Broadway ratio. I also feel that the ratio widens when you are discussing plays written by early- to mid-career playwrights who receive a world premiere production without any kind of representation (yours truly)!
How does a playwright, without an agent, get their new play produced? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all model. What I can share is the 8-year journey of my new play, 28 Light Years From Now. Let’s explore the six phases of the new play development process – from first draft to world premiere production – so that you can prepare your new play for the long road ahead.
Phase 1: New Play First Draft
I started and finished writing my new play, 28 Light Years From Now, in the Fall of 2018. It was one of those plays that burst out of me. There really wasn’t a struggle with character development or plot. I knew who the characters were and their journeys all at once. This writing “burst” is not typical. In my 17 years of playwriting, I’ve only experienced bursts three times. I’ve written well over 100 plays (5-minute plays, 10-minute plays, one-act plays, and full-length plays combined). The main takeaway is to not depend on a burst.
Most of the time, a new play takes a few weeks, even months, to finish. The hardest part is getting over blank page syndrome. Blank page syndrome, or writer’s block, is the mix of anxiety and doubt playwrights feel when they have a story in their head, but are suddenly tongue-tied when it comes to translating those thoughts to words in their script. Here are a few tips for getting through blank page syndrome and making your first mark.
Start writing about a concrete image
Think about what your character wants. For example, if you say, “My protagonist wants to find happiness.” That’s good, but what does “happiness” look like to her? Things like happiness, love, friendship, community, belonging, peace, revenge, etc. are all very abstract terms. We want to drill down to a tangible element or concrete image that will help you define your major dramatic question.
If your protagonist wants to find happiness, write down what “happiness” looks like to your character. Avoid abstract words that mean different things to different people. Describe something you can touch, feel, taste, smell, hear, and see. For example, in 28 Light Years From Now, my protagonist, Josie, wants a small cottage by the sea – so close that she can smell the salt. The entire house is painted lavender with rose-pink curtains around the windows. Josie wants to be in this home with her lover, Fran, where they can look out the window at the ocean together. That image for Josie is what happiness looks like.
Write a tell-all monologue or backstory
Everyone loves a good backstory, but it’s not always necessary to feature in your play. Understanding the difference between exposition and a backstory is key to making sure your play moves at a steady pace. Here’s a quick breakdown of the difference between exposition and backstory.
What is exposition?
Exposition is the portion of a play that provides important information – usually about the character’s life or about the world of the play – that helps the audience understand the characters’ motivations and sets the stakes of the play. Exposition helps move the play’s story along and fills plot gaps.
What is backstory?
Backstory is writing that describes historical events about the characters’ childhood – like a tell-all monologue – or how the world of the play was created. Backstory helps ground the play and establishes the rules of the play’s world for the writer and production team.
What is the difference between exposition and backstory?
The best way to tell if an element of your play is backstory or exposition is to ask yourself: if you were to remove this segment from your play, would the play’s plot still make sense? If the removal creates a huge plot hole that disconnects the beats of your play, then that piece of writing is probably exposition and should be included in your play. If the removal does not affect the plot, then it is backstory and can be cut from the draft.
Another way to tell if something in your play is exposition or backstory is to ask yourself if the writing is passive or active. For example, a good indicator that something in your play is backstory is when your character begins a monologue with the phrase, “Do you remember when…” This is passive because the monologue usually describes an event with information that is not being used to convince the other characters to do something, negotiate, or manipulate a situation. The other character is simply listening to a story – and chances are, the other character does remember the event.
Backstory and exposition serve specific functions, but backstory is not necessary to include in your play’s final draft. Backstory can make a play feel sluggish. However, backstories are still helpful, especially to the playwright when writing a first draft. Backstories are also helpful to your actors, director, and dramaturge. Backstory helps ground you and your team. When everyone on your team understands why a character is the way they are or intricate details about the world of the play, it helps them make better decisions about how the actors move and interact.
Why are backstories or tell-all monologues beneficial to the new play writing process?
If you are having a hard time getting into a character’s wants or needs, then now is a great opportunity to write a backstory or tell-all monologue that spells everything out. Maybe it is about the character’s family, a traumatic moment with their mother, a birthday party they can’t forget, or how they met their enemy. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even need to make it into the play. Writing a tell-all monologue helps you learn pivotal moments about the character’s ambitions.
You could also learn character traits – like, because of a traumatic event, your character can’t use their left hand. In 28 Light Years From Now, I found this tactic helpful for my character Annabelle. Annabelle has a complicated relationship with her mother, Fran. I decided to write her tell-all monologue that lays out in great detail her past trauma. It was close to three pages long. However, for the final draft, only 30% of that backstory made it into the play. I turned it from passive to active by making sure the story was only told to negotiate or manipulate her boundaries with Josie.
Read Visit to a Small Planet
There are a lot of resources out there that can help you make the first mark for your play. One of my favorite playwriting resources is Visit to a Small Planet by Elinor Fuchs. It is a pivotal essay all playwrights should read. Visit to a Small Planet is a short essay – intended to help dramaturges – enter the world of the play. It encourages theatre makers not to make assumptions about the play, especially new plays. It asks artists to look at the play as if it is its own, small world. Don’t assume the play takes place in our world – Earth. Fuchs shows how to dissect the play with detailed questions that analyze everything from how people move and speak to the sounds people hear and the air they breathe.
Answer each question Fuchs poses. It doesn’t need to be long explanations. Simple one- sentence statements are enough. Visit to a Small Planet helped me understand how time worked in 28 Light Years From Now. 28 Light Years From Now might take place on “Earth” but not on “our Earth.” Time moves more like a dream. Fuchs’s questions about time and space helped me discover that the scenes should feel like walking through memories.
No matter which method you decide – starting with an image, writing a tell-all monologue, or using Visit to a Small Planet – each will help you break out of blank page syndrome. Making the first mark on the page, even if it is a backstory that won’t fully make it into the final version, is the initial step in the creation of a first draft.
Phase 2: New Play Readings
Once the first draft of your new play is complete, it’s time to hear it out loud. New play readings are usually festivals that present your play to small, intimate audiences. New play readings incorporate actors, a stage direction reader, and a director. The actors and stage direction reader appear in front of an audience with music stands and scripts in hand. They read directly from the script and use limited movement and blocking to further illuminate the story. New play readings help you feel the pace of your play, ensure your play is plot-hole-free, and ensure the characters’ interactions feel authentic.
New play readings do not always need to be public. 28 Light Years From Now’s first reading was with a group of friends behind closed doors. The best thing about private readings is that it is a low-stakes opportunity to help you fine-tune your play.
If you decide to do a public new play reading, know that most people who attend new play readings are interested in helping fresh plays get off the ground. Look to your networks – friends, actors you previously worked with, etc. – to get together one night and hear the words out loud.
Phase 3: New Play Development Opportunities
After you’ve completed a new play reading or two, and made edits to your first draft, the following phase is to submit the next draft of your new play to development opportunities. Theatre companies of all sizes host these opportunities through week-long festivals or full-day events – usually featuring other new plays. Most theatres will provide the performance space, collaborating artists (directors, dramaturges, actors, and designers), marketing, and other minimal set and prop needs (chairs, tables, etc.). In the theatre new play development world, opportunities include residencies, retreats, and workshops. Let’s describe what each opportunity is and how it develops your play.
What is a new play development workshop?
A new play development workshop is an opportunity for you to see your new play up on its feet. Workshops usually include blocking with very minimal set, light, sound, and costume design – all depending on the producing theatre’s budget and resources. Depending on what the theatre company offers, a new play development workshop can last from one week to a month. Playwrights can expect a focus on table work – when the cast and crew dive into the script, discuss themes, motivations, and share inspiring moments in the play. After table work, the director takes over with staging the play. Finally, a public showcase is presented with actors partially memorized but still have scripts in hand, for one or two public performances.
What is a new play residency?
A new play residency gives playwrights the chance to work intimately with their production team to develop the new play script. Theatre companies offer new play residencies from one month to multiple years. Some residencies might end with a workshop production, but most feature multiple public readings so audiences can see the development of the new play from start to finish. The majority of new play residencies end with a public reading with minor blocking and an audience feedback session.
Residencies are a perfect opportunity for playwrights to get down into the guts of their drafts and refine their scripts for a final draft. Similar to new play development workshops, you’ll work with directors, dramaturges, actors, and designers. You’ll have the opportunity to hear how they interpret your script, and that can inform your rewrites.
What is a new play retreat?
A new play retreat is a community-oriented event where playwrights and other artists unite in a single location to work on their projects. Retreats range from a weekend to a few months. They are usually located on a remote site that allows each attending artist to focus on their work with limited distractions.
New play retreats are perfect for playwrights who need time to maintain their concentration on their writing. Sometimes, the hosting theatre will offer public readings or showings of the work, but that does not always happen. It is more of a personal artistic development journey for the playwright.
Bonus new play development opportunity: Play Labs
Play labs are new play development opportunities that fall somewhere between writing your first draft and residencies. Play labs invite a collective of playwrights that meet weekly to write and share new scenes from their plays. The play labs are usually led by a visiting guest artist who provides the playwrights with prompts to help them write. Play labs help the playwrights develop new plays as well as professional relationships with fellow playwrights.
I was privileged to have 28 Light Years From Now featured in most of these new play development opportunities. 28 Light Years From Now started at my dining room table and moved onto Chicago’s Jackalope Theatre’s PlayLab. The PlayLab, led by playwright Calamity West, helped me refine and create new scenes that filled in some major plot holes.
After the play lab, Milwaukee’s Renaissance Theatreworks selected 28 Light Years From Now for their Br!nk New Play Residency program. The residency paired me with an artist team that helped me develop the script with inspiration from the director, dramaturge, and actors.
It is important to note that there is no set order for submitting for each new play development opportunity. Submit as opportunities present themselves. You will expand your professional networks with all the new artistic collaborators you’ll meet.
Phase 4: New Play Development Ring of Hell
Sometimes playwrights get lucky. They’ll move from draft to reading to residency to workshop to a world premiere production. Unfortunately, the majority of us will end up in what I call the new play development ring of hell. It feels like a hamster wheel you cannot escape. For me, the process usually looks like this:
- I write a new play
- I have a private reading
- I make edits
- I attend a retreat
- I rewrite
- A theatre hosts a public reading
- I make edits
- A theatre features the play in a residency
- I do a ton of rewriting
- A theatre produces a workshop
- I do more rewriting
- A theatre hosts a public reading
- I make small edits
- A theatre features the play in a workshop festival
- I make more small edits
- A theatre hosts a public reading
- No edits
- Maybe another public reading
- No edits
- Maybe another workshop
- No edits
- Back to a public reading
And on, and on, and on. Plays are living things. They can be transformed or rewritten at any time. One of my favorite stories is when playwright Sam Shepard won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Buried Child and then rewrote the play. The fact that a play is “never complete” is what makes playwriting a beautifully challenging art form.
However, entering the new play development ring of hell is draining. Each opportunity starts with a submission process. You have to find a theatre offering these opportunities. You need to make sure the theatre is compatible with your artistic vision and voice. Then you submit your play for consideration, which can be quite a lengthy process. Some development opportunities require you to submit a playwriting resume, an artist statement, a statement of intent, letters of recommendation, etc. Then you wait. And you wait some more. Some theatres are on the ball and will respond in weeks, if not days, whether your new play is accepted or not. Other theatres don’t respond at all. After a few months, the only way you find out your play was rejected is by receiving an invitation to attend the new play festival and see the chosen works.
For the longest time, 28 Light Years From Now could not exit this hamster wheel. The new play had multiple readings, workshops, and more. Of course, I am so appreciative of all the theatres that featured 28 Light Years From Now and all the artists involved. But this new play development ring of hell can be disastrous for a play and for playwrights.
There is such a thing as too much feedback. And if you are not careful, you can overedit your play. You risk losing the magical moments that made you want to write your play. If you rewrite to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one – especially yourself. To navigate this ring of hell, I recommend the following:
Recognize when you’ve entered the ring of hell
New plays need development. Your play should go through its fair share of readings, workshops, and residencies. However, you need to know your craft. If you find yourself in a reading or development opportunity and the feedback you receive sounds more like prescriptive critiques rather than constrictive criticism, you’ve likely found yourself in a situation where either:
A: The team working on your play isn’t the right fit or doesn’t fully understand the new play development process.
B: The draft is solid, and now your collaborators want to see what they would personally prefer in the play.
Either case is not a good environment and could signal your new play’s draft is ready for a more advanced step – like a production.
You’ll also know you’ve entered the ring of hell if you make little to no edits at all. You also might start hearing the same comments over and over again. As above, you’ve either entered the new play development ring of hell, or you are not in the best environment for your work.
Be selective with your submission opportunities
As discussed above, submission opportunities are complex projects in and of themselves. Your time is just as important as anyone else’s time. Before you submit to your next new play opportunity, research the theatre and ask other playwrights about their previous experiences with the opportunity. What resources are you provided? What was the major focus in the table work sessions? Did you feel the collaborators were supportive of new plays? Did you feel supported by the theatre? How did the experience shape your play’s next draft?
If the new play opportunity isn’t going to provide you with the resources you need to support or advance your play, then conserve your energy. Find another opportunity that’s a better fit.
Trust Yourself
You know why you wanted to write this new play in the first place. Stay true to your vision and to your writer’s voice. I believe that plays are not supposed to be perfect. They should be solidly written, but perfection is not art. Find yourself a theatre or a collective of artists that champion your work.
At the end of the day, at least in the United States, the new play development ring of hell is a child of capitalism. Producing a new play is a major financial risk for theatre companies. That risk makes theatre companies stick with what they know will sell tickets. This is usually canon plays by famous playwrights (Miller, Chekhov, Ibsen, Williams, Churchill, Wilson, etc.) Or other theatres might opt for “new-ish” plays or revivals that previously sold-out houses and were recognized by major theatrical networks and awards. These types of plays have been tried and tested, so the risk is limited.
For early to mid-career playwrights, we typically do not have a major network backing that eases the producing theatre’s financial anxieties. Personally, I think it is a lose-lose situation for both us playwrights and theatre companies. I’ve seen so many great plays die in this development ring of hell because the playwright just burned out, and I know in my heart that their play would have made an impact if given the chance.
Phase 5: Silence
Silence in the new play development world refers to the long stretch of time playwrights are consistently rejected from opportunities, and the work on their new play goes completely quiet. Silence is not always phase five. In fact, I’ve experienced many times when silence was phase two.
We as a theatre community have lost some of our best new voices and plays between the new play development ring of hell phase and the silence phase. Similar to how to get through the ring of hell, here is what I recommend to endure the silence phase:
- Stay selective with submissions.
- Take this moment of silence to work on your next play.
- Expand your network through meet-ups and attending other theatrical festivals so you can introduce your work to potential future collaborators outside of submission opportunities.
- Go see other plays.
There is no telling how long the silence phase will last. I started writing 28 Lights Years From Now in 2018. The last major development opportunity the new play received was in 2020. After 2020, I heard nothing. It was five years later when a theatre director in Seoul, South Korea sent me an email. They were interested in hosting a reading of the play. That reading later transformed into 28 Light Years From Now’s world premiere production in the summer of 2026.
Phase 6: World Premiere Production
The world premiere production of a new play is when a theatre company selects an original, unproduced work to invest money, time, and other resources to create a production for public consumption. World premiere productions get the full treatment, including memorized lines, intricate blocking, movement, lights, sound, costume, props, marketing, and more. The term world premiere refers to the fact that this new play has never been fully produced before by any other theatre company. This production marks the first time the public has seen this play produced in any environment.
When your play receives a world premiere production, it does not mean your writing stops. As a playwright, you have guaranteed rights over the ownership of your play. Some of those rights include the right to attend any and all rehearsals, make, manage, and approve any rewrites deemed necessary to the production, and oversee that the production design elements meet the standards of your play’s vision.
You are also allowed to make changes to the script as often and whenever you like. This means you can rewrite the play up until the curtain opens on opening night. Hopefully, that will not be the case, and you can enjoy the rehearsal process, tech week, and previews. For more information on your rights as playwright, please consult the Dramatists Guild of America’s Bill of Rights.
28 Light Years From Now’s new play development journey was eight years in the making. There were moments I wanted to give up, not just on the play, but on playwriting in general. I’m so glad I didn’t.
Sansuyu Theater Company’s (극단 산수유) world premiere production in Seoul, South Korea was a brilliant example of what happens when theatre companies and artists take a chance on new plays. I am so incredibly thankful to every theatre and artist who touched this play throughout its eight years.
I am also eternally grateful to the Sansuyu team, including the director and translator Gyeongmi Bang (방경미); actors Ji-yeon Kang (강지연), Jung-yoon Hwang(황정윤), and Saranghae (사랑해); dramaturge Sun-young Shin (신선영); assistaint director Sung-joon Jo (조성준 ); stage designer Jun-moo Sung (성준무); lighting designer Yumi Shin (신유미); costume designer Sangjoo Lee (이상주); motion designer Ha-young Jo (조하영); producing director Yong-sik Kim (김용식); planning team Kyung-bin Kim, Yeri Son, and Boo-kyung Kim (김경빈 손예리 김부경); art director Joo-yeon Ryu (류주연); music designer Ha-min Kim (김하민); and operator Ryoon Oh and Ga-young Yoo (오륜, 유가영).
Each artist involved is responsible for bringing the words on the page to life. Snasuyu’s trust in the play, the love of their community and audiences, and the passion each of them possesses were unmatched. I will never forget this world premiere.
