The Plays the Thing

The Plays the Thing In Hamlet, there is the line that goes something like The plays the thing wherein we can catch the conscience of the king. If you play your cards right, playwriting can be the thing that earns you some extra money as a freelancer. There is a huge demand for appropriate plays for the middle school and high school markets. The reason is simple. A lot of people have found themselves in a position like I did several years ago when I was directing plays. I just couldnt find something suitable for the resources I had, so I wrote my own. Later, I queried a publisher on the off chance that it might accept freelance submissions. The one I queried did. Brooklyn Publishers accepted one of my plays and asked for more.   Since that first play, I have published seven plays with this company. The one thing about playwriting is that if you establish a reputation as a writer who can deliver what schools need, you can ride that formula to playwriting success. What I wanted was simple enough: easy comedies, simple sets, and flexible casts leaning heavily to more female parts. Now, twice a year I get royalty checks. If you would like to tap into this market, I would make three suggestions: First, look at publisher websites. Brooklyn Publishers is www.brookpub.com. Check out what they publish; read the descriptions and order a couple of plays to read. Do a search for paying magazines that pay for plays. I know of at least two that accept submissions: Dramatics and Plays. Second, go to performances. Im talking high school and college drama performances. Better yet, get involved in community drama. Third, learn some of the ins and outs of playwriting. There are at least two free online playwriting courses you can check on. MIT has an open course ware playwriting course and playwright Johnathan Dorf has on online course called Playwriting 101. You can google these and go right to them. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-604-playwriting-1-spring-2005/index.htm playwriting101.com What are you waiting for? Curtains Up!   Lets play.