Long story short, my newest play is a Russian epic. I've trimmed it from 250 pages to 170 (WriterSolo pages), so the current runtime should be ~3hrs. It has three acts with five scenes in each.

I have massacred my darlings, and I cannot cut anything else without removing essential scenes.

What on earth do I do here? It is the strongest piece I've ever written by quite a large margin, but who the hell is going to want a play that runs for over three hours??

Hi folks! This is probably a stupid question, but the Internet hasn't been entirely useful to figure out where to go from here

I found this play that I love and want to direct, and reached out directly to the playwright about licensing it, but they're a new playwright and don't know how to go about licensing it. The play has only been performed one time, in the professional company the writer works for. It's a 3 person play.

How do we deal with licensing? What's fair pay for them to use the script? My plan was to use it in a festival for a limited-time 3 show period with a small nonprofit professional arts org. Do they need to publish the script somewhere before I can license it? If not, what's a reasonable offer to make?

Sorry about these super basic questions, I'm new to this!

I'm writing a short dramatic play that is to be adjudicated. The lighting is very important for me to fully create the mood and identity of the play. Since this is an adjudicated piece, I'm worried that the judges won't like how I'm putting so much lighting into the script, seeing as that's more of a job for a lighting designer or director.

(for reference, I want the environment and setting to be made mostly of lighting, and the play feels very incomplete and lacking without it)

I’m interested in how playwrights handle monologues that carry a lot of information or emotion without the audience feeling lectured. Techniques I’ve heard of include interruptions, physical business, and having the listener react. What methods have worked for you, and which published plays do you think handle the long speech especially well?

I wrote a play but have it formatted like a screenplay because it's easier to format it that way initially, but now I have to transfer it to read as a play. Is there software that has the blueprint for this or anything. I'm a novice and I'm sure this is asked a lot but any help would be much appreciated. I'm just confused if I need to italicize stage directions. Do I include things like "lights up" or "down" or would that be novelistic? In screenplays they say you don't want it to read like a novel and include unnecessary directions. Should stuff like lighting and stage directions be left out of the play and left up to the director?

Title: “TWO MALFUNCTIONING ANDROIDS”
Genre: Experimental drama
Length: 20 mins
Logline: As a play about two malfunctioning androids spirals out of control, the actors performing it find their marriage, their identities, and the nature of their own emotions caught in an increasingly surreal struggle between performance and reality.

Hey, everybody! I’m thinking of submitting this to a few short play competitions in my area to be performed by my friends and I. I thought I’d post here to see if any of you fine folks might be open to giving feedback before I do so. I’d be happy to do a script swap!

An act is a major division in a play, like a chapter in a novel, to divide the narrative into large, manageable sections. Acts break down the plot according to key narrative stages, such as exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, also known as Freytags Pyramid. Acts also mark shifts in location, time, theme, or character development. A play can contain up to 5 acts with each act containing multiple scenes.

Title: “TWO MALFUNCTIONING ANDROIDS”
Genre: Experimental drama
Length: 20 mins
Logline: As a play about two malfunctioning androids spirals out of control, the actors performing it find their marriage, their identities, and the nature of their own emotions caught in an increasingly surreal struggle between performance and reality.

Hey, everybody! I’m thinking of submitting this to a few short play competitions in my area to be performed by my friends and I. I thought I’d post here to see if any of you fine folks might be open to giving feedback before I do so. I’d be happy to do a script swap! Feel free to DM me, email me, or message me on Discord.
email: coribaker12@gmail.com
Discord: coribakersins

23 PAGES

basically the title. its short-but I feel like it is missing something and I can't put my finger on what. I'd really appreciate any experienced playwrites who have a moment to cast an eye over it. thank you!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dd-Y7Xz3KqYGhSCMFT8--qkrjNUHe6IBpefSgTouCYM/edit?tab=t.yncnzvg8p26g

I'm terrible at writing dialogue, and I'm looking to read some plays with really sharp exchanges. Not necessarily something witty, but speech that sounds authentic, interesting, and drives the narrative.

Hello all. Do you watermark your script before submitting it? Thanks.

I stupidly joined some theatre competition with no experience or motivation. I need to write like a 28pg play by tmrw. I have no idea how to write a play nor any ideas for it. Where do i even start T_T

Is it working, flowing, interesting enough to want to watch/ or read more? I know there may be some formatting errors but editing it as I catch them.

Has anyone here had any luck securing funding for purely research purposes? I am working on a play that centers a favorite artist of mine who passed away in 1996 and would love to visit an archive of his personal letters located Los Angeles. He also lived in the area and I would love to be able to visit his old neighborhood and see it for myself. That being said, I do not presently have the funds necessary to cover airfare, housing, and a rental car.

For context, I am an early career playwright; I finished undergrad last year and have been focusing on building my body of work and integrating myself in the indie theater scene in my city. I don’t have many big shiny achievements on my resume but I do have experience with grant writing and was awarded a number of research grants while in school.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? If so, do you have any advice or recommendations?

Thank you so much and best of luck with all of your plays!

Hi everyone! I’m an emerging playwright and current college senior expected to graduate in December 2026. I’m in the early stages of developing an original psychological horror/dark comedy musical and am seeking a composer-lyricist interested in a genuine creative partnership. My long-term goal is to develop the show toward an Off-Broadway production, and I’d love to find someone who wants to be involved from the beginning. I’m open to remote collaboration! This is a collaborative opportunity with no upfront budget, so credits, ownership, and potential future royalties would be discussed and agreed upon together. If you’re interested, feel free to DM me with a little about yourself and samples of your work! 🎭🖤

Hi playwriting folks, I'm writing with the hopes folks would be up for discussing something I didn't hear much about during my MFA: protecting creative work which hasn't been produced yet.

So... how do y'all go about protecting your plays (and the professional relationships around those plays, etc.)? And what are some red/yellow/green flags to look for when folks ask to read your work?

Several people have commented about approaching a local community theatre to assist in self-producing a play. What costs are usually covered by the author? I presume the facility rental charges and perhaps a stipend for the tech crew and musicians where appropriate? In my experience with smaller venues the actors are not paid, and the director is often on staff with the theatre. In my case I have a few one-act plays in the works which seems to make self-producing even harder? eg no audience is going to show up for a single one-act show. Thoughts are very much appreciated.

Hi everyone!!
I’m submitting a play proposal to my university theatre society and I need to write a 5-page script sample by October 21.
The problem is that I have the whole concept, visual references, characters, costumes, atmosphere, everything… EXCEPT THE ACTUAL DRAMA.
The concept: AND THE WINNER IS… is a bizarre, 1950s/60s-style talent competition featuring three young women desperate to win, an eccentric old male presenter, ridiculous performances, trophies, and an increasingly absurd atmosphere.
The idea is to explore how something as superficial as wanting to win and be seen can reveal something surprisingly profound.
Think Drop Dead Gorgeous meets absurdist theatre.
BUT WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS??? What’s the conflict? What goes wrong? What makes this a PLAY rather than just a series of weird performances?
I’m not looking for someone to write it for me. I’d genuinely love some strange, unexpected plot ideas or dramatic twists.
Any theatre nerds, playwrights or lovers of absurd comedy willing to help a desperate first-time director? :’)

I have two one-act scripts written, working on notes from some theater colleagues to refine and finalize. My primary hope is that one of my plays is performed at some point in front of a real audience. Along these lines, is it cool to send scripts directly to Drama instructors at the High School or College level? I'm not looking for a penny here, just the rush of seeing one of my plays performed on stage.

This is a script I wrote for a potential play based on The Argonautica and Euripides’ Medea. My first script please give me some advice and feedback if you want.
Script here

Dear r/playwriting folks,

I'm a college senior, and I have a one-night-only staged reading of a play that I have rewritten at a theater on 28th Street. This was my junior year project, but I have since started from page 1, incorporating a bunch of notes while developing it with the original cast! Now we get to present this play (hour-long first act) that we love outside of school, and it's really exciting!!

If anybody here is interested in coming, you can purchase tickets at this link!

Also, if anybody wants a comp, let me know, and I would be happy to put you on the list.