A Playwright’s Guide to Workshop Survival: 1

Abstract

Workshops of new plays have always been with us, but they used to have different names. They were called “Having a few friends [read: actors] in to read a play”; they were called “try-outs in New Haven”; they were called the “studio or warehouse series.” When money and time were looser than they seem to be now, everyone could afford a softer, more leisurely approach to the mounting of a new play. But now, when everyone is running in the fast track and, though spending more, enjoying less money, even studio productions are big bucks and no one can afford to gamble on an untried play. As a playwright, you’ve heard all the arguments from artistic directors and producers who tell you why your latest play, concocted though it may be from your life-blood and bone marrow, must be workshopped.