I was talking to a novelist/playwright yesterday about submitting plays to theaters versus submitting manuscripts to literary agents/publishers and he was saying that the theaters he submitted to often failed to send him even a form response to his queries. In general, he found literary agents/publishers to be more courteous in this regard. As someone who’s submitted full-length plays in the past (to no avail), I did want to point out one theater in particular, Playwright Horizons, which never failed to write me back a personal letter with at least one paragraph addressing the specifics of my play. The paragraph pointed out the play’s strengths and also the reasons why they were passing. Even though I was being rejected, I at least took solace in knowing it was read.
I know that the economic realities of theater make it impossible for every playwright who submits to a theater to get personalized feedback. But I did want to point out this one rather extraordinary place where they’re doing just that.
One Comment
dagirard posted on June 22, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Related to this, Dan Burston, the dramaturg at Portland Stage suggested I enter their Clauder New Works Competition (which is held every two years) because every single entry receives an evaluation– he said to check the Portland Stage site in June/July for this year’s deadline– oops– better do that!
If you haven’t been to Portland Stage, it’s a beautiful 300 seat theater with equity productions and really impressive production values. And Dan’s great.
Thanks for the tip aelefano– so many playwrights don’t want to share for fear of increasing the competition!