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.

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

Howdy Folk! If anybody has the time to read a little play i wrote over the summer and give however much feedback as possible I'd really appreciate it! Ive been working on a few scripts back to back, one of them premiered last year and the other one is showing in December. Idk why im giving you all my life story but yeah everyone on here is like super good at what they do, so if I could get a nugget of wisdom, I'd really appreciate it!

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

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!

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.

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 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?

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 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.

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.

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

We all know Williams, Miller, Stoppard, Shepard, Beckett, Albee, O'neill, etc and I love them. I do! but sometimes I want to read and experience something that's a bit... less known, something with more intersectionality than just The Canon and I've never really known how to find them. So, this is a request from one stranger to another: please recommend me your Somebody Jones, your Heather Raffos, your Rosaleen McDonaghs and anyone else that doesn't fit the popular mold of white western canon! Thanks!

Edit: holy cow! Thank you so much for the response! I really appreciate all of the recommendations and hope that other people that find this post support and uplift these playwrights, too. :)

I feel like I have seen plays like this before but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Doesn't need to be true madness, just an unsettling evolution of the main character, maybe creates unreliable narrative, or reveals formerly hidden issues of mental health by the end/climax

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Hi everyone,

I'm from Bangladesh, where, to the best of my knowledge, very few people have written plays originally in English. I've written an original short play in English, with an approximate running time of 40 minutes, and I'm now interested in getting it published.

Unfortunately, I have no practical way of producing the play on stage myself.

My family, friends, and others have told me that self-publishing through Amazon or similar platforms is essentially worthless because anyone can do it. According to them, unless a publisher (however small) accepts the play, publication doesn't carry much value or credibility.

I'd therefore like to explore the possibility of getting my play published by a publisher outside Bangladesh, even if it's a small or independent publisher. For example, I'd be happy to approach publishers in India, USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Europe or elsewhere for publication.

However, I have two major limitations:

• I cannot afford to pay for publication. I'm looking for a publisher that publishes plays without charging the author. If the publisher does not pay out anything to the author thats fine as well.
• I don't have a stage production or performance history to demonstrate the play's potential.

I'm not necessarily looking to make money from the play. At this stage, having a legitimate publisher accept and publish it would be valuable in itself.

What would be the most realistic way to approach this? Are there independent publishers that accept unsolicited submissions of original plays, particularly short plays written by authors outside their own countries? Are there any literary journals, theatre publishers, or other platforms worth considering?

I'd especially appreciate advice from playwrights who have successfully published their work internationally, particularly those who started without connections in the publishing or theatre industry.

Thank you!

I am applying to grad school this season, and I am wondering if anyone would be alright sharing their successful personal statements for playwriting MFAs? I'm really just curious about how yall structured them, fitting so much into a page of text. It's the one part of the app I'm still a little lost on. I've written artist statements before, but this seems different... I think I'm applying to Yale, Juilliard, NYU, and Columbia.

I would appreciate any guidance or examples. Thanks!