Submission season for playwrights is upon us and I'm thinking about how we all want to send our work out in the best possible shape. I gave you a checklist here. This week I'm thinking how do you talk (or write) about the needs of your script.
Of course we all want to be chosen to have the opportunity to dive into the script in a supportive process with a director, actors and a dramaturg, but how can you specifically make it clear what it is you want to work on in your script when you may not know.
You may be thinking, but this is the best I can do for now, and yes, that's why the script is where it is in terms of development. How can you imagine the future in order to drive it to a new destination? One way to do this is to look at your synopsis.
A synopsis in the American theatre (which assumes it's character-based) is focused on a protagonist (or ensemble) and what they want, how they try (verbs) to get it, only to (reversal) realize (moment of recognition) something about their journey (need).
Possible Spoiler Alert Synopsis
Oedipus, the King of Thebes, promises to save his people (want) from a terrible curse by searching (verb) for the cause only to (reversal) recognize (moment of recognition) his own culpability and put out his eyes and banish himself to save Thebes (promise satisfied) and wander the world a blind beggar for the rest of his days (denouement/end).
Possible Logline
A King desperate to save his people. A cursed land. A terrible secret. Does power ever unseat itself?
The synopsis is a helpful tool for structure. We can see that there are steps the play will take. These steps are arranged in a specific order. We start with character who wants. We have high stakes (a people cursed must be saved). There is rising action (searching). There is a moment of recognition (when he realizes it's his fault) and there is falling action/transformation (putting out his eyes, going blind) and a denouement (banished). Use this to check your own.
Character with a want? Stakes? Rising Action? Moment of Recognition? Often the Moment of Recognition gets skipped or rushed past. If it isn’t clear, your actors will ask, "when do I realize... or when do I recognize that... or how do I go from a to b here? If there are changes a character makes in a scene, check for moments of recognition there too - these often take place toward the end of the scene to forward your action. Transformation? Or the refusal to transform? An ending? A sense of inevitability in retrospect? A perception shift? A change in meaning? Something or someone starts one way and becomes something or someone else? The precious object is broken or wasn't so precious after all?
If any of this is weak, or missing, you now have development goals. If it's all there, but certain areas would be better off revised, you have development goals. If it's all there, and you love it, good for you! You will need development goals anyway to get development opps.
Another way to work your way toward the better future for the script you've written is to imagine it. Write the synopsis for the script you wish you’d written, the better version of your current work. Now you have a blueprint for where you want to go with the script you’ve got now.
Another way to do this is to make a list of really cool things you've seen or would love to see onstage. Once I saw a short play at EST where a pregnant wife and her husband tried to trick a landlord. Once they got what they wanted and the landlord had gone, the wife took a pin and popped away the balloon that pretended to be her pregnancy! This shocked me to my core.
When I was developing FUKT, which is about childhood sexual abuse, I wanted it to be an enjoyable evening out. So I made a list of all the things that would be really exciting to put into a play -- not a dark difficult play about childhood sexual abuse, but a fun play that I would want to see. To me, this meant a striptease, some girl on girl fisticuffs, a ukulele song, magic and zombies were on my list. These make the play unique.
What's on your list? Dream. Make a wild list! It's just a list. You can put anything on it! Then find the things that might seem impossible, or totally wrong for your play, and ask your mind to start to figure out how to work that in.
The striptease, the fighting and the ukulele were easy, but when I told my director that I had added zombies, she was like, no way! She couldn't wrap her head around it until we did a read-through. The zombies are the best part of the show. So you just don't know until you set yourself a higher bar. Then try to meet it.
The Prompt:
People like to tell us to challenge ourselves. People say, make something that no one else could have made. Well, how do we do that? Here are a few suggestions although there are uncountable ways to do this.
Make a list of all you are. All your identities, values and likes/dislikes. Also all the things you know well enough to consider a topic you could go on about, or something you lived (an historical moment, an event, stuff you survived - yes, your parents count, etc). That’s a lot!
Once you have that list, take a few of those identities or topics, and under each one, list all the things (usually nouns) that come with that identity. So if I put Jewish as one of my identities, my second list might includes a knowledge of prayers, bible stories, ethics, the golden rule, my Bat Mitzvah and my son’s Bar Mitzvah experience, my confirmation experience, my Jewish wedding experience, the making of prayer shawls, Shabbat (my own v. my childhood home v. my Aunt’s Shabbat), a menorah, candlesticks, a kippah, a Jewish argument/way of speaking, a love of coupons and discounts (my mother was always looking for a sale), the High Holidays (various experiences and povs), my time in Israel, and how I learned the Hebrew alphabet…
If the specifics of your list begin to inspire you, go for it! Write your inspiration down!
See if there are ways to mix and match from your other identity lists. So my identity as an autistic person includes loving animals, being accused of killing animals I did not kill, and not being able to defend myself, being thought of as uncanny in my own family and being picked on, having a hard time with social connections, experiencing light, sound, touch, taste in very intense ways... and not experiencing certain kinds of sensory experiences at all, like not feeling pain sometimes when pain should be there.
Can you combine an item from one list with another item from another list. This makes for a very distinct story or problem or identity for a character. And you can identify with all of it from your own lived experience. But once it belongs to a character, it can morph into so much more than merely yours. It can become the specificities that make a story feel universal. It can bring us into your work in a more intimate way.
Upcoming Saturday Classes on Zoom!
MAGICAL DIALOGUE Saturday September 6th 2-5pm Eastern Time
These are for playwrights & anyone else who wants to understand how to create builds and pacing with dialogue & ways to get narrative to work better. You will leave with skills!
For more information CLICK HERE & scroll, For TESTIMONIALS CLICK HERE & scroll
Structure is Not a Dirty Word starts 9/20 - 11/22
10 weeks of Saturday afternoons, 3pm ET - 6pm ET, filled with hands-on experiential learning to inspire you to form a new relationship with structure. Improve your skills! In-class & outside of class writing exercises you can put to use in your current & future projects! Now offered for less ($500). More info here, here & here! Register today! (via email at emmagoldmansherman at gmail dot com)
artwork by Scott Sherman at ScottShermanStudio on IG (show in Bklyn opens 9/7)
Opportunities:
Due 9/7 - Applications for Irons in the Fire 2026 are now live, and they will remain open until Sunday, September 7th at 11:59pm. It's a Google Form, here. Unlike last year, we do not require any script pages to be submitted for the first round of applications. It’s all pretty self explanatory. Questions? Email info@faultlinetheatre.org. And check out their next Irons in the Fire presentation: IJU by Abigail C. Onwunali @ 6:00pm on Thursday, Sept. 11th (NYC)
Due 9/15 - Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival - for short (60 min or less, 5 actors or fewer) Horror plays or monologues about American WOMANHOOD for a bar setting reading this fall for female or nonbinary playwrights within 40 miles of Philadelphia. Questions: glynnis@phillywomenstheatrefest.org. LINK to application form here.
Due 9/18 - 2026 National Playwrights Conference Submission Window (The O’Neill) is September 2 -18, 2025! For updates and reminders, sign up for our mailing list HERE.
Due 9/30 - Ixion seeks up to 8 scripts where DEFIANCE figures prominently to be considered for further development, including staged readings and possibly full production in June of 2026. No more than 4 actors. Simple setting. No more than 12 pages. Include only first initial and last name of author. Put script name and your last name in header or footer. Multiple subs allowed. No bios. Defiance can be in any form or any situation to explore relationships, dynamics and moments where opposition comes into play, could take on parent-child relationships, individual versus a collective or even a people versus an entity. ixionensemble@gmail.com
Due 10/13 - The Edward Albee Foundation applications for residencies for visual artists, playwrights, poets, and fiction and nonfiction writers is available here.
9/1 - 10/15: Applications open for Great Plains Theatre Commons New Play Festival. I highly recommend applying!
Women in the Arts & Media have a list of stage opps (and also screen opps) you can sign up to get monthly.
Brave Space
With prompts, grounding practices, & discussions, Brave Space invites playwrights, poets, painters, potters, novelists, memoirists, musicians & artists working in any medium to make meaning in a safe community. Begin and/or bring your projects to completion.
Or use Brave Space as a body-doubling space to get other things done in community (write hard emails, clean out your closets).
$5-25 suggested per session. 4+x/week! On or off camera. No commitment, drop-ins welcome. Try it!
Female and nonbinary folks welcome any time. All Humans welcome on Sundays.
Brave Space Schedule:
Mondays & Wednesdays at 12pm ET; Fridays at 12pm ET w/fast feedback; and Sundays at 6pm ET with Sharing Second Sundays at 730pm ET (that means September 14th!!!) Email or reply for a link!
ACTUAL SCHEDULE: This week Brave Space Friday 9/5. No Brave Space Sunday 9/7. Yes, Brave Space Monday 9/8 & Friday 9/12 and Brave Space w/Sharing on Sunday, 9/14. Wednesdays during ModPo will be very iffy. Please check with me if you’re thinking about Wednesdays through November. I might move them to 3pm ET some weeks - feedback appreciated. Would that work for you?
NeuroAffirming (NAF) Parts Work Group:
Meets Second Saturdays of each month (September 13th at 12pm ET - time zone converter here) to offer community, parts work experience and support for anyone neurodivergent (inclusive of Autism, ADHD, Audhd, OCD, cPTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and more).
You do not need an actual diagnosis to participate. Run by Emma and Jess (Level II), both of us Audhd, we are creating non-pathologizing and anti-ableist Parts Work content for healing and ease in neurodivergent systems. Sign up for our link here. Sliding scale from $5-25/session, but no one will be turned away.
Amazing People Doing Amazing Things:
If you want to be listed here, please let me know what you’re up to and include your links!
Jess Pearce and I collaborated on these offerings on Insight Timer. Enjoy it here. If you want more, come to NAF Parts Work every second Saturday! (September 13th!)
3 new (relatively fun) poems of mine just dropped at The Words Faire! 3 new micro-fictions of mine will be published some time in August in Boudin, the spicy online cousin to The McNeese Review. My micro-chapbook, “Possible Paths for the Minotaur,” is part of the Ghost City Summer Series! It’s free to download, or you can donate any amount and proceeds will go to the Trans Law Center.
My friend and mentor Angela T. Carr at WORDBOX is an amazing poet caught in a systemic governmental trap. You can help to alleviate her suffering while enjoying submissions opps and classes, prompts and workshops here - any help is welcome.
POLITICAL ACTION:
I suggest, instead of feeling helpless in the face of the news, ignore corporate media and get up-to-date on issues that are important to you. Seek out Substacks or youtube providers or other newsletters and news outlets beyond the corporate hegemony. Here are a few examples and other ways to focus on issues that may be of interest to you.
Get Involved:
JOIN YOUR LOCAL INDIVISIBLE. They host a weekly chat with updates, and much more! If you’re near me, join Inwood Indivisible!
Lunchtime Calling Klatch: Join Swing Left online every Tuesday at 12:30 to catch up on issues and call local elected officials.
Third Act - a community of older Americans coming together for political action.
NO KINGS (re: ICE) is asking us to ask local businesses to put up Signs of Solidarity. You can get the signs and more info at this link.
JOIN the TESLA TAKEDOWN every Saturday at 12pm ET in NYC at the Manhattan Tesla Dealership or check the link for an action near you!
What you need to know about ICE.
Fight for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Writers for Democratic Action.
READ/SUBSCRIBE:
Chop Wood, Carry Water - a substack by Jess Craven that helps me focus on political action and includes good news to help sustain us!
ABORTION EVERY DAY a substack by Jessica Valenti - support real research about what’s really happening. MEN, this is scary shit, and your support is needed and appreciated!
THE CRUCIAL YEARS a substack by Bill McKibben - climate change and ways to understand it and to actually do stuff about it.
ERIN in the Morning, by Erin Reed - news about the trans community.
The Intercept, 972mag, and Mondoweiss - independent news.
DONATE:
Give to the Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance
Give to Doctors Without Borders
6 Ways to Support Palestine
Donate for Civilians in Palestine