How to Get Readings of Your Plays

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Getting a reading of your play is easier than getting a full production, and it can be beneficial to the playwright, as well as entertaining to an audience. You might want to start with a small group of local actors, or submit your play to legitimate theater companies.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

How to Get Readings of Your Plays

Step1

Before you send any play anywhere, you want to have several valued friends read your piece and give you their opinion on it. This will give you time to rewrite before starting to send it out into the world, and giving you a better chance at sending out your best, most polished work. Theaters are inundated with bad writing, so you want to make yours great before taking up their time.

Step2

Go the bookstore and get a copy of The Writer's Market. There will be a section on playwriting. You can start by reading what each theater requires - sometimes you contact them by query letter, other theaters require that you send the whole manuscript. Try and only send to theaters that do your style of play - comedy, musical, drama, etc. This widens your chances of success, and lessens the number of submissions you have to make.

Step3

Go to local coffeehouses or theaters in your town. There are usually talent nights where people get together to put on different types of shows. You could find a group of people doing readings, and get your play on their schedule. These are usually free events.

Step4

Check with the drama department in community colleges in your area. There is often a renegade group of actors hungry to try out their skills. You might develop your own group using these actors as your cast.

Step5

Set up your own group by posting a flyer in arts centers, coffeehouses or colleges, and auditioning actors, then having the reading in a venue you choose. Or have an informal reading with a group of your friends in your living room first, to get a feel for the piece privately.

Step6

Pick up a copy of your local newspaper. There will be listings in the theater/arts/entertainment section for small local theaters. Contact these theaters and see if they accept submissions, or have a yearly festival or ongoing reading series. It's best to find a theater who will do a reading nearby so you can actually attend it.