Development Before Production
Audiences see the finished production. They see the actors, the set, the lights and the opening-night photographs. What they rarely see is all the work that happened before anyone bought a ticket: the revisions, readings, creative disagreements, difficult decisions...
How Musicals Are Really Developed
From First Draft to Production If you are writing a musical, you may be wondering: How does a musical actually get developed? The answer is not usually: write the first draft, find a producer, and go straight into production. Professional musical theater development...
Writers don’t need another class – they need a development room.
Sometimes people ask me why I created CreateTheater. I created CreateTheater because too many writers were trying to develop plays and musicals alone. They had scripts. They had ideas. They had taken classes. But they did not have access to the kind of ongoing...
What is CreateTheater?
What is CreateTheater? It's a question I've been thinking about a lot lately. Not because I don't know the answer, but because I've realized that many of the writers in our own community are trying to understand how all of the pieces fit together. Is CreateTheater a...
Pipeline Starts with Development, Not Production
Everybody wants to get produced. That is the dream, right? The lights come up. The actors are in costume. The audience is in the room. Someone has finally said yes. Your play is no longer sitting in a folder on your laptop. It is alive. I get it. But after years of...
Why Developmental Theater Companies Matter More Than Ever
Theater is hard right now. Have you noticed? It is hard to get produced.It is hard to get attention.It is hard to build an audience.It is hard to raise money.It is hard to know which opportunity is actually worth your time and which one is just another application...
What Producers Actually Look For in New Work
One of the biggest mistakes I see many playwrights and musical theatre writers make is believing producers are looking for "good writing." Of course they are. But, after years of producing, directing, dramaturging, and sitting through countless readings, festivals,...
Why So Many Workshops Fail Writers
One of the hardest conversations I have with playwrights and musical theater writers is this: A workshop does not always advance development. And development does not automatically lead to a production. I've seen writers spend thousands of dollars and years of their...
Readings Aren’t the Goal. Development is.
Readings Aren’t the Goal. Production Is. Why so many playwrights get stuck in the development loop—and how to avoid it. By Cate Cammarata If you're writing a new play or musical, at some point you're going to need to put it in front of an audience. There is simply no...