If Your Play Isn’t Moving Forward, Read This

If Your Play Isn’t Moving Forward, Read This

by | May 25, 2026 | Business, Getting Produced, New Works Festival, Producing, Theater

If Your Play Isn’t Moving Forward, Read This

There’s a moment almost every playwright hits.

You’ve revised the script.
You’ve gotten feedback.
Maybe you’ve even done a reading.

And then…

Nothing.

No momentum.
No next step.
No production.
No real traction.

So you start wondering if the problem is the industry.
Or the timing.
Or whether theater is just impossible right now.

But after years working with new plays and musicals in New York, I can tell you something difficult — and liberating:

Most scripts don’t stall because the writer isn’t talented.

They stall because the work isn’t yet producible.

And those are two very different things.

A lot of writers are creating plays as literary documents.

But theater isn’t literature.

Theater is a live event that requires:
actors,
directors,
designers,
producers,
money,
space,
audience buy-in,
and a reason to exist right now.

That doesn’t mean your work has to be commercial.
It doesn’t mean it has to be safe.
And it definitely doesn’t mean you should write to trends.

But it does mean your script has to understand the realities of production.

Can a director envision this onstage?
Can actors emotionally land inside it?
Can an audience track the dramatic engine?
Does the structure create momentum?
Does the play know what experience it’s trying to create in the room?

These are producing questions.
And they are creative questions.

I think this is the missing conversation in a lot of playwright education.

Writers are taught how to write scenes.
But not how to build theatrical experiences people want to champion.

And honestly?
That’s where careers begin to shift.

Because once your work becomes producible, people can suddenly move with it.

Producers lean in.
Directors see possibilities.
Collaborators want to attach themselves.
Readings lead to workshops.
Workshops lead to productions.

Momentum becomes easier because the work itself generates momentum.

This week, I’m teaching a free webinar called Write a Producible Play because I think too many talented writers are stuck in development limbo without understanding why.

We’re going to talk about:

  • why some plays move forward while others stall
  • the structural mistakes that quietly kill momentum
  • how producers evaluate new work
  • and how to develop your script with production in mind without sacrificing your artistic voice

Because your play does not need to become smaller.

It needs to become stage-ready.

And those are not the same thing.

If your work has felt stuck lately, this webinar is for you.

Let’s get your play moving again.

Save your seat for May 30th

If this opened your eyes to how producers actually evaluate your script…

Then you’ll want to be in the room for our live training:

Write a Producible Play Webinar on May 30th

 Off-Broadway Producer Patrick Blake and I will walk you through exactly how to check your work so it’s not just compelling, but something a producer can get on board with.

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The 2022 New Works Festival Awards

The 2022 New Works Festival Awards

by | Jun 21, 2022 | Musicals, New Works Festival, NPD, Producing

It is quite a feat to produce an Off-Broadway play or musical; it is quite another to produce an entire festival of Off-Broadway showcases – during covid.

Yet that is exactly what we did with the first 2022 CreateTheater New Works Festival, in association with Prism Stage Company.

From April 15th to May 15th at NYC’s prestigious Theater Row (410 West 42nd Street), we showcased seven productions – six new musicals and one new play – from writers across the country who had developed their work in-house through CreateTheater’s resident writer company, The Expert’s Theater Company (ETC). The productions in the festival were Finding Madame Curie by David Kurkowski; The Golden Cage by Deborah Henson-Conant; Fire Island: The Musical by Jarlath Jones; Sewing the Dream by Judith Estrine, music by David Kurkowski; Ocean in a Teacup by Joel Krantz, lyrics by Neil Selden; Rewind: An 80s Pop Musical by Geoffrey and Sam Rose; and the play Retraction by David Z. Gutierrez.

CreateTheater’s mission has from the beginning been to help develop and produce new plays and musicals. Writers trust me with their new scripts and librettos as a dramaturg-producer. That’s a sacred trust. It’s my job to help them craft work that delivers over their intention to the audience, what they need to say in this time, in this space, through this story. Once I feel the script or libretto “works,” then it must be tested out in front of an audience – which is what we just did.

As an Off-Broadway producer I am known for a certain level of quality, which it was important for me to retain even at the festival level. If you look at the photos on the newworksfest.org website, you can see that each of these shows reflected our high production values. Most sophisticated NY audiences were surprised at what they saw onstage, which went far beyond what they’ve come to expect in a “festival” format.

“The New Works Festival on Theater Row, produced by Cate Cammarata, was an exhilarating display of new work by playwrights with new voices,” said Ed Levy, one of the festival adjudicators.  “From the exuberant 80’s rock and roll of Geoffrey and Sam Rose’s Rewind to the deep philosophical reflection of Joel Krantz’s Ocean in a Teacup, from the Golden-Age melodious, lyrical and comic numbers in the period musicals, Finding Madame Curie by David Kurkowski and Sewing the Dream by Estrine and Kurkowski, to the delightfully fanciful and innovative Golden Cage by Deborah Henson-Conant and the lively and beautifully choreographed Fire Island by Jacobs and Solla, the musicals were dramatic and joyful.  The one straight play, Retraction, by David Gutierrez was charged with electricity, incisive and provocative.  Coming after the drought of the shutdown, this festival of wonderful new works is a welcome shower of delights.”

“Cate Cammarata has established a most needed and important organization in the form of ETC,” said Neal Rubenstein, a veteran Broadway producer. “It is here that those aspiring to be part of the theater community, under the auspices of Ms. Cammarata, have been instructed, guided, and in many instances seen their respective projects produced for viewing.”

Rubenstein also found much of the new work promising. “For me, Finding Madame Curie was especially exciting. It was an enlightening story which should be performed in elementary and/or high schools. Kerry Conte & Kyle Yampiro’s voices soared!  The casting brings this musical to vocal heights.  Kudos to David Kurkowski for amazing music & lyrics that carry Marie Curie’s story forward under the deft direction of Stas Kimiec and musical direction of Larry Daggett.”

We had four adjudicators for the 2022 New Works Festival, all experienced theatre-makers. Steve Marsh is a playwright/director, and a member of the nominating committee for the 2014-2015 Drama Desk Awards. Neal Rubenstein is a five-time TONY-nominated Broadway producer and also a producing member of The Experts Theater Company (ETC). Two other writer members of ETC served as adjudicators: Ed Levy, a librettist-lyricist, and Chris Sherman, a playwright.

“CreateTheater’s New Works Festival on Theatre Row in NYC is one of the most hopeful theatrical events in recent years,” says Marsh. “It has given great opportunities for playwrights, composers, and librettists to have their works produced professionally, Off Broadway, in front of a true NYC crowd. This year’s festival was truly inspiring! I can’t wait to see more.”

“CreateTheatre, under the skillful and loving eye of Cate Cammarata, has produced a new festival that showcases a wide variety of top-notch plays and musicals,” added adjudicator-playwright Chris Sherman. “Calling it a festival does not do it justice.  I’ve never seen such professional and polished production values in any other festival, complete with full sets, period costumes, and scenic projections.   Future productions are sure to be on every producer’s must-see list.  A true Off-Broadway experience!”

It is always my producing goal to give writers something tangible to take away from a production, something that  captures the ephemeral moment of theater once it’s over. Awards are important “proofs” of excellence, preserving the momentous work of so many theatremakers that collaborate to make a production unique. Although I cannot begin to recognize all of the amazing talents and hard work that went into this project, I am proud to present these  2022 CreateTheater NWF Awards.

The 2022 CreateTheater New Works Festival Award winners are:

 

Best Actor in a Play or Musical – (tie)

  • REWIND (Jason Denton)
  • GOLDEN CAGE (Chris Isolano)

 

Best Actress in a Play or Musical

  • SEWING THE DREAM (Aubrey Matalon)

 

Best Supporting Actor in a Play or Musical

  • REWIND (Nick Bernardi)

 

Best Supporting Actress in a Play or Musical

  • SEWING THE DREAM (Catherine Ariale)

 

Best Set Design & Projections

  • REWIND (Richard Oullette, David Forsee)

 

Best Lighting Design – (tie)

  • REWIND  (Zach Pizza)
  • FINDING MADAME CURIE (Michael Cole)

 

Best Costume Design

  • SEWING THE DREAM (Debbi Hobson)

 

Best Director in a Play or Musical

  • RETRACTION (Jen Wineman)

 

Best Book of a Musical

  • REWIND (Sam Rose & Geoffrey Rose)

 

Best Musical Score- (tie)

  • REWIND (Sam Rose & Geoffrey Rose)
  • GOLDEN CAGE (Deborah Henson-Conant)

 

Best Choreography

  • REWIND (Whitney G-Bowley)

 

Best Musical – (tie)

  • REWIND (Book, Music, Lyrics by Sam Rose & Geoffrey Rose)
  • SEWING THE DREAM (Book & Lyrics by Judith Estrine, Music by David Kurkowski)

 

Best Play

  • RETRACTION (David Gutierrez)

 

Most Innovative Production

  • GOLDEN CAGE (Deborah Henson-Conant)

 

To see photos of this work and for more information, go to the Festival’s homepage at www.newworksfest.org

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