Where New Plays & Musicals Begin Their Professional Journey
CreateTheater® is a full-service development platform for playwrights, musical theater writers, and emerging producers. Whether you’re drafting your first scene or preparing for a New York showcase, we give you the artistic support, producing strategy, industry access, and professional community you need to bring your new work to life.
Dramaturgy. Producing. Development. Industry Access. One Home.
CREATE
Refine the Work. Understand the Industry.
Tier 1 — Programs & Community
Our Tier 1 programs provide accessible opportunities for theater-makers developing new work.
DEVELOP
Develop the Work
Tier 2 — Advanced Developmental Labs
Selected projects may advance into CreateTheater’s developmental track for more focused dramaturgical collaboration and professional development support.
Application or invitation required for select programs.
PRODUCE
Curated Festival Presentations, Showcases and more
Tier 3 — CreateTheater New Works Festival and the CreateTheater New Works Studio
The CreateTheater New Works Studio is a curated producing track for selected projects preparing for production opportunities.
CreateTheater = The Studio System for New Works
The CreateTheater Pipeline
The CreateTheater Pipeline is a flexible development framework for new plays and musicals designed to support each project according to what it actually needs at every stage of its life.
Rather than moving writers through a fixed sequence of programs, CreateTheater begins with individual attention. Each play or musical is assessed on its own terms—considering the writing, the creative team, the project’s goals, and its readiness for the next level of development.
Some begin with writing support. Others enter at a development or industry-facing stage.
Throughout the process, decisions are guided by real producing insight:
What kind of development will serve this show best?
Which collaborators, programs, or presentations make sense now?
And when is the right moment to move forward—or pause and revise?
CreateTheater exists to help each project become what it needs to be—artistically, strategically, and professionally—while connecting it to the right people, programs, and next steps in NYC and beyond.
Where Do I Start?
1. I’m looking for a professional playwriting group.
2. I need help revising my new musical.
3. My script is done. I want an Industry Reading or Showcase.
4. I want to network in NYC & learn the business
5. I’m ready for Off-Broadway. Can you help me get there?
Current Opportunities
Production-Ready Writers Groups
Looking for a professional community? Ongoing weekly and bi-weekly groups for writers developing new work.
CreateTheater New Works Festival Reading Series
Opportunities to hear new plays and musicals performed by professional actors. Is yours ready? Apply for 2027’s Festival
The CreateTheater Musical Writing Lab
How finished is your musical? Join our new 12-month Musical Theater Writing Intensive Cohort starting June 1st
The Experts Theater Company (ETC)
Membership · Mentorship · Access
The Experts Theater Company is the connective tissue of the CreateTheater pipeline.
It provides:
- Ongoing education and mentorship
- Community and accountability
- Access to higher-level development opportunities
Many writers begin here — and are invited forward into Labs, workshops, and the CreateTheater New Works Development Studio as their work becomes ready.
Upcoming Events
Write a Producible Play Webinar with Producer Patrick Blake
Sunday, May 30th 12 noon ET
CreateTheater’s Musical Writing Lab
The Lab starts June 1st
CreateTheater’s NYC Producer Lab
Starts June 4th at 7pm ET
Recent Blog Posts
8 Ways to Grow Your Theater Network
Note: This is the first in a three-part series this month in how to network, build and maintain important professional relationships in theater. Your Inner Circle Theater is an industry built heavily on relationships and reputation. And for a theatermaker, your...
Making Money as a Playwright Part 2
I think that many artists feel the winds of change happening regarding the arts in America. We look around at states defunding the arts. We see major non-profit and “successful” theater companies laying off staff and divesting themselves of their theaters.
Be Specific
Do you know your character’s favorite color? Favorite dish? The street they lived on as a child? What was the game their mother played with them when they were five? Why do they keep an item in their pocket and when do they take it out and stroke it? What memories does it provoke? What emotion does it conjure in your character?
Details. From the larger, to the smaller, and from the smaller to the larger, details make the character specific and unique.
Making Money as a Playwright Part 1
The playwright Robert Anderson famously said in the late 50’s early 60’s that “one can make a killing in the theatre, but not a living.” The late Tim Kelly, a very prolific playwright for the school and community theater markets who passed away in 1997, published over 350 plays in his life, and would have about 6,000 performances of his plays every year, all over the world. His pieces were translated into dozens of languages. He adopted Anderson’s quote and paraphrased it for the amateur theater market: “You can make a living, but you can’t make a killing”….