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 writing group?

A theatre company?

An educational organization?

A festival?

A producer’s lab?

The answer is…

Yes—and no.

Those aren’t separate identities. They’re different expressions of one idea.

As CreateTheater enters its eleventh year, I’ve realized that part of growing as an organization is becoming clearer about who we are—and who we’re becoming.

Why I Originally Founded CreateTheater

When I founded CreateTheater in June 2015, my goal was simple: create a place where new plays and musicals could receive the thoughtful artistic development they deserve.

In 2021, we expanded that vision by launching the Experts Theater Company (ETC), creating an ongoing artistic home where playwrights and musical theatre writers could continue developing their work together. I chose the acronym to honor Ellen Stewart, for her extraordinary contributions to the art of theater at La MaMa Experimental Theater  Club (La MaMa ETC).

In 2022, we presented our first CreateTheater New Works Festival at Theatre Row.

This spring, we celebrated our Fifth Annual CreateTheater New Works Festival, adding The CreateTheater New Works Cabaret Festival in the fall to the mix.

I’m absolutely thrilled that we can grant space in the both of these festivals for artists to present their work – all of it developed in-house in CreateTheater’s writers’ resident company, The Experts Theater Company.

Looking back, I realize that we’ve been building something much larger than a collection of programs.

We’ve been building a developmental theatre company.

Now, with the guidance of our Advisory Board, CreateTheater is beginning the journey toward becoming an independent nonprofit theatre company in NYC dedicated to the development and production of new plays and musicals.

It’s been an awesome journey – and it’s just starting.

But this milestone has prompted me to ask an important question:

What is CreateTheater now, really?

A Developmental Theater Company

Our work is not simply to teach writers how to write. Nor is it only to produce finished plays and musicals.

Our work is to develop new theater.

I believe that’s one of the most important—and often least visible—creative acts in our industry.

When audiences attend opening night, they’re seeing the result of months or years of artistic collaboration. They don’t see the dramaturgical conversations, the table reads, the rewrites, the song that finally finds its place, or the creative breakthroughs that happen because a room full of theatre artists are asking the right questions together.

That’s development.

I believe development is in itself an art form.

Last Friday I was reminded exactly why CreateTheater exists.

I was on a Zoom call with the writers preparing for our next Fall Cabaret Festival.

One team was calling from New York City.

Another from San Francisco.

Another from West Virginia.

Another from New Jersey.

Another from Mexico.

We weren’t taking an online class.

We were doing what theatre artists have always done.

We were solving problems , in the same “room,” together.

Sharing resources.

Offering ideas.

Celebrating breakthroughs.

Helping one another tell stronger stories.

The only difference was that geography wasn’t determining who could be in that room.

Develop Work in NYC from Anywhere

For most of theatre history, access to a professional development process depended on where you lived.

But today, that doesn’t matter.

CreateTheater was formed on Zoom way back in 2015 to bring writers, composers, lyricists, directors, dramaturgs, producers, and collaborators into the same professional development room—regardless of geography.

Not to replace New York.

To extend New York’s collaborative and professional culture.

Because the conversations that happen in New York rehearsal rooms shouldn’t belong only to the people who can afford to live there.

They should belong to every serious theatre artist committed to creating excellent new work.

That’s why our company exists.

Our Programs Form Our Pipeline

The six month Production-Ready Writers Groups are where many writers begin developing their scripts in a collaborative professional environment. 

The 90 day Cabaret Lab gives musical theatre writers the opportunity to hear songs, experiment, and continue shaping their work in front of artists and audiences.

The four NYC Musical Development Workshops each year explore the craft and structure that help musicals become compelling works of theatre.

The year-long Musical Writing Lab and the NYC Producer Lab help selected projects prepare for public presentations in Industry Readings or Showcase productions by bringing together the artistic and practical work required to move from development toward production. Our labs create community, which is the heart of our collaboration.

These aren’t disconnected offerings.

They’re all part of one artistic mission.

To develop professional new plays and musicals through collaboration that result in industry exposure.

To create an artistic home where serious theatre makers can work together and form a community.

And to make New York’s culture of theatrical development more accessible without sacrificing its professional standards.

You no longer have to live in Manhattan to develop and produce your work in Manhattan.

We Develop New Plays and Musicals

At its heart, CreateTheater isn’t built around Zoom.

It’s built around the development room.

A place where artists gather to ask difficult questions, challenge one another with generosity, strengthen each other’s work, and move stories forward to production.

Because great theatre has never been created in isolation.

It has always been created in community.

As we begin this next chapter—growing into a nonprofit theatre company, expanding our artistic partnerships, and continuing to develop and produce new work—our mission feels clearer than ever.

CreateTheater exists to build a community of theatre artists committed to developing professional new plays and musicals through collaboration, dramaturgy, and creative producing.

That has been our work for the past eleven years. And we’re excited for what the next elevent will bring.

Welcome to CreateTheater.

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 developing, directing, and producing new work in New York, I need to say something very plainly:

Production is not where the pipeline starts.

Development is.

And if you try to skip that step, rush through it, or pretend you are “ready” before the work has actually been tested, challenged, deepened, and strengthened, you are taking a much bigger risk than you may realize.

I know I may be preaching to the choir here, but during this summer season I see too many writers spend money on various festivals – and then be disappointed.

Not because they were disappointed with their work – but because they were disappointed that the results they dreamed about didn’t materialize.

 

The Truth About Festivals

Look, I know theater is tough. But here’s the truth:

Production is expensive.

Audiences are honest.

And industry people have long memories.

A mediocre production of a promising play can do more damage than no production at all.

That may sound harsh.

Good. It should.

Because if you care about your work, you cannot afford to treat development like some annoying little hurdle you have to clear before the “real” thing happens.

You do not want to rush into a “festival production.”

Development is the real thing.

It is where the real work begins.

 

What Happens When You Produce Your Work Too Soon 

There is a dangerous fantasy floating around among a lot of writers.

It goes something like this:

“If I can just get my show on stage, then everything will change.”

Well … maybe.

But maybe not.

Because getting your show on stage too soon is not always a win.

Sometimes it means the writer had access to money before the play had access to enough development.

Sometimes it means the show got onstage before it knew what it was.

Sometimes it means someone was so eager to make something happen that nobody told them to slow down long enough to ask the harder questions:

• Is the story actually clear?
• Does the structure hold?
• Are the stakes high enough?
• Does the ending land?
• Do the characters have enough dramatic agency?
• Is the audience emotionally tracking the journey?
• Is this really a producible play — or is it just a strong draft someone really wants to be on stage?

Argh.

How many shows have you seen where you walked away shaking your head and asking, “How on earth did this script get on stage?”

The problems in your script do not magically disappear because you found a venue, hired a director, raised some money, and got your friends to come cheer you on opening night.

In fact, production often makes those problems louder.

Much louder.

Because once the work is in front of an audience, the weaknesses are no longer private.

They are public.

And like I said, the theater industry has a long memory.

A looong memory.

You may never get a second chance to make your show live up to its promise.

 

Think of Development as Insurance.

I know development can feel frustrating. And it takes so long.

You rewrite the draft.

Then you get notes.

Then you revise.

Then you hear it out loud.

Then you discover the second act has a problem.

Then someone gives you feedback you do not want to hear.

Then a director asks a question that makes you realize the emotional center of the play is not where you thought it was.

Then an audience laughs in the wrong place.

Or worse, they do not respond at all.

And you think:

“Am I ever going to get this play produced?”

I understand that feeling. But development is not punishment.

It is not busywork. And it shouldn’t feel like “developmental hell.”

It is the work. It furthers the work.

Development is insurance.

It is the process that protects the play before you put it under the heat of full production.

It gives you time to hear the work in different ways: with different actors, different directors, different audiences, dramaturgs, producers, and collaborators who can help you see not only what is on the page, but what is actually happening in the room.

That matters. Theatre is a collaborative art.

Because one person’s opinion is not development.

One reading is not development.

One enthusiastic friend telling you “I love it” is not development.

And one industry person giving you a note that sounds smart does not mean you should immediately rebuild your entire play around it.

Development is the process of learning how to listen.

To listen to your play. To listen to the room when your play is being read.

Does it hold the audience?

Or do they get distracted and pull out their phones?

Learn to hear what the work itself is telling you.

That takes time.

It also takes discernment.

 

CreateTheater Is Development

This is why I created CreateTheater.

Even the name denotes a process.

I didn’t form a theater company to rush writers into production before the work is ready, or to move half-developed scripts into festival showcases.

And I am not here to sell the fantasy that every writer dreams of: seeing their work in front of an enthusiastic audience before the piece is actually ready to meet them.

CreateTheater is a developmental theater company.

We concentrate on the part of the process many people would prefer to skip:

• The messy middle.
• The rewriting.
• The hard questions.
• The table reads.
• The feedback.
• The structure.
• The audience response.
• The honest conversation about what is working, what is not working yet, and what the piece needs next.

Because if your goal is to move toward production, the work has to be strong enough to survive production.

That is what a professional development pipeline is designed to do – to carefully learn what your show really needs.

 

Start Development This Summer

Our Production-Ready Writers™ 6-Month Play Writing Groups begin this week.

If you are serious about developing your play, I’d love for you to consider joining us.