What changes when a new play finally meets an audience?
This weekend, The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue, a new play by Debbie Goodstein, opened Off-Broadway at Theatre Row in New York City.
For those of us who have been part of its development, it’s an exciting milestone. But it’s also a reminder of something I’ve come to understand through years of developing and producing new work:
Development and production are two very different kinds of rooms. And knowing when a play is ready to move from one to the other is one of the most important judgments a creative producer makes.
In development, we ask questions about the work itself. Does the story hold together? Are the characters’ objectives clear? Is the dramatic action compelling? Are we telling the story we intend to tell?
We bring actors into readings, explore revisions, test scenes, reconsider structure, and listen for what’s working—and what isn’t.
But eventually, the questions begin to change.
We stop asking only whether the play works on the page and begin asking how it will work in front of an audience, with actors, designers, technicians, and a professional production team bringing it to life.
That’s when development begins to become production.
Are the Remaining Questions Production Questions?
One of the questions I ask when considering whether a new work is ready to move forward is this:
Are the remaining questions production questions?
It’s an important distinction.
A play may need another developmental reading because its central conflict isn’t clear, its characters aren’t fully realized, or its ending hasn’t been earned.
Those are development questions.
But when the central dramatic structure is working and the remaining questions involve staging, design, pacing, transitions, and the relationship between performers and audiences, we may be entering production territory.
Of course, that doesn’t mean development is finished.
One of the things I’ve been reminded of during The Blue Violinist is that a production reveals things no reading or workshop can fully anticipate.
An actor’s performance may uncover a new emotional possibility. A transition that seemed simple on the page may become complicated onstage. An ending that felt right in rehearsal may land differently once an audience is in the room.
Production doesn’t eliminate development. It changes the conditions under which development happens.
And those conditions create new possibilities—but also new responsibilities.
The Producer’s Responsibility Changes, Too
During development, a creative producer helps identify the questions that matter and assemble the people and opportunities needed to explore them.
Once a production begins, the work expands.
Now we’re balancing artistic intention with budgets, schedules, contracts, marketing, rehearsal time, and the practical demands of bringing a production to the stage.
Our responsibility is not simply to protect the artistic vision. It’s to create the conditions in which that vision can be realized.
That means making choices.
Not every idea can be used. Not every revision can be explored indefinitely. Not every theatrical possibility fits the available resources.
The producer must help distinguish between what’s essential to the storytelling and what may be interesting but unnecessary.
And perhaps most importantly, the producer must understand when to step forward and when to step back—trusting the director, designers, performers, and the rest of the creative team to do the work they’ve been brought together to do.
This is one of the less visible aspects of producing new theater.
The work requires artistic judgment, financial discipline, and the ability to keep the larger purpose of the production in view.
Then the Audience Arrives
No matter how thoroughly we’ve developed a play, something changes when an audience enters the theater.
Until that moment, we’ve been working with people who know the material intimately. We’ve discussed intentions, examined revisions, anticipated responses, and lived with the story for months—or sometimes years.
The audience hasn’t.
They encounter the story for the first time.
They don’t know what we’ve changed or what we struggled to solve. They don’t know which moment took three revisions or which scene nearly disappeared.
They only experience what’s happening in front of them.
And their response can teach us something we couldn’t learn any other way.
This is why I believe strongly in bringing new work into contact with audiences at appropriate stages of development.
Not to ask an audience to make artistic decisions for us, but to discover whether the choices we’ve made are communicating the experience we intend.
An audience doesn’t write the play. But an audience reveals how the play is being received.
That’s information every serious theatermaker needs.
Development Should Lead Somewhere
At CreateTheater, this philosophy shapes the way we work.
We don’t believe that every new play or musical needs the same development process. Some projects need time with actors around a table. Others need a workshop to explore staging or musical storytelling. Some are ready to meet an audience. And a select few are prepared for the responsibilities of professional production.
Our job is to help artists understand what their work needs next—and create opportunities to move it forward.
This November offers a particularly meaningful illustration of that philosophy.
As The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue opens Off-Broadway, we’re also preparing six developing musicals for the CreateTheater Cabaret Festival on November 23 and 24 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.
These musicals are at a different point in their development journeys.
Their presentations aren’t intended to be finished productions. They’re opportunities for audiences to discover new work, for creative teams to experience their material in performance, and for the artists to learn something about what comes next.
And this year’s Cabaret Festival serves another important purpose.
100% of ticket sales from the Cabaret Festival will support reading space for CreateTheater’s spring New Works Reading Series.
That means attending one developmental performance helps create an opportunity for another new play or musical.
Six musicals take the stage in November—and help make more development possible in the spring.
It’s a wonderful expression of what I believe a developmental theater company should do: build a community in which artistic opportunities create further opportunities.
Creating the Next Opportunity
On December 1, we’ll continue that work through our GivingTuesday campaign, inviting supporters to help provide additional resources for the development of new theater.
The Cabaret Festival and GivingTuesday have distinct purposes, but they share the same goal: making meaningful development opportunities possible for promising new work.
Professional production may be an ultimate ambition, but every project has its own path toward that goal.
Not every reading leads directly to a workshop. Not every workshop leads to a production. And not every project is ready for the same opportunity at the same time.
That’s why thoughtful development matters.
We have to understand the work, respect where it is, and make responsible choices about what comes next.
As we celebrate the opening of The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue, I’m reminded that getting a new play to the stage isn’t the result of one reading, one workshop, or one inspired rehearsal.
It’s the result of many artistic and producing decisions, made over time, in service of the story.
And when those decisions lead to a professional production, that’s something worth celebrating.
At CreateTheater, we don’t just develop new work. We help artists understand what their work needs next—and create opportunities to move it forward.
Because development isn’t the destination.
It’s how we help the work get ready for what comes next.
See the Work. Support What Comes Next.
THE BLUE VIOLINIST OVER WEST END AVENUE
Now playing Off-Broadway at Theatre Row.
Learn More & Get Tickets
CREATETHEATER CABARET FESTIVAL — NOVEMBER 23 & 24
Six developing musicals. Two evenings. More new works to come.
Featuring Alexsei’s Quest, Bikers in Camelot, Rewind, Secrets, The Candle, and Julie D.
100% of ticket sales support reading space for CreateTheater’s spring New Works Reading Series.