Saturday, October 17, 2009
Most Produced
The Wicked Stage: "You may be familiar with TCG's annual list of plays that will get the most productions in the coming season; this year Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's boom took top honors. But after going through season survey (in the October issue of American Theatre, I discovered that while Nachtrieb's play will certainly get the most productions of any single play, he's not the most produced playwright this coming season."
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5 comments:
An interesting aspect of this list is that there is only one female writer out of all twelve playwrights. This may be due to the fact that there are less female writers, thus less of them will be recognized, but c'mon now, only 1/12? Granted, Sarah Ruhl's work is being produced 17 times over, second most in the list, but I still wish there was a little more representation across the board.
Speaking of productions...are these being produced at regional theaters, or some sort of accredited institutions? What are the guidelines for which productions "count" and those that are not included in this list? I think that question is stemming from the fact that I don't know what TCG is. I'll go check that out...
I always see lists where they list the most produced plays so what playwrights are the most popular. I am not surprised by who was on the list, and where they were placed. Of course August Wilson, Tennessee Williams, and David Mamet are the most produced. People always want to see the classics. The diversity of this list also is very well balanced. The only thing I am curious about is if this list is ranking playwrights from most produced to least or not.
Where are these productions being done? The number is quite low--is this just counting regional and commercial?
It's great to see the classics are being produced, and it certainly is encouraging that people still want to see the "good" theatre. I do hope to see up-and-coming playwrights appear on this list in the future, though. What can we learn from the great writers to apply to new works today?
But sure, it'll take some time. Our market is not set for new works to really thrive--people, as we've discussed all year, want to go to a show and know they're going to like what they see. As theatre makers that makes the job a bit more challenging, and, to some, more dull. However, I think it's just a different kind of challenge.
Still, we can at least hope for new works in the coming years.
I'm also curious to see where these productions are being done. Do high schools and lesser known universities count? What about non-profits or other below the radar theaters? Were these numbers found through the companies that distribute the rights to these shows? I feel like if we had all the information then there might be some major adjustments to this list.
What an interesting list... it's great that all of this "standard fare" theatre is being performed across the U.S. right now, but it is kind of a shame that there aren't any more "lesser known" works on there. And Liz brings up an interesting point in that there is only one female playwright listed here... I'm fairly certain that there is more than one interesting, well-written, fully-producible play out there that was written by a woman. And I have to agree with the rest of the group that I am very curious about where all of these productions are taking place... I know my undergrad did "The Crucible" this year, but are enough of a blip on the radar to make it to this list?
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