I related to this. I took myself out of the submissions game for a few years - partially because of the pandemic, and partially because I felt burned out and resentful. What surprised me is that even though I took a break, all that submitting I did bore fruit when things opened back up. I didn’t write a play for three years, but on paper, I had the best few years professionally. Now I’m back and I’ve written two new plays over the past two years that excite me, so I’m back to submitting a bit. And hey, you can’t win if you don’t play.
Theater moves at a glacial pace. I've noticed similar patterns. And lately I've been digging into other pursuits to fill the void. If watching the pot doesn't work, maybe creating other kinds of art will.
Great article. Thank you for sharing this. And Franky…your bio is unbelievable! You’ve worked hard and have accomplished so much already.
Sadly, all the arts are this way now. It didn’t feel like this 20 years ago when I was just out of undergrad.
In the literary world, the causes are many. I assume it’s similar for playwriting. Too many MFA programs creating too many writers who instantly expect to be successful. Too easy access due to an electronic submission system, and not enough money to fund the arts. There are many other reasons but the scarcity mentality coupled with high level competitiveness and a system that pretends its meritocratic but really isn’t is so detrimental to writers (playwrights, novelists, poets) and artists. Also, the idea of “making it” doesn’t help. Yes, doors open when you win major awards or are recognized but the practice is never done. You can choose to claw your way to the top and become miserable in doing so or you can enjoy the process and your life. I really do not want to see other writers as my competitors. We are all barely able to make ends meet unless we come from wealth or have a full-time job that is likely unrelated to our art form.
I took myself out of this system long ago and now approach it through an entrepreneurial lens. Sometimes you have to grow your own projects over time and find the community that has a similar approach. You will probably not be recognized nationally but if you aren’t enjoying the art you practice then the accolades are meaningless.
One day someone asked me for an artist statement. I sat down and looked at everything I'd ever written, said, done, tried to impart (my music, my physical art, my plays, my essays, even my social media presence) and I realized there is a common thread. The only thing that helps me with the glacial pace of playwriting and the nagging despair is remembering my core mission, and it's a big one: it is to ease the suffering of the world. If I'm true to that, and if it radiates out beyond the page to real human interaction, to the world around me, bit by bit, then the mark I leave on the world needs no further amplification. It needs no panel of adjudicators. No theater at all. We must share our work in its primitive state, in its unrehearsed state, in its lonely state, because that's when it's the most a part of us--indeed, it IS us--before the interpreters come. It exists because we've made it so in order to cope with the savage blows of life. It springs forth from our need to heal, to quell desire, to seek truths, to right wrongs. The endeavor alone is a bold one and the words on the page only a footnote in a life fully lived.
I was forwarded this article by another Houston playwright; we both agree that there's a lot that resonates with the two of us.
I'm in the position of only having ever developed my work theaters, whether through writers groups, workshops, or staged readings. I'm pretty happy to have reached a point relatively early in my career of acceptance around the fact that I will most likely receive few productions throughout my life. But hey, the goal is to have a long life, so I'm re-learning every day to be patient.
I've been grateful to have participate in different groups/theater's new play selections over the past few years. Earlier in 2024, I decided to drop out of a new play selection committee after mistreatment by one of the organizers after I brought up questions around the play selection criteria. One of the points that I had brought up the fact that one of the plays, in my eyes, was production-ready, and the theater should really be considering it to be a part of their next season.
I agree that there's a lot that we can do as individuals to try to make this inequitable system as equitable as possible. Rest is necessary to creative output, especially when there's the constant pressure to make oneself marketable.
I also believe that we should continue to put pressure on theaters to produce new work, regardless of the arts funding reality. I work in arts management with various small arts groups around fundraising. Their mission to bring meaningful art to their communities is never tied to whether they get a grant or not -- it's inherent to who they are. New play development should have more of a pathway to productions/documentation/what-have-you by those groups, or at the very least, be equally as celebrated as their productions for their "mainstream" audiences.
The best new play development opportunities I've been a part of has been with The Workshop Theater's Workshop Intensives, not just because of the work, but the people I've connected with. It's gotten way less lonely when I know that there's another theatremaker out there that I can reach out to, whether to brainstorm or socialize together.
This is a very long way of saying, I totally agree, and as long as we keep having these conversations publicly instead of keeping them open secrets, it'll feel less lonely when we skip a year or a few of the submissions cycles. Thank you for writing this, Franky!
I related to this. I took myself out of the submissions game for a few years - partially because of the pandemic, and partially because I felt burned out and resentful. What surprised me is that even though I took a break, all that submitting I did bore fruit when things opened back up. I didn’t write a play for three years, but on paper, I had the best few years professionally. Now I’m back and I’ve written two new plays over the past two years that excite me, so I’m back to submitting a bit. And hey, you can’t win if you don’t play.
Theater moves at a glacial pace. I've noticed similar patterns. And lately I've been digging into other pursuits to fill the void. If watching the pot doesn't work, maybe creating other kinds of art will.
Great article. Thank you for sharing this. And Franky…your bio is unbelievable! You’ve worked hard and have accomplished so much already.
Sadly, all the arts are this way now. It didn’t feel like this 20 years ago when I was just out of undergrad.
In the literary world, the causes are many. I assume it’s similar for playwriting. Too many MFA programs creating too many writers who instantly expect to be successful. Too easy access due to an electronic submission system, and not enough money to fund the arts. There are many other reasons but the scarcity mentality coupled with high level competitiveness and a system that pretends its meritocratic but really isn’t is so detrimental to writers (playwrights, novelists, poets) and artists. Also, the idea of “making it” doesn’t help. Yes, doors open when you win major awards or are recognized but the practice is never done. You can choose to claw your way to the top and become miserable in doing so or you can enjoy the process and your life. I really do not want to see other writers as my competitors. We are all barely able to make ends meet unless we come from wealth or have a full-time job that is likely unrelated to our art form.
I took myself out of this system long ago and now approach it through an entrepreneurial lens. Sometimes you have to grow your own projects over time and find the community that has a similar approach. You will probably not be recognized nationally but if you aren’t enjoying the art you practice then the accolades are meaningless.
One day someone asked me for an artist statement. I sat down and looked at everything I'd ever written, said, done, tried to impart (my music, my physical art, my plays, my essays, even my social media presence) and I realized there is a common thread. The only thing that helps me with the glacial pace of playwriting and the nagging despair is remembering my core mission, and it's a big one: it is to ease the suffering of the world. If I'm true to that, and if it radiates out beyond the page to real human interaction, to the world around me, bit by bit, then the mark I leave on the world needs no further amplification. It needs no panel of adjudicators. No theater at all. We must share our work in its primitive state, in its unrehearsed state, in its lonely state, because that's when it's the most a part of us--indeed, it IS us--before the interpreters come. It exists because we've made it so in order to cope with the savage blows of life. It springs forth from our need to heal, to quell desire, to seek truths, to right wrongs. The endeavor alone is a bold one and the words on the page only a footnote in a life fully lived.
I was forwarded this article by another Houston playwright; we both agree that there's a lot that resonates with the two of us.
I'm in the position of only having ever developed my work theaters, whether through writers groups, workshops, or staged readings. I'm pretty happy to have reached a point relatively early in my career of acceptance around the fact that I will most likely receive few productions throughout my life. But hey, the goal is to have a long life, so I'm re-learning every day to be patient.
I've been grateful to have participate in different groups/theater's new play selections over the past few years. Earlier in 2024, I decided to drop out of a new play selection committee after mistreatment by one of the organizers after I brought up questions around the play selection criteria. One of the points that I had brought up the fact that one of the plays, in my eyes, was production-ready, and the theater should really be considering it to be a part of their next season.
I agree that there's a lot that we can do as individuals to try to make this inequitable system as equitable as possible. Rest is necessary to creative output, especially when there's the constant pressure to make oneself marketable.
I also believe that we should continue to put pressure on theaters to produce new work, regardless of the arts funding reality. I work in arts management with various small arts groups around fundraising. Their mission to bring meaningful art to their communities is never tied to whether they get a grant or not -- it's inherent to who they are. New play development should have more of a pathway to productions/documentation/what-have-you by those groups, or at the very least, be equally as celebrated as their productions for their "mainstream" audiences.
The best new play development opportunities I've been a part of has been with The Workshop Theater's Workshop Intensives, not just because of the work, but the people I've connected with. It's gotten way less lonely when I know that there's another theatremaker out there that I can reach out to, whether to brainstorm or socialize together.
This is a very long way of saying, I totally agree, and as long as we keep having these conversations publicly instead of keeping them open secrets, it'll feel less lonely when we skip a year or a few of the submissions cycles. Thank you for writing this, Franky!