Alternative Venues


Sure, plays are produced on Broadway, Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, and nowhere near Broadway in so many towns around the world. But there are alternatives to the usual two or three-act play being produced by a group of actors for a paying audience.

Theater With A Purpose

There are a number of groups around the Denver area who produce stage shows in conjunction with a social or educational purpose. There are probably a number of similar groups in your town, too.

  • Magic Moments - I began working with this group in 1992. They produce an annual musical play to raise funds for disabled people. They average a cast of about 100. I helped them write shows and have acted and sang and danced.

  • Kaiser-Permanente - They put together short shows about aging (for senior citizens) and about teen issues, such as pregnancy, safe sex, and alcoholism.

  • Mirror Image - They currently have a show called Breaking the Silence that addresses eating disorders, specifically anorexia and bulimia. They go to Denver area middle and high schools and present their show, many times with powerful results. They are also slated to take their show on the road and perform across the country over the next year.

Radio Scripts

The 1940s are long gone, but the genre of Radio Play is still strong. The Prairie Home Companion is one of those who continues the tradition. And there are others all around. I ran a search on Radio Plays and came up with a number of sites who produce such shows.

It's a unique venue (the playwright has to rely solely on sound, with no visuals), and therefore challenging, but is still a viable market. For formatting a radio play, check out Audio Plays on Charles Deemer's site.

Industrial Scriptwriting

Okay, it's not Shakespeare. But it's scriptwriting, and it pays. Scripts are needed for corporate training, business management, and educational videos. The 1999 Writer's Market calls it "Business and Educational Writing," and lists 21 companies eagerly searching writers. Some of the interested companies are:

Online Publishing

Online publishing gives writers the opportunity to have their scripts freely seen by producers, publishers, or other interested parties. Note: the operative word is freely. Some of these places will present a portion of your script, and if the reader is interested, they can order the entire script. Others display your entire script, using an honor system that the interested parties will contact you, the playwright, to work out payment of royalties.

The copyright of the article Alternative Venues in Playwriting is owned by Dave Brandl. Permission to republish Alternative Venues in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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