An interview with seven TYA playwrights (Brian Guehring, USA)

For four weeks this past fall, I joined several TYA/USA members participating in a phone forum focusing on the business of playwriting for young audiences. This series covered such topics as commissioning, developing a playwriting portfolio, and getting published. Led by playwrights Barry Kornhauser and José Cruz González, the forum included such guests as Suzan Zeder, playwright and professor at University of Texas at Austin; Michael Bobbitt, producing artistic director of Adventure Stage in Glen Echo, MD; and Gayle Sergel, vice president of Dramatic Publishing.

A recurring theme in our discussions was the comparison of writing original plays for young audiences and writing adaptations. While some of the most respected plays within the field for young audiences are original, the most produced plays are adaptations. We talked about diversifying a personal playwriting portfolio with original plays and adaptations, although most commissions are for adaptations.

Read a PDF of this article from TYA Today.