With the high cost of producing plays on Broadway, the author examines other areas in which new playwrights may have their plays produced. These include theatre companies, Off Off Broadway or regional theatres.

Last September, Joe Papp, who brought free Shakespeare to New York twenty-six years ago, stood before a luncheon audience of potential corporate donors. A U. S. government study just released had estimated that private giving to nonprofit organizations would have to go up twenty-four percent this year to offset the effects of inflation and cuts in government support. Another speaker had suggested that, in worsening economic times, corporations might turn their benevolence to necessities like housing rather than amenities like the performing arts. Mr. Papp replied, paraphrasing Brecht, that Theatre isn't nice. It isn't an amenity, but has a serious function in making society aware of itself.

Where will the new playwrights come from to give us what James Joyce called one good look at ourselves in their nicely polished looking glass? What theatres and support groups exist to help new playwrights in the early stages of a career? How are those groups responding to the challenge of developing and nurturing new playwrighting talent in the face of worsening economic times? Interviews with key members of New York's theatre community reveal that the commitment to new work is still strong, but theatres may be more cautious in their choices of plays.

CONTENTS
The regional market.
Off Off Broadway.
Three successful companies.
A living.
The Development process.
For a political theatre.
Fundraising.
Apprenticeship.

With the high cost of producing plays on Broadway, the author examines other areas in which new playwrights may have their plays produced. These include theatre companies, Off Off Broadway or regional theatres.