Editing Playwright (section)

=== Contemporary playwrights in the United States ===
[[File:Agatha Christie.png|thumb|251x251px|[[Agatha Christie]], author of ''[[The Mousetrap]]'', the longest run play in history]]Author and playwright [[Agatha Christie]] wrote ''[[The Mousetrap|The Moustrap]]'', a [[murder mystery]] play which is the [[List of the longest-running West End shows|longest-running West End show]], it has by far the longest run of any play in the world, with its 29,500th performance having taken place as of February 2024.<ref>{{cite web |title=Celebrating 29,500 perfoemnces |url=https://twitter.com/MousetrapLondon/status/1761043808500814155 |access-date=24 March 2024 |website=Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap}}</ref>

Contemporary playwrights in the [[United States]] are affected by recent declines in theatre attendance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pierson |first=Alexandra |last2=Merrill |first2=Amelia |last3=Coutinho |first3=Gabriela Furtado |last4=Pierce |first4=Jerald Raymond |last5=Sims |first5=Joseph |last6=Weinert-Kendt |first6=Rob |date=2023-07-24 |title=Theatre in Crisis: What We’re Losing, and What Comes Next |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2023/07/24/theatre-in-crisis-what-were-losing-and-what-comes-next/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=AMERICAN THEATRE |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527164143/https://www.americantheatre.org/2023/07/24/theatre-in-crisis-what-were-losing-and-what-comes-next/ |url-status=live }}</ref> No longer the only outlet for serious drama or entertaining comedies, theatrical productions must use ticket sales as a source of income, which has caused many of them to reduce the number of new works being produced. For example, [[Playwrights Horizons]] produced only six plays in the 2002–03 seasons, compared with thirty-one in 1973–74.<ref>{{cite web |author=Soloski |first=Alexis |date=2003-05-21 |title=The Plays What They Wrote: The Best Scripts Not Yet Mounted on a New York Stage |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/0321,soloski,44226,11.html |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210095919/http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/0321%2Csoloski%2C44226%2C11.html |archive-date=2007-12-10 |access-date=2012-04-23 |publisher=The Village Voice}}</ref> Playwrights commonly encounter difficulties in getting their shows produced and often cannot earn a living through their plays alone, leading them to take up other jobs to supplement their incomes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=London |first=Todd |title=Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play |publisher=Theatre Development Fund |year=2009}}</ref>

Many playwrights are also [[film makers]]. For instance, filmmaker [[Morgan Spurlock]] began his career as a playwright, winning awards for his play ''The Phoenix'' at both the New York [[Fringe theatre|International Fringe Festival]] in 1999 and the Route 66 American Playwriting Competition in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Genevieve |date=March 31, 2012 |title=Morgan Spurlock: 'I was doing funny walks around the house aged six' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/morgan-spurlock-i-was-doing-funny-walks-around-the-house-aged-six-7606234.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504003915/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/morgan-spurlock-i-was-doing-funny-walks-around-the-house-aged-six-7606234.html |archive-date=May 4, 2014 |access-date=May 3, 2014 |publisher=Independent.co.uk}}</ref>

====New play development====
Today, theatre companies have new play development programs meant to develop new American voices in playwriting. Many regional theatres have hired dramaturges and literary managers in an effort to showcase various festivals for new work, or bring in playwrights for residencies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haimbach |first=Brian Prince |title=Contemporary new play development |date=2006 |publisher=University of Georgia}}</ref> Funding through national organizations, such as the [[National Endowment for the Arts]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=GRANTS FOR ARTS PROJECTS: Theater |url=https://www.arts.gov/grants/grants-for-arts-projects/theater |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=www.arts.gov |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527164146/https://www.arts.gov/grants/grants-for-arts-projects/theater |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[Theatre Communications Group]], encouraged the partnerships of professional theatre companies and emerging playwrights.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home - Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards |url=https://circle.tcg.org/edgertonfoundationnewplayawards/home |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=circle.tcg.org |archive-date=2024-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527164839/https://circle.tcg.org/edgertonfoundationnewplayawards/home |url-status=live }}</ref>

Playwrights will often have a [[Cold reading (theatrical)|cold reading]] of a script in an informal sitdown setting, which allows them to evaluate their own plays and the actors performing them. Cold reading means that the actors haven't rehearsed the work, or may be seeing it for the first time, and usually, the technical requirements are minimal.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 October 2022 |title=What is a Cold Reading? Do I memorize my lines? |url=https://tophollywoodactingcoach.com/2012/04/what-is-a-cold-reading/ |website=Kid's Top Hollywood Acting Coach |access-date=26 October 2022 |archive-date=27 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527172402/https://tophollywoodactingcoach.com/2012/04/what-is-a-cold-reading/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The O'Neill Festival<ref>{{Cite web |title=Young Playwrights Festival {{!}} Eugene O'Neill Theater Center |url=https://www.theoneill.org/ypf |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=theoneill |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527172422/https://www.theoneill.org/ypf |url-status=live }}</ref> offers summer retreats for young playwrights to develop their work with directors and actors.

Playwriting [[collective]]s like 13P and Orbiter 3<ref>{{Cite web |title=Orbiter 3 |url=http://www.orbiter3.org/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=Orbiter 3 |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527172907/http://www.orbiter3.org/ |url-status=usurped }}</ref> gather members together to produce, rather than develop, new works. The idea of the playwriting collective is in response to plays being stuck in the development process and never advancing to production.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-07-26 |title=13 Playwrights Is Preparing To Implode |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/13-playwrights-13p_b_1697919 |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=HuffPost |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527172913/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/13-playwrights-13p_b_1697919 |url-status=live }}</ref>