The Play Development Process
'There's a very, very good reason for [the play development process]: It is to de-ball the plays; to castrate them; to smooth down all the rough edges so they can't cut, can't hurt. It's to make them commercially tolerable to a smug audience. It's not to make plays any better. Most playwrights who write a good play write it from the beginning.'
-- Edward Albee
Well . . . That's the down-side from a playwright who's not always been treated kindly by American critics or theatres. But when you're just starting in this business, the Play Development Process run by many rep companies and organizations for playwrights gives you something essential: the chance to hear professional performers say the dialogue you've put on paper. And to hear it in front of an audience.
What you gain from that simple act is worth all the grief you may suffer as you pull your play apart -- at the urging of Literary Managers, performers, Directors, and even the audience -- and stuff it back together in revisions.
The usual steps of the Play Development Process . . .
- Reading
Just that. The Actors sit on chairs in a rehearsal room or on stage facing the audience and read your script, sometimes with no rehearsals. A Stage Manager or another performer reads the descriptions from your Character Page and Setting Page, and then the essential stage directions during the presentation.
- Staged Reading
The Performers have several rehearsals with a Director who establishes entrances, exits, and other movement as well as basic character interpretation. You may have a chance to revise dialogue during the rehearsal process. It's not unusual for a plain old Reading to be called a Staged Reading if the performers have at least one rehearsal and even if they never leave their chairs.
- Workshop Production
This is a production following 2 or 3 weeks of rehearsal, using effective but minimal costumes, lighting, setting, and sound. Some theatres may give you a small royalty at this stage. It's the real thing, but in a small theatre usually seating less than 100. The actors have their lines down cold and there's not a script in sight.
Readings and workshops give you that first chance to test your play with an audience. And what's important here is learning the clues to . . .
And then there's the ultimate . . .
- Mainstage Production
This is the Real real thing. And with a little luck, the next stage is a commercial production in New York, a national road tour across the country, and a Film deal. Don't hold your breath. Now's the time to be well into your next play.
In the meantime, when the Development bells start ringing for you, be prepared . . .
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THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS: THE FULL-LENGTH PLAY
Copyright © 1995-2007 by Richard Toscan [rtoscan@vcu.edu]
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/playwriting/
Here's the best source on the development business. Read it before you wade into this pool so at least you'll know how the process ought to work. Knowing how it should work is your best defense against the pitfalls. 
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