Playwright's Bio [Résumé]

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > BUSINESS > SUBMISSION > RESUME

'[I chose the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theatre because] I wanted an axis in New York that would do my plays without picking and choosing the ones that might make money and might not. The experience of having a play produced in New York is still unequaled.'

-- Tom Stoppard

Your Résumé or Bio is only a brief summary of what's noteworthy about you as a writer. 1-page maximum. Half a page is probably better. It's a subtle way of saying to a Literary Manager that your play's worth the time to read. The more you write, odds are the more you'll have to put in your Résumé. As your playwriting career builds, so does this piece of paper.

When you're just starting in this business, you probably won't have anything appropriate for a playwright's Bio. But don't look down on any recognition you've gotten in other areas of performance or writing. Use this in the meantime until your plays begin to gain notice.

These things could be . . .

Awards for any kind of writing or performance.
Poetry published or presented in public readings.
Short stories & novels published in magazines or books.
Non-fiction articles published in newspapers or magazines.
Film, television, or radio scripts optioned or produced.
Any other kind of writing selected for anything that suggests you're good at this.

Forget about What Color is My Parachute and similar how-to-get-a-real-job books. Playwrights usually do their Bios as a short 3rd-person narrative, similar to the things you see in a theatre's program . . .

Résumé Example

Be brief. Be clear. Be honest. It never pays to fake a Résumé. The theatre is a very small world. And remember that placing in the Semifinals of a new play Competition is worth a lot in the early stages of building your Bio.

If you've only got one or two things to put in a Bio, don't try to stretch this into a paragraph. Drop the whole idea and use your Letter for whatever you have. Literary Managers know that interesting new playwrights won't necessarily have a Résumé yet.

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