Playwrights Welcome

Providing free access to theatre for playwrights, composers, and lyricists around the country.

Playwrights Welcome is a program created to support and inspire playwrights, composers, and lyricists writers. The goal is simple: to provide free access to theatre for playwrights, composers and lyricists around the country.

Developed for the Dramatists Guild of America members, Playwrights Welcome is a national ticketing initiative created by Samuel French along with Dramatists Play Service, Dramatic Publishing, Music Theatre International, Playscripts and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Playwrights Welcome is designed to offer available tickets to professional playwrights on the day of a performance, free of charge. These available tickets are ones that would otherwise go unsold; we firmly believe that no theater should give away a ticket that could otherwise be sold.

How it Works: Theaters

Theaters will find next steps and the Playwrights Welcome registration form by visiting this sign-up page. Once registered, our Program Manager will be in touch to supply a welcome packet, complete with language to use in marketing and promotion, a logo pack, and a window cling to display in your box office window.

Eligible playwrights will call or visit your box office for day-of tickets - or through a reservation system designed by your theater. Every box office works differently, and we know that you may not be able to offer day-of tickets, so managing reservations for this program is at your discretion. Our only requirement is that playwrights present their Dramatists Guild card to claim their ticket.

How it Works: Playwrights

Below, you'll find the list of Playwrights Welcome Participating Theaters. New theaters are being added on a regular basis, so be sure to check back every so often.

If you're interested in seeing a show at one of the below theaters, call ahead to their box office and ask about their Playwrights Welcome ticketing processes. Further theater specific information is also listed in the asterisks below. If Playwrights Welcome tickets are available, you will need to present your Dramatists Guild membership card as well as your ID when you arrive at the theater. (Click here to learn more about becoming a Dramatists Guild member.) Then, enjoy the show!

The Playwrights Welcome Council

The Playwrights Welcome Council includes a list of some the theatre industry's most celebrated artists and professionals who are in support and endorse the program. Council Members include playwrights Kia Corthron (A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick), Lydia Diamond (Stick Fly), Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity), Colman Domingo (Dot), Rebecca Gilman (Boy Gets Girl), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria), Christine Toy Johnson (The Secret Wisdom of Trees), Aditi Kapil (Love Person), Lisa Kron (Fun Home), Mike Lew (Bike America), David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), Dominique Morisseau (Detroit '67), Qui Nguyen (Vietgone), Sarah Ruhl (Stage Kiss), Robert Schenkkan (All the Way), Madhuri Shekar (In Love and Warcraft), Octavio Solis (El Paso Blues), Doug Wright (Hands on a Hardbody, I Am My Own Wife) and Lauren Yee (Hatmaker's Wife); composers Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime), Andrew Lippa (Wild Party), Georgia Stitt (Big Red Sun), Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home); and industry leaders Ken Davenport (Davenport Theatricals), Todd Haimes (Artistic Director, Roundabout Theatre), Todd London (Author, Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play), Emily Mann (Artistic Director & Resident Playwright, McCarter Theatre), Daryl Roth (Daryl Roth Productions), Tom Schumacher (Disney Theatricals), Tim Shields (Managing Director, McCarter Theatre), and Jim Steinberg (Steinberg Foundation).

Press

Free Tickets for Playwrights Who Can't Afford the Theater (New York Times)
Dramatists Guild Launches Playwrights Welcome Program (Playbill)
Playwrights Welcome: A New National Program Providing Free Access to Theatre for Playwrights, Composers & Lyricists (Breaking Character Magazine)
How Playwrights Can Get Free Theatre Tickets (American Theatre)
How to Get Cheap Tickets to Broadway Shows (Even 'Hamilton') (New York Times)
100 Theaters Join Playwrights Welcome (Breaking Character)
100 Theatres Sign-on for Free Ticketing Initiative
Playwrights Welcome Reaches 100 Theaters (Broadway News)
100 Theaters Join Playwrights in Nationwide Ticketing Initiative (Broadway World)
Atlanta-Grown Playwrights Welcome (Here) (Breaking Character Magazine)

Contact Information

To enroll your theater as a participant in Playwrights Welcome, please visit this form. If you have any questions or need further information, please email Jeremiah Hernandez or Theresa Posorske.

Participating Theaters

Alabama

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Alaska

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Arizona

Arizona Theatre Matters (Glendale)
Brelby Theatre Company (Glendale)

Arkansas

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

California

California Shakespeare Theater (Orinda)
Capital Stage Company (Sacramento)
FreeFall Stage (Folsom)
Geffen Playhouse (Los Angeles)
La Jolla Playhouse (La Jolla)*
La Mirada Theatre (La Mirada)
Lucky Penny Productions (Napa)**
Magic Theatre (San Francisco)
Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley)
Old Globe (San Diego)
Pasadena Playhouse (Pasadena)***
San Francisco Playhouse (San Francisco)
She LA Arts (Los Angeles)
Town Hall Theatre Company (Lafayette)****

*To make a ticket reservation at La Jolla, please submit a request via the linked form.
**To make a ticket reservation at Lucky Penny Productions, please email Barry Martin at [email protected] by calling the box office at 707-266-6305.
***To reserve tickets, please contact Patron Services by phone 626-356-7529 or email [email protected] on the day of the performance starting at 12:00PM. Please note, a Dramatists Guild card is required at the box office at the time of pick up, and tickets are limited to two per member, subject to availability. Seating location is at the discretion of the box office.
****Eligible Playwrights may email the Town Hall box office to request their ticket(s) at [email protected] to two tickets per Playwright; Playwrights present Dramatists Guild card to claim their ticket(s). Subject to availability.

Idaho

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Illinois

American Blues Theater (Chicago)
Drunk Shakespeare Chicago (Chicago)
Goodman Theatre (Chicago)
Paramount Theatre (Aurora)
Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (Chicago)
Rockford University Performing Arts (Rockford)
Victory Gardens Theater (Chicago)

Indiana

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Iowa

Theatre Cedar Rapids (Cedar Rapids)

Kansas

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Kentucky

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Louisiana

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Maine

Cold Comfort Theater (Belfast)

Maryland

Baltimore Center Stage (Baltimore)
Center Stage (Baltimore)
Community College of Baltimore County (Baltimore)
Iron Crow Theatre (Baltimore)
Round House Theatre (Bethesda)
Spotlighters Theatre (Baltimore)

Massachusetts

Barrington Stage Company (Pittsfield)*
Boston Playwrights' Theatre (Boston)
Huntington Theatre Company (Boston)
Martha's Vineyard Playhouse (Vineyard Haven)

*Tickets are available in advance in person or by calling the box office; an additional ticket for a non-Dramatists Guild member may be purchased at a discount.

Michigan

Detroit Mercy Theatre Company (Detroit)
Flint Repertory Theatre (Flint)
JET (West Bloomfield)

Minnesota

DalekoArts (New Prague)
Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis)
Theater Latte Da (Minneapolis)
Theatre Elision (Minneapolis)

Mississippi

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Missouri

Coterie Theatre (Kansas City)

Montana

Verge Theater (Bozeman)

Nebraska

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Nevada

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire Theatre Project (Portsmouth)

New Jersey

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre (Summit)
Hudson Theatre Works (Weehawken)
McCarter Theatre (Princeton)
Mile Square Theatre (Hoboken)
New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch)
Passage Theatre (Trenton)
Premiere Stages at Kean University (Union)
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (Madison)
The Theater Project (Union)
Two River Theater Company (Red Bank)

New Mexico

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

New York

59E59 Theaters (New York)
American Renaissance Theater Company (New York)
American Repertory Theater of WNY (Buffalo)
Atlantic Theater Company (New York)*
Axis Theater Company (New York)
Chautauqua Theater Company (Mayville)
Cherry Lane Theatre (New York)
Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Cold Spring)
Irish Repertory Theatre (New York)
MCC Theater (New York)
Paul Robeson Theatre at the African American Cultural Center (Buffalo)
Queens Theatre (Flushing Meadows Corona)**
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (New York)
Road Less Traveled Productions (Buffalo)
Roundabout Theatre Company (New York)***
Shadowland Stages (Ellenville)
Syracuse Stage (Syracuse)
The Players Theatre (New York)****
Theatre East (New York)
Urban Stages (New York)
Vineyard Theatre (New York)

*Playwrights Welcome tickets only available for preview performances.
**Up to two tickets may be reserved day-of; please click on link for more information.
***Please click on link for specific Playwrights Welcome ticket offers.
****Please email [email protected] to be added to the industry comp mailing list.

North Carolina

Cape Fear Regional Theatre (Fayetteville)
The Drama Center (Greensboro)
Stephen D Hyers Theater Studio Theatre (Greensboro)
StreetSigns (Pittsboro)
Sonorous Road Theatre (Raleigh)
Triad Stage (Greensboro)

North Dakota

Youth Education on Stage (Williston)

Ohio

Cleveland Public Theatre (Cleveland)
Playwrights Local (Cleveland)

Oklahoma

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Oregon

Artists Repertory Theatre (Portland)
Barnstormers (Grants Pass)
CoHo Productions (Portland)
Corrib Theatre (Portland)
Marshall Theatre in Ford Hall at Linfield College (McMinnville)
Portland Center Stage (Portland)
Red Octopus Theatre Co. (Newport)

Pennsylvania

The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium (Philadelphia)

Rhode Island

The Wilbury Theatre Group (Providence)

South Carolina

Atlantic Stage (Myrtle Beach)

South Dakota

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Tennessee

Center for the Arts (Murfreesboro)
The Circuit Playhouse (Memphis)
Nashville Repertory Theatre (Nashville)
[email protected] (Memphis)
Playhouse on the Square (Memphis)
Tennessee Playwrights Studio (Nashville)

Texas

Alley Theatre (Houston)
Amphibian Stage Productions (Fort Worth)
Bishop Arts Theatre Center (Dallas)
Camp Death Productions (Dallas)
Circle Theatre (Fort Worth)
Dallas Theater Center (Dallas)
North Texas Performing Arts - Plano Children's Theatre (Plano)
Ritz Community Theatre (Snyder)
Rover Dramawerks (Plano)
Stage West (Fort Worth)
Theatre Three (Dallas)
Theatre Under the Stars (Houston)

Utah

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.

Vermont

Dorset Theatre Festival (Dorset)

Virginia

American Shakespeare Center (Staunton)
MetroStage (Alexandria)*
Selah Theatre Project (Front Royal)
Signature Theatre (Arlington)

*Email [email protected] or call the box office at 703-548-9044 to reserve up to 2 tickets; must present Dramatists Guild card.

Washington

Burien Actors Theatre (Burien)
Intiman Theatre (Seattle)
Seattle Repertory Theatre (Seattle)
Village Theatre (Issaquah)

Washington D.C.

Ford's Theatre
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Spooky Action Theater
The Welders

West Virginia

The Indie on Main (Keyser)

Wisconsin

Forward Theater Company (Madison)
Renaissance Theaterworks (Milwaukee)

Wyoming

There are currently no theaters in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theater would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.