Playwrights Welcome is a program created to support and inspire playwrights, composers, lyricists and librettists. The goal is simple: to provide free access to theatre for theatre writers around the country. Developed for the Dramatists Guild of America members, Playwrights Welcome is a national ticketing initiative created by Samuel French, a Concord Theatricals company, along with input from other publishing and licensing houses.
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 theatre should give away a ticket that could otherwise be sold.
By offering free tickets to dramatists, we believe that theatres and arts organizations are able to increase their reach by offering plays to artists who may not be able to see them otherwise. Fuller houses, fuller communities, fuller artistic lives.
How it Works: Theatres
Theatres 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 theatre. 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 Theatres. New theatres 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 theatres, call ahead to their box office and ask about their Playwrights Welcome ticketing processes. Some ticketing procedures for theatres marked with asterisks (*) vary; more information can be found on the links below or please contact the box office directly and ahead of time. 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 theatre. (Click here to learn more about becoming a Dramatists Guild member.) Then, enjoy the show!
Playwrights Welcome Ambassadors
Playwrights Welcome Ambassadors include some the theatre industry's most celebrated artists and professionals who are in support and endorse the program. Ambassadors include playwrights Kia Corthron (A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick), Lydia Diamond (Stick Fly), 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), Sarah Ruhl (Stage Kiss), Robert Schenkkan (All the Way), Madhuri Shekar (In Love and Warcraft), Doug Wright (Hands on a Hardbody, I Am My Own Wife) and Lauren Yee (Hatmaker's Wife), Lauren Gunderson (Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley), Chisa Hutchinson (Somebody’s Daughter), Deborah Zoe Laufer (Be Here Now), David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), Harrison David Rivers (This Bitter Earth), E.M. Lewis (The Gun Show), Isaac Gómez (La Ruta), Karen Zacarías (Native Gardens), and Dennis A. Allen II (When We Wake Up Dead); composers Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime), Andrew Lippa (Wild Party), Georgia Stitt (Big Red Sun), Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home), and Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk (The Mad Ones); and industry leaders Ken Davenport (Davenport Theatricals), Daryl Roth (Daryl Roth Productions), Tim Shields (Managing Director, McCarter Theatre), and Jim Steinberg (Steinberg Foundation), Nan Barnett (National New Play Network), Maria Manuela Goyanes (Artistic Director, Woolly Mammoth Theatre).
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 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 theatre as a participant in Playwrights Welcome, please visit this form. If you have any questions or need further information, please email Ella Andrew.
Participating Theaters
Alabama
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Alaska
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Arizona
Arizona Theatre Matters (Glendale)
Emerson Theater Collaborative (Sedona)
Arkansas
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
California
Boston Court Pasadena (Pasadena)
East West Players (Los Angeles)
Geffen Playhouse (Los Angeles)
La Jolla Playhouse (La Jolla)*
La Mirada Theatre (La Mirada)
Lucky Penny Productions (Napa)*
Placer Repertory Theater (Placer County)
Pear Theatre (Mountain View)
San Francisco Playhouse (San Francisco)
She LA Arts (Los Angeles)
South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa)
Town Hall Theatre Company (Lafayette)*
*Ticketing procedures for these theatres vary; more information can be found on the links above or please contact the box office directly and ahead of time.
Colorado
The Spark (Boulder)
Connecticut
Phoenix Stage Company (Oakville)
TheaterWorks Hartford (Hartford)
Westport Country Playhouse (Westport)
Yale Repertory Theatre (New Haven)
Florida
LakehouseRanchDotPNG (Miami)
Melon Patch Theatre (Leesburg)
Manatee Performing Arts Center (Bradenton)
Orlando Repertory Theatre (Orlando)
Palm Beach Dramaworks (West Palm Beach)
Renaissance Theatre Company (Orlando)
Theatre Lab (Boca Raton)
The Winter Park Playhouse (Winter Park)
Georgia
Alliance Theatre (Atlanta)
Synchronicity Theatre (Atlanta)
Hawaii
Palikū Theatre (Kaneohe)
Kumu Kahua Theatre (Honolulu)
Idaho
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Illinois
American Blues Theater (Chicago)
Drunk Shakespeare (Chicago)
Firebrand Theatre (Chicago)
Goodman Theatre (Chicago)
Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (Chicago)
Victory Gardens Theater (Chicago)
Indiana
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Iowa
Iowa Stage Theatre Company (Des Moines)
Kansas
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Kentucky
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Louisiana
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Maine
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Maryland
Iron Crow Theatre (Baltimore)
Massachusetts
Barrington Stage Company (Pittsfield)*
Boston Playwrights' Theatre (Boston)
Lyric Stage Company of Boston (Boston)
Martha's Vineyard Playhouse (Vineyard Haven)
*Ticketing procedures for these theatres vary; more information can be found on the links above or please contact the box office directly and ahead of time.
Michigan
Flint Repertory Theatre (Flint)
Minnesota
DalekoArts (New Prague)
Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis)
Theatre Elision (Minneapolis)
Mississippi
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Missouri
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (St. Louis)
Montana
Verge Theater (Bozeman)
Nebraska
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Nevada
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
New Hampshire
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
New Jersey
Art House Productions (Jersey City)
McCarter Theatre (Princeton)
Mile Square Theatre (Hoboken)
New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch)
Premiere Stages at Kean University (Union)
The Theater Project (Union)
Two River Theater Company (Red Bank)
Vivid Stage (Summit)
New Mexico
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
New York
54 Below (New York)
59E59 Theaters (New York)
Atlantic Theater Company (New York)*
Axis Theater Company (New York)
Chautauqua Theater Company (Mayville)
Classic Stage Company (New York)
Irish Repertory Theatre (New York)
Lake Shore Center for the Arts (Westfield)
MCC Theater (New York)
Playwrights Horizons (New York)
Queens Theatre (Flushing Meadows Corona)*
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (New York)
Road Less Traveled Productions (Buffalo)
Roundabout Theatre Company (New York)*
The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (New York)
Syracuse Stage (Syracuse)
Theatre East (New York)
The York Theatre Company (New York)
*Ticketing procedures for these theatres vary; more information can be found on the links above or please contact the box office directly and ahead of time.
North Carolina
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
North Dakota
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Ohio
Playwrights Local (Cleveland)
Oklahoma
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Oregon
Corrib Theatre (Portland)
Linfield Theatre at Linfield University(McMinnville)
Portland Center Stage (Portland)
Red Octopus Theatre Co. (Newport)
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh Public Theater (Pittsburgh)
Hershey Area Playhouse (Hershey)
Rhode Island
The Wilbury Theatre Group (Providence)
South Carolina
Centre Stage (Greenville)
South Dakota
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Tennessee
The Center for the Arts (Murfreesboro)
Nashville Repertory Theatre (Nashville)
Playhouse on the Square (Memphis)
Tennessee Playwrights Studio (Nashville)
Texas
Bishop Arts Theatre Center (Dallas)
Circle Theatre (Fort Worth)
Dallas Theater Center (Dallas)
Rover Dramawerks (Plano)
Stage West (Fort Worth)
The Broadway Tent / His Story the Musical (Dallas/The Colony)
Utah
Wasatch Theatre Company (Salt Lake City)
Vermont
Dorset Theatre Festival (Dorset)
Virginia
American Shakespeare Center (Staunton)
Firehouse Theatre (Richmond)
Live Arts, Inc. (Winchester)
Selah Theatre Project (Front Royal)
Washington
Burien Actors Theatre (Burien)
Intiman Theatre (Seattle)
Village Theatre (Issaquah)
Washington, D.C.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
West Virginia
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.
Wisconsin
Forward Theater Company (Madison)
Renaissance Theaterworks (Milwaukee)
Wyoming
There are currently no theatres in this state that are participating in Playwrights Welcome. If your theatre would like to sign up, please click here and fill out the form.