First Day of August
Dear Playwrights,
It’s August 1st and, for a lot of us, that means it’s time to start generating 31 plays—by any means necessary!
We launched this project seven years ago on a whim to support Rachel’s goal of creating 31 plays in the 31 days of August. We suspected there were other ambitious writers out there and we were delighted to embark on this project with hundreds of writers from around the world.
Although we were early writers and this was a completely volunteer project, we had big ideas about how to encourage and support writers to at least complete a play from beginning to end. We wrote a LOT of scripts during this process and made a lot of friends.
In Year One, we recorded 29 out of 31 plays selected from writer submissions for a podcast and we attempted to publish a book featuring all 31 plays.
As time went on, our team grew to include the incredible Topher Cusumano and Erika Wade who conducted playwright interviews, wrote prompts and blogs, and also kept the project going when Rachel and Tracy needed to focus their attention elsewhere.
Due to the challenges of maintaining our writing careers and personal lives while running a really cool international playwriting project, we are writing to announce that we are formally retiring the 31 Plays in 31 Days Project.
This project has been a special part of our journey as writers and we are grateful to you for your support and participation. We hope that you continue to find ways to generate new work and to support other writers on their journeys.
We encourage you to post your work to the New Play Exchange and to download and read plays from artists you don’t know. And please continue to share your writing adventures on social media! If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that the need for stories and community is essential.
Best wishes,
Rachel, Tracy, and Topher
