American Theatre Magazine Picks Most Produced Plays and Playwrights of 2019- 20 Season
By: A.A. Cristi Sep. 18, 2019
American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group, has just released its annual lists of the Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights for the 2019/2020 season.
Tied for the most produced play of the season are two former Broadway titles, Lucas Hnath's A Doll's House, Part 2 and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens.
Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's Tony-nominated bluegrass musical, Bright Star, also made the list.
Of the distinction Tony-nominee Hnath said, "I'm deeply honored that A Doll's House, Part 2 continues to be performed at theatres across the country. It's an honor I share with the many artists-actors, directors, designers, dramaturgs-with whom I made the play."
Former Off-Broadway titles on the list include Admissions by Joshua Harmon, School Girls or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh, and Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves.
Lauren Gunderson once again topped the list of the season's most produced playwrights, coming in at number one with a total of 33 professional productions.
Other notable names on the list include In the Heights scribe, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Pulitzer Prize-winners Paula Vogel and Lynn Nottage, Tony nominee Lucas Hnath, and the legendary August Wilson.
Based on the 2019-20 seasons reported by 387 TCG's Member Theatres, these lists customarily omit holiday-themed shows (The Santaland Diaries and A Christmas Carol) as well as works by Shakespeare.
This year's 14 most-produced plays include works by 7 female playwrights and 6 male playwrights, while the 22 most-produced playwrights comprises 12 women and 10 men. What's more, there are 6 playwrights of color on the most-produced playwrights' list, tying with last year for the most racially diverse it's ever been. Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota) is the first Native American/Indigenous playwright with a play on the Most Produced Plays list.
"In 1994, when we first began compiling and reporting on our Member Theatres' seasons, those lists were comprised almost entirely of cisgender white men," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "The encouraging statistics from the past few years demonstrate the impact of our field coming together in a shared commitment to equitably reflect the diversity of our country."
See the full lists below!
The Top 10* Most-Produced Plays of the 2019-20 Season
- A Doll's House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath: 12 (TIE)
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens, based on the book by Mark Haddon: 12 (TIE)
- Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe: 10
- Bright Star with music by Steve Martin (also book) and Edie Brickell (also lyrics) 9 (TIE)
- Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau: 9 (TIE)
- Tiny Beautiful Things adapted by Nia Vardalos from the book by Cheryl Strayed: 8 (TIE)
- Admissions by Joshua Harmon: 8 (TIE)
- Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee: 8 (TIE)
- The Children by Lucy Kirkwood: 8 (TIE)
- The Great Leap by Lauren Yee: 8 (TIE)
- Murder on the Orient Express adapted by Ken Ludwig from the book by Agatha Christie: 8 (TIE)
- School Girls or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh: 8 (TIE)
- The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse: 8 (TIE)
- The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe: 8 (TIE)
*Actually 14 because of ties.
The Top 20* Most-Produced Playwrights of the 2019-20 Season
- Lauren Gunderson 33
(including 12 co-writing credits) - Lauren Yee 18
- Lucas Hnath 17
- Tennessee Williams 17
- Dominique Morisseau 16
- August Wilson 15
- Karen Zacarías 15
(including 3 co-writing credits) - Ken Ludwig 15
(including 1 co-writing credit) - Joshua Harmon 13
(including 1 co-writing credit) - Neil Simon 13
- Simon Stephens 13
- Margot Melcon 12
(including 12 co-writing credits with Lauren Gunderson) - Lynn Nottage 12
(including 1 co-writing credit) - Duncan Macmillan 11
(including 10 co-writing credits) - Kate Hamill 11
- Quiara Alegría Hudes 11
(including 7 co-writing credits) - Paula Vogel 10
- Sarah Ruhl 10
- Jen Silverman 9
- Lucy Kirkwood 9
- Steve Martin 9
- Steven Dietz 9
*Actually 22 because of ties
Videos