WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, CLYDE'S & More Top List of Most-Produced Plays of the Season

American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group, has released Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights for the new season. Based on the 2023-24 season programming submitted by TCG’s Member Theatres (current membership stands at 558), as well as on credits from Broadway productions, these lists customarily omit various stagings of A Christmas Carol and works by Shakespeare. By American Theatre’s count, Lynn Nottage is the most-produced playwright in the coming season with 22 total productions, her second year in a row in the top spot. What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck is the most-produced play, with 16 total productions. These lists appear in the fall print issue of American Theatre, online at AmericanTheatre.org, and will be announced today by the editors of American Theatre on Facebook. American Theatre has been creating these annual lists since 1994, but put them on pause during the 2021-22 season due to COVID shutdowns.

“This year’s Top 10 Most-Produced Plays show a wide range of programming on theatres’ stages, from classic musicals to Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary work like Fat Ham,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. “As we head into a pivotal election year, it's especially energizing to see Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me as the most-produced play. It’s a reminder of the pivotal role theatres continue to play in our democracy—offering shared laughter and healing, provoking conversations across differences—as together we work toward a more perfect union.”

“I was incredibly moved to learn that What the Constitution Means to Me would be TCG’s most produced play in the country this year,” said playwright Heidi Schreck. “I’m thankful to all the theaters around the country, big and small, who are bringing this very personal story to life. I have been in touch with many of the actors, directors, and artistic directors involved, and I am so impressed by their passion for the play’s ideas and also by the community and activist events they have programmed in connection with their productions. The imagination and vision of all these artists has been very inspiring to me.”

Said playwright Lynn Nottage, “I have nothing but gratitude in this moment, and remain delighted and appreciative that theatres and audiences continue to find resonance in my work. When you set out to tell a story, you never know whether it will find its way in the world and become something more than mere text on the page. It always seems miraculous when it ultimately does.”

American Theatre’s Top 10 Most-Produced Plays (12 due to ties)

What the Constitution Means to Me, by Heidi Schreck (16 productions)
Clyde’s, by Lynn Nottage (14 productions)
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, by Selina Fillinger (12 productions)
The Lehman Trilogy, by Stefano Massini (12 productions)
Dial M for Murder, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from Frederick Knott (9 productions)
Fat Ham, by James Ijames (9 productions)
The Thanksgiving Play, by Larissa FastHorse (8 productions)
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, by Douglas McGrath (8 productions)
Sanctuary City, by Martyna Majok (8 productions)
Cabaret, by Joe Masteroff (7 productions)
Every Brilliant Thing, by Duncan MacMillan and Jonny Donahoe (7 productions)
The Rocky Horror Show, by Richard O'Brien (7 productions)

American Theatre’s Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights (24 due to ties)

Lynn Nottage (22)
Ken Ludwig (17, 1 co-credit)
Heidi Schreck (16)
August Wilson (15)
Selina Fillinger (13)
Kate Hamill (13)
Jeffrey Hatcher (13)
Lauren Gunderson (12, 5 co-credits)
Martyna Majok (12)
Stefano Massini (12)
Howard Ashman (10)
Larissa FastHorse (10)
James Ijames (10)
Bob Martin (10)
Harvey Fierstein (9)
Joe Masteroff (9)
Dominique Morisseau (9)
Douglas McGrath (8)
Thomas Meehan (8)
Karen Zacarias (8, 2 co-credits)

For more information about the American Theatre Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights lists, visit: http://www.americantheatre.org.

American Theatre magazine is published daily online and quarterly in print by Theatre Communications Group. As the nation’s essential magazine for professional not-for-profit theatre, American Theatre has been providing theatre professionals, students, advocates, and audiences a comprehensive journal for almost 40 years. Quarterly print editions are published every October, January, April, and July, and include play scripts as well as special issues like the Season Preview and Training edition. American Theatre is available online, at selected newsstands nationwide or through an Individual Membership in TCG by visiting https://www.americantheatre.org/join/ or contacting info@tcg.org. http://www.americantheatre.org.

Theatre Communications Group

(TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 Individual Members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the annual TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre” can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. TCG is led by executive director and CEO Teresa Eyring. www.tcg.org.