Post-show Discussions in New Play Development

Many theatres and theatre companies host post-show discussions, or talkbacks, as part of their season. Often these are done for established plays with the goal of audience cultivation; others are done as part of the new development process. While post-show discussions are fairly ubiquitous, without a clear definition of what they are, who they are for, how they are led, and how they are structured, they are floundering. Playwrights consider them a joke, theatres use them for audience cultivation on top of helping the playwright, thus muddying the focus of the discussions, and audiences are unsure as to their role in the post-show discussion because they aren't properly prepared for them. This book is a critical examination of what has and has not worked with post-show discussions utilized in new play development. Fisher provides a framework for understanding these discussions, steps for building the foundation of them, and strategies for structuring them in a variety of ways.

Teresa A. Fisher is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at Bronx Community College, CUNY, USA.