Playwright as CEO: Why Professional Development is Your Top Job Responsibility
One of the greatest compliments I’ve ever gotten was when a veteran TV/Stage actor in Los Angeles told me, “You know, you’re the only one that came out here with a real plan and you’ve always been good about treating your writing as a business!”
I didn’t think about it then, but now it comes up more and more that my business is www.TommyCwrites.com. There’s an aspect of career sustainability for writers that I learned after my first time as a playwright in the New American Playwrights Project at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
I was traveling through Las Vegas with my play, BEHOLD—a drama about the aftermath of a school shooting. I knew the audience wouldn’t be the typical “industry” crowds from L.A. or N.Y. If this play didn’t land here, I wasn’t an American Playwright; I was a regional writer speaking only to the bubble I grew up in.
When the play was read... it landed. Thank Shakespeare! (Or whatever God hovers over the aisle seats of theaters). What I really learned was that this “road trip” into the theater of a new region was a strategic investment in the Tom Cavanaugh Playwright brand. Everything attached to that experience was a career-building milestone that would pay off down the line.
Welcome to Cape May: The National Playwrights Symposium (NPS)
I had read about this event for years from my rent-controlled apartment in Los Angeles. I was planning to retire from my COMPANION JOB (my term for a “survival job,” because as we know, being an artist in the USA in the 21st Century requires a dual-income stream). I decided to leave L.A. after 15 years because “they aren’t handing out sitcoms at the airport” (to quote Jon Favreau’s Swingers). Since I was back on the East Coast in 2018, I did my first NPS. It changed my artistic ROI (Return on Investment) forever.
1. The R&D of the Soul: Research and Development for Dramatists
In the corporate world, companies spend billions on R&D to remain relevant. For the playwright-entrepreneur, a symposium like NPS is your innovation lab.
At NPS, you aren’t writing in a vacuum. You are testing script prototypes against the ears of Pulitzer Prize-winning mentorsand professional actors. This is theatrical quality control. If you want your play to survive the competitive market of regional theater or a Broadway stage, you need to identify structural leaks before you “ship” the final draft to literary managers.
2. The Toolkit: Operational Prompts and Quick-Fire Execution
A CEO needs tools to stimulate production. The NPS provides a supply chain of writing prompts designed to stretch every literary muscle. These aren’t strict directives; they are “creative triggers” interpreted with total artistic license.
For the 2026 National Playwrights Symposium, the operational blueprint includes:
EN-TITLE-MENT (Market Branding): Scanning news sources like AP News to find “hooks” that pique audience curiosity.
Communication Situations (Theatrical Conflict): Inspired by Sanaz Toossi’s English, this prompt focuses on non-verbal communication and language barriers as dramatic obstacles.
Gender Roles & Perspective Shifting: Following Theresa Rebeck’s philosophy, writers must pivot focus, making an antagonist a sympathetic lead to ensure honest, well-rounded character development.
Minimalist Efficiency (Subtext Training): Writing rapid-fire scenes with “No Wasted Words”—training you to say more with less.
3. Networking as Supply Chain Management
People often cringe at “networking,” but in the arts, it is simply strategic partnership building. At Cape May Stage, you are meeting the actors who embody your characters and the directors who pitch your vision.
The connections made at NPS are long-term career assets. These are the “mid-level playwrights” who become your horizontal support system, sharing leads on playwriting grants, fellowships, and submission opportunities.
4. Professionalizing the “Unpaid” Hours
The “Job Responsibility” of a playwright includes attending masterclasses and theatre intensives. Treating the Symposium as a mandatory business retreat legitimizes your time.
Whether you are doing “Quick Fire” prompts in the room or bringing in a full-length script for development, you are receiving a 360-degree evaluation from:
Master Playwrights (Industry Titans)
NPS Staff (Theatrical Gatekeepers)
Peer Dramatists (Your Professional Network)
5. The Performance Review: Why You Must Go
Every CEO has a year-end review. My time at the NPS serves as mine. I leave Cape May not just with new pages, but with measurable deliverables: a sharper craft, a refreshed spirit, and a strategic plan for the next fiscal year of my creative life.
If you are serious about the business of playwriting, attending the National Playwrights Symposium isn’t a luxury—it’s an essential job requirement.
Is your “Companion Job” funding your career growth? Stop treating your writing as a hobby. Treat it as a brand. Apply for the next session at the National Playwrights Symposium and make your next “business trip” count.
Editorial by Tom Cavanaugh.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on June 10, 2026. All rights reserved.