We’ve done a lot of fun things on this blog over the years, but the Broadway Producer Pick List is one of our favorites.

See, every year, our office receives a ton of scripts from all sorts of folks . . .  agents, friends, investors, TheaterMakers, not to mention the cold submissions we get.

We work very hard to go through them all.  It takes us a while, as you can imagine, but we do get to everything eventually (please have patience, my friends!).  And while the process is a bit like panning for gold, we do get a lot of good, solid nuggets.

The problem is?  I can’t produce everything . . . even if I wanted to!  And I’m also . . . this may be hard for some playwrights to understand, I’m actually not the best Producer for some shows.

That doesn’t mean just because we “pass” on something that it isn’t good.  It means it just isn’t for us . . . right now.

But it might be right for someone else . . . a Producer, a Regional Theater, an agent, etc.

That’s why a few years ago we started the Producer Pick List to highlight the 10 Best Plays or Musicals we read in the previous year that we are not going to pick up, for one reason or another (and quality ain’t got nothing to do with it – to read more about how we choose the shows on this list, check out my blog post from 2016.)

By listing these shows here, our hope is that they will find the home they deserve, and the writer will get the attention he/she/they deserve.

The official list for 2019 is below, along with links to the material from each show, all for your reading/listening and, hopefully, producing pleasure.

And hey – even if you can’t produce one of these shows – drop the writer a line and say that you like their stuff and to keep you in mind for the future. It’s my belief that whether or not these shows “make it,” the writers certainly will.  Besides, telling someone you like what they’re doing is just great karma and might help someone keep making theater.

Congratulations to everyone on the list and here’s to productions for all of them in 2020!

The Producer Pick List of 2019

1. Parallel Lines by Clé
2. Fable by Doug Devita
3. Emergency by Jacob and Jeff Foy
4. The Bloody Deed of 1857 by Elise Gainer
5. Hello Kitty Must Die by Gail Rastorfer and Kurt Johns
6. Between Panic and Desire by Bear Kosik
7. Meet Your Mountain by Rockwell and Rose
8. Allan Carr: Can’t Stop The Stories by Michael Shayne
9. Rewind by Michael DiGaetano and Adam Shenk
10. When the Silence Sings by Rene Zabel

And to see who’s made the list in the past, click here for 2016 and 2018.