Writing by the Numbers 2022

Moonlight Abolitionists returned to Mount Auburn Cemetery in October

Artistically and production-wise, 2022 was still heavily impacted by COVID. At Plays in Place (PiP), we had two major productions canceled, which was a deep disappointment to me and our teams. One of those plays was a full-length historical piece that I'd been working on for a few years--I hope I can find another home for it. Business-wise, the loss of these two projects was a heavy blow--they would have accounted for 70% of our budget in 2022 and 2023.

I'd also been working with the Brown Box Theatre Project on my play, Mox Nox, but after multiple COVID delays, Brown Box closed at the beginning in 2022, resulting in the cancellation of a planned production and tour to Maryland, Delaware, and Massachusetts. This was a tough loss, after so many years working with a very talented group of theatre artists. 

On the other hand, I wrote a new site-specific full-length play, A Light Under the Dome, as part of PiP's Suffrage in Black & White project with the National Park Service, where we also commissioned full-length plays from Ginger Lazarus and Miranda ADEkoje. We did readings of each of the three plays in August and November, with plans for workshops in 2023 and production in 2024. PiP also picked up two additional projects: I'm writing a stand-alone piece that we'll produce at Boston's Old North Church in June 2023, and we just commissioned three writers (me, Jasmine Goodspeed, and Talya Kingston) to write a series of site-specific one-act plays for Historic Northampton, looking at three centuries of Northampton history--we'll produce these in late summer 2023. We have a few other projects also starting to come into focus.

Plays in Place has now commissioned four other playwrights to write plays (besides me), and this year we worked with more than 50 different actors, directors, stage managers, and producers on various projects.

PiP had one public show this year, as we brought Moonlight Abolitionists back to Mount Auburn Cemetery for a week in October. We upped our number of performances from 3 to 8, and they sold out very quickly. I'm hopeful we will continue to find ways to make theatre at this amazing place.

I'm extremely grateful to my co-producers Jazzmin Bonner and Jess Meyer, and all our partners, for keeping these projects moving forward. And I couldn't have done it without friends in Boston hosting me while I was in town--Ginny, Dan & Bonnie, and Michael & Charlene, and John & Lynn all helped make it possible for me to do my work.

Outside of PiP, my number of productions was way down in 2022, which is a combo of pandemic (and low submission numbers during the early pandemic) and the fact that I spend most of my time on PiP projects, both as writer and producer.

Next year could be a bit better--my full-length Drift, which had significant development from the Seven Devils New Play Foundry and the Huntington Theatre Company a few years ago, will finally have a production at the LAB Theater Project in Tampa this fall. 

As always, I share these numbers with the hope that others will do so, too, and aspiring writers (aren't we all) will get some data points about the writing life and business.

Amanda Collins as Angelina Grimke in A Light Under the Dome
at the Massachusetts Senate Chamber (photo by Sam Johnson)

My writing/life stats for 2022:  

As I mentioned, my productions were WAY down. I'm not sure how long it will take to recover back to pre-pandemic levels. Theatres are producing fewer new plays, and I've been submitting less. My production and audience numbers are only slightly above what they were in 2020 and a big dip from last year.

Performances/Audience.

Number of Productions/Readings:  18 (16 productions, 2 readings). 

These were of 12 different plays, including 1 full-length script. In 9 US states and 2 countries. Two productions were audio versions of plays on radio and streaming.

Number of Performances:  33.  This includes published plays.

Previous Years' productions and performances:

2021:  26 productions and readings, 60 performances

2020:  14 productions and readings, 21 performances

2019:  46 productions and readings, 310 performances

2018:  42 productions and readings.  259 performances.
2017:  48 total.  227 performances.

2016:  40 total. 106 performances.

2015:  49 total. 151 performances.

2014:  44 total. 123 performances.

I've begun research on a newly commissioned site-specific play for Boston's Old North Church.

Estimated Audience for 2022:  1,760 total. 

Big drop in audience numbers this year, though slightly above 2020. I'm hopeful that next year will be better, though it might be a long time until I'm back up to more than 10,000 per year.

Previous years' audiences:

2021:  3,300

2020:  1,607

2019: 12,077

2018:  11,424

2017:  13,092

2016:  6,000

2015:  11,578

2014:  13,411

(For published plays I estimate low--40 people/performance. I don't track plays used by students in competition, so the actual number is higher. )

My play North Pole Noir was in this new anthology of audio plays.

My books have all been out for a while now, so sales are always tiny. 

Books sold:  22

Previous Years'  book sales:

2021:  15

2020:  76

2019:  35
2018:  77
2017:  40+
2016:  60+
2015:  350+
2014:  78

Marketing:

Most of my marketing time is spent on securing new Plays in Place projects, but I did try to send more scripts out into the world this year. The Playwright Submission Binge remains an important support that helps make sure I take some time to market my non-PiP work.

Submissions:
Total:   105  (50% more than last year)

queries for plays:  9
play scripts submitted:  96 

Building a 7-foot high deer fence around our garden gave me a good break from my desk.

Writing output:

This year was not huge for new scripts. 

• Wrote A Quantum Carol (new 10-minute play)
• Wrote A Light Under the Dome (new full-length site-specific play)
• LOTS of research on new historical projects.

Inputs:
Plays watched:  27 (saw 29 in 2021)
Movies/TV series watched:  48  (47 in 2021)
Plays read: 12 (14 in 2021)
Books read:  29 (18 in 2021)

Writing a site-specific play for this chamber is a wonderful opportunity.

Patrick's writing $$ for 2022

Gross Income:  $22,025
published plays performance royalties:  $400
play production royalties:  $1,195   
film projects:  $0  
play commissions:  $8,850   
teaching/coaching/consulting: $3,750   
my books:  $55
Prizes/fellowships: $0     
Producer work for Plays in Place: $7,775
misc. (essays, panels, editing, other): $0

Expenses:  about $7,095 (includes mileage expenses)  

Net Income:  $14,930 (before taxes)

Past years:

2021:  Gross income:  $11,394   Expenses:  $5,866  Net:  $5,582

2020:  Gross income:  $14,162  Expenses: $5,822  Net:  $8,340

2019:  Gross income:  $19,511  Expenses:  $7,500  Net:  $11,761

2018:  Gross Income: $23,192  Expenses: $14,227  net:  $8,965

2017:  Gross Income: $31,343   Expenses:  $9,715  net:  $21,628

2016:  Gross Income:  $25,857  Expenses: $11,472  net:  $14,385

2015:  Gross income: $8,662  Expenses: $4,979  net:  $3,682

2014:  Gross income:  $7,974  Expenses $5,580  net:  $2,494

2013:  Gross income:   $7,767  Expenses:  5,758  net:  $2,029

2012:  Gross Income:  $3,844  Expenses:  $2,808  net:  $1,063

2011:  Gross Income:   $2,638   Expenses:  $4,665  net:  $-2,027

Here is some actual good news--I got paid about as much as pre-pandemic, even though productions and audiences are low. This is because I have significant projects in development with Plays in Place, where I'm writing and researching on commissions, and I'm producing a handful of projects. Almost all the teaching/coaching/consulting money is from consulting for museums via The Experience Alchemists, a collaborative of some amazing artists and thinkers. 

My prospects for 2023 look solid--I'll be working on at least three commissions and have production duties on at least that many projects, but perhaps double that.

Plays in Place Co-producer Jess Meyer, Me, director Courtney O'Connor, Co-Producer Jazzmin Bonner

Such a great team!

My time stats for 2022:

Total working time: 1,700 hours    total transit time: 167 hours

Time spent on writing stuff:  1,340 hours   

• actual writing and research:  409 hours 

• reading for work (not project research):  18 hours  

• play attendance:  44 hours 

• rehearsals/meetings/consulting/teaching:  130  hours  

• marketing and admin:  127  hours  

• Seven Devils New Play Foundry Board Work: 27 hours

• Plays in Place:  585 hours 

• Transit time for writing projects: 167 hours

Time spent on Home Renovations/Projects : 360 hours

Scouting spaces for our big National Park Service Suffage in Black & White series.

(me, Jazzmin Bonner, Miranda ADEkoje, Ginger Lazarus)

This year Plays in Place was able to commission Miranda and Ginger to write new full-length site-specific plays.

My time numbers are similar to 2021--though I spent fewer hours writing/researching and spent more on Plays in Place production work. I spent a full month away from home, in Boston, working on various PiP projects, which cuts into writing time and is expensive (food on the road eats into the budget fast). I'm still getting a balance that allows me to do renovation and carpentry work on our house and barn, which is important to me. Someday, I will have the time and money to fully finish the loft of our barn into a rehearsal/new play development space!

How I spent my time in past years:

2021:  1,698 total work hours. 1,358 writing hours (480 writing/11 reading/48 play attendance/189 rehearsing/156 marketing/27 Seven Devils/37 Dramatists Guild/9 Media Work/ 451 Plays in Place.  157 in transit.  339 hours on home renovations/real estate.

2020:  1,882 total work hours. 1,382 writing hours (580 writing/21 reading/55 play attendance/129 rehearsing/176 marketing/36 Seven Devils/106 Dramatists Guild/200 Plays in Place.  78.5 in transit.  519 hours on home renovations/real estate.

2019:  2,119 total work hours. 1,619 writing hours (394 writing/31 reading/83 play attendance/375 rehearsing/210 marketing/11 New Play Alliance/79 Dramatists Guild/437 Plays in Place.  294 hours in transit.  500 hours on home renovations/real estate.

2018:  1,905 total works hours. 1,905 writing hours (546 writing/30 reading/89 play attendance/553 rehearsing/373 marketing & admin/41 New Play Alliance/110 Dramatists Guild/164 Plays in Place).  282 hours in transit.

2017:  2,018 total work hours.  1,338 writing hours (371 writing/23 reading/468 rehearsing/347 marketing/129 New Play Alliance and Dramatists Guild)+680 hours on house renovations

2016:  2,096 total work hours. 1,223 writing hours (416 writing/28 reading/438 rehearsing/274 marketing-admin/67 New Play Alliance)+873 on house renovations.

2015: 1,596 total work hours.  1,035 writing hours (262 writing/52 reading/295 rehearsing/303 marketing-admin/123 New Play Alliance) + 561 on moving and house renovations

2014:  1,556 total work hours. 1,426 writing hours (452 writing/109 reading/342 rehearsing/396 marketing/127 New Play Alliance) + 130 hours farming.

 2013:  1,898 total work hours.  996 writing hours (394 writing/308 rehearsing/294 marketing)  + 902 hours farming

2012:  1,630 total work hours.  896 writing hours.  (386 writing/278 rehearsing and meeting/231 marketing)   + 734 hours farming

2011: 818 writing/work hours.  My kids were a lot younger back then.


Thanks for reading. I hope you all have a productive and prosperous 2022  Happy New Year!

I'm grateful for all the support from my friends and fellow artists.

It's been a busy year for me behind the scenes, doing R&D on a ton of projects, but now I've finally got something coming to live audiences soon.

Plays in Place will return to live performances next month with my play Moonlight Abolitionists at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, October 6-9. This year, we’ll have more performances—two per night, one at 6:30pm and one at 8:30pm. This concert reading is a swirling conversation between six abolitionists buried at the Cemetery, designed to be performed outdoors under the full moon. It’s a powerful experience, not to be missed.

We have a great team this year: Megan Sandberg-Zakian is directing a cast that includes Michelle Ambila, Steven Barkhimer, Amanda Collins, Kaedon Gray, Ed Hoopman, and Brooks Reeves.

Moonlight Abolitionists was listed by Bill Marx of ArtsFuse as a Favorite Stage Production of 2021. (He also wrote a feature article on the production, and WBUR aired a great story about our work.)

Tickets just went on sale last week and seating is limited so they will go fast. (Seriously. Last year they sold out in just a day.) You can get tickets here.