Lynn Nottage's CLYDE'S Tops List of Most-Produced Play of the Season

American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), has released Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights for the new season. Based on the 2022-23 season programming submitted by TCG's Member Theatres (current membership stands at 551), as well as on credits from Broadway productions, these lists customarily omit various stagings of The Christmas Carol and works by Shakespeare. By American Theatre's count Lynn Nottage and Lauren Gunderson are tied for most-produced playwright in the coming season, each with 24 total productions, and Nottage's play Clyde's will be the most-produced play, with 11 productions. These lists appear online at AmericanTheatre.org, and were announced today by the editors of American Theatre on Facebook.

This year's 13 most-produced plays include six works by playwrights of color, while the 22 most-produced playwrights list includes nine playwrights of color, the most racially diverse it's ever been. American Theatre has been creating these annual lists since 1994, but put them on pause after the 2019-20 season due to COVID shutdowns.

"The return of these lists to American Theatre is a testament to the resilience and leadership of theatres and theatre workers," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "While our field is still dealing with the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, these plays and playwrights give us hope and remind us why a truly just and thriving theatre ecology is worth fighting for."

Lynn Nottage, author of Clyde's, which tops the Most-Produced Plays list, said, "That is amazing news, and I feel blessed to still be in the position, after so many years, to be connecting with audiences."

American Theatre's Top 10 Most-Produced Plays (14 due to ties)

• Clyde's, by Lynn Nottage (11 productions)
• Chicken & Biscuits, by Douglas Lyons (8 productions)
• Clue, adapted by Sandy Rustin from the film by Jonathan Lynn (7 productions)
• Once, by Enda Walsh, Glen Hansard, and Markéta Irglová (7 productions)
• Sweat, by Lynn Nottage (7 productions)
• The Chinese Lady, by Lloyd Suh (6 productions)
• Fairview, by Jackie Sibblies Drury (6 productions)
• Into the Woods, by Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine (6 productions)
• The Lifespan of a Fact, by Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell & Gordon Farrell (6 productions)
• Little Shop of Horrors, by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (6 productions)
• Native Gardens, by Karen Zacarias (6 productions)
• The Play That Goes Wrong, by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields (6 productions)
• Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling (6 productions)
• Trouble in Mind, by Alice Childress (6 productions)

"The Top 10 Most-Produced Plays list shows a mix of bold, challenging new works and outright escapist fun, as well as a heartening if belated entry into the canon with Alice Childress's Trouble in Mind," said Rob Weinert-Kendt, editor-in-chief, American Theatre. "Much like Clyde's, the sneakily serious comedy by Lynn Nottage that will be the most-produced play of the coming season at TCG Member Theatres, Trouble in Mind is a full-service entertainment that's also a trenchant satire. The Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights list follows the trend of our last few lists, with a striking diversity of voices and a strong preponderance of currently working playwrights, Finally, though we don't publish a full list of most-produced composers, if we did, the late Stephen Sondheim would be at the top, with no fewer than 19 productions of his work at our Member Theatres and on Broadway in the coming season."

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

• Lynn Nottage (24)
• Lauren Gunderson (24, 9 of them co-writes)
• Matthew López (16)
• August Wilson (14)
• Dominique Morisseau (11)
• Ken Ludwig (10, 4 of them adaptations)
• Lucas Hnath (9, with 1 co-write)
• Jonathan Larson (9)
• Karen Zacarías (9)
• Kate Hamill (8)
• James Lapine (8)
• Henry Lewis, Henry Shields & Jonathan Sayer (8)
• Douglas Lyons (8)
• Lloyd Suh (8)
• Enda Walsh (8)
• Alice Childress (7)
• Jackie Sibblies Drury (7)
• Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (7)
• Duncan Macmillan (7, with 5 co-writes)
• Sandy Rustin (7, adaptation)
• Lauren Yee (7)

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

As the nation's essential magazine for professional not-for-profit theatre, American Theatre magazine has been providing theatre professionals, students, advocates, and audiences a comprehensive journal for more than 35 years. American Theatre is available online and is supported by Individual Membership in TCG by visiting http://www.tcg.org/about/membership/individual.cfm or contacting info@tcg.org. Unlimited exclusive content on AmericanTheatre.org is only available through TCG membership. 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 19 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.