Established 1921 (1921-MM) | Key people Doug Wright, president | |
Type Professional organization Headquarters 1501 Broadway
New York City Subsidiaries Dramatists Play Service Website www.dramatistsguild.com | ||
The Dramatists Guild of America is a professional organization for playwrights, composers, and lyricists working in the U.S. theatre market.
Membership as an Associate Member is open to any person having written at least one stage play. Active Members are playwrights who have had at least one play produced in a Broadway, Off-Broadway, or LORT theatre. Student membership is also available for those enrolled in dramatic writing courses.
The Dramatists Guild works to negotiate better contracts for playwrights in professional markets and offers recommendations for contracts in other markets. The Business Affairs division assists playwrights by reviewing contracts for productions and maintains a set of contracts for Guild members to use when licensing their work.
The Dramatist is a bimonthly journal produced by the Dramatists Guild, which includes articles, interviews, and other information pertinent to playwrights.
History
The organization had its beginnings in 1912, when the Authors' League of America (ALA) was formed by some 350 book and magazine authors, as well as dramatists. In 1921, this group split into two branches of the League: the Dramatists Guild for writers of radio and stage drama and the Authors Guild for novelists and nonfiction book/magazine authors.