A Doll’s House, Part 2 Tops American Theatre’s Most-Produced Plays List 

Larissa FastHorse First Native Playwright on Top 10 Most-Produced Plays

American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), earlier this week released its annual October Season Preview issue, which includes lists of the Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights for the new season. It’s exciting news, and there are a few firsts for the list, with the most exciting being that Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota) is the first Native American/Indigenous playwright with The Thanksgiving Play landing on the Most Produced Plays list. Lauren Gunderson (I and You, Silent Sky) was named the most-produced playwright in this upcoming season, with 33 total productions. Lauren Yee, who wrote Cambodian Rock Band and The Great Leap was second on that list. Two plays I’ve never seen, sadly. These lists appear online at AmericanTheatre.org, as well as in the October 2019 Season Preview issue of American Theatre magazine.

This year’s 14 most-produced plays excitingly includes works by 7 female playwrights and 6 male playwrights, while the 22 most-produced playwrights comprises 12 women and 10 men. There’s also 6 playwrights of color on the most-produced playwrights’ list,  tying with last year for the most racially diverse it’s ever been. That’s very good news.

“In 1994, when we first began compiling and reporting on our Member Theatres’ seasons, those lists were comprised almost entirely of cisgender white men,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. “The encouraging statistics from the past few years demonstrate the impact of our field coming together in a shared commitment to equitably reflect the diversity of our country.”

Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 tops the Most-Produced Plays list for the second consecutive year, not surprisingly, tying this year with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens.

American Theatre’s Top 10 Most-Produced Plays of 2019-20 (actually 14 due to ties):

• A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath  12
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens            12
• Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan, with Jonny Donahoe           10
• Bright Star  by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell    9
• Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau          9
• Tiny Beautiful Things by Nia Vardalos  8
• Admissions by Joshua Harmon            8
• Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee 8
• School Girls or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh  8
• The Children by Lucy Kirkwood            8
• The Great Leap by Lauren Yee             8
• The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse    8
• The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe             8
• Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express by Ken Ludwig          8

American Theatre’s Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights of 2019-20 (actually 22 due to ties):

• Lauren Gunderson 33
• Lauren Yee 18
• Lucas Hnath 17
• Tennessee Williams 17
• Dominique Morisseau 16
• Karen Zacarias 15
• Ken Ludwig 15
• August Wilson 15
• Joshua Harmon 13
• Simon Stephens 13
• Neil Simon 13
• Margot Melcon 12
• Duncan Macmillan 11
• Kate Hamill 11
• Lynn Nottage 11
• Quiara Alegria Hudes 11
• Sarah Ruhl 10
• Paula Vogel 10
• Jen Silverman 9
• Steve Martin 9
• Lucy Kirkwood 9
• Steven Dietz 9

Based on the 2019-20 seasons reported by 387 TCG’s Member Theatres, these lists customarily omit holiday-themed shows (The Santaland Diaries and A Christmas Carol) as well as works by Shakespeare. For more information about the American Theatre Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights lists, visit: http://www.americantheatre.org.