2008-2009 Season: (Possibly) the weakest for new plays?

As of now, there is one new play (To Be Or Not To Be) scheduled for a Broadway run this season.

Given the recession, and the five recent productions postponed/cancelled, is it safe to assume that the 2008-2009 season might might be one of the weakest ever for new plays?

(considering The American Plan and Dividing the Estate, I have a feeling they'll be classified as Revivals)

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I wouldn't say weakest because we don't know what is coming in the spring, but I would agree that it is one of the sparsest thus far for new plays.

"Given the recession, and the five recent productions postponed/cancelled..."

Nice Work, Brigadoon, Colored Girls, Godspell...what am I missing?

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Thanks Smaxie!

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But this thread is about new plays. There are plenty of play revivals this season: Equus, All My Sons, The Seagull, A Man for All Seasons, Hedda Gabler, American Buffalo, Speed-the-Plow, Mary Stuart, Fences, Accent on Youth etc.

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Updated On: 8/16/08 at 12:24 PM

Well, i think this past season was so successful for new plays that it only makes sense. 39 Steps and August are still running, which is an accomplishment. Usually the plays that win are from the non-profits, so I think that says something. Last year, I thought, was a bad year for musicals, so maybe it's just making a switch.

You know- I was thinking about that. It really is going to be a weak season for new plays.

And two new plays that were rumored for Broadway mountings- 50 Words and Farragut North- went off-Broadway after the big stars involved (Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal, respectively) dropped out.

But we have a profusion of new musicals, so I guess that's where the slack is being picked up.

And also- I can't imagine that DIVIDING THE ESTATE will be classified as a new play. I haven't seen it, but it seems to me that revisions to an existing script would not classify it as new. Musical revivals routinely add new material-and they are never called new musicals. I think they were peddling it as a new play because Horton Foote wanted a Pulitzer.

Horton Foote withdrew the play from consideration after the Lortel awards classified it as a revival. I'm sure he'll fight to have the show considered as a new play for the Tonys as well. If there is a dearth of new plays come time for the nominations in May, I doubt the committee is going to argue.