Frequently Asked Questions


  1. If you're new, go to join page at https://www.laplaywrights.org/join.php. You'll find several membership options, including a standard annual membership, and student membership (with proof of full-time status). If you're renewing, please log in first, and then look for the renewal link under My Account.

  2. If you login to the website and go to Edit Member Page, you'll find your expiration date at the top of your listing.  Your expiration date is also printed on your membership card,and if you still have opted to receive snail mail newsletters, it's on the mailing label of the envelope containing your bimonthly newsletter.If you haven't renewed by the final month of your membership, ALAP will also send you a letter, reminding you that your membership expires at the end of that month. Should your membership expire, you will be given a short grace period, and then you will be set to inactive on the website, which automatically disables your login, hides your scripts in the catalogue, your website link and your contact info/bio, and you will cease receiving members only emails.The good news is that when you renew your membership, with a click of a button, everything becomes active again, and you will not need to re-enter your listings.

  3. Want to stop getting those annoying renewal notices and never worry about being deactivated? Join ALAP for life. The cost is only $300, and you also receive free admission to all ALAP events (e.g. the picnic, which usually costs extra). And, of course, your membership is tax-deductible. What are you waiting for?

  4. If you joined through our website (i.e. you paid with credit/debit or PayPal), your membership will process more or less instantly. However, if you mailed in your membership (i.e. you paid by check), because ALAP is an all-volunteer organization and tasks like processing memberships are handled by volunteers who also need to earn a living, it may take two to three weeks. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

  5. Follow the directions for RSVPing for that particular event. Typically, that will mean an email to events@laplaywrights.org with the event name as the subject line, your full name and the number in your party.

    Some events may require payment in advance.  Please read the announcements carefully.


  6. If you are an ALAP member, login to the website and look for the "Submit Event" link toward the top.

    This will take you to a screen (Submit a New Event) where you can enter the Event Name (play title or name of program), Event Type (Production, Reading, etc), the Author (if applicable) and the Date. If it's a one-day event, be sure to check the "This is a one-day event" box. If it's the run of a show, for example, uncheck the box.

    In the description, be sure to include all applicable details (exact address, performance dates/times, ticket info, etc.). Please place play titles in bold italics, and all other titles in regular italics. Do NOT use ALL CAPS. Please be sure to proofread your information for accuracy, spelling and grammar.

    Below that, add a Contact Email and Website (if applicable).

    When you finish, click the Submit Event button. Your event has now been sent to administration for approval. Once approved, it will appear on the website under Events & Programs>Member Events and be included in the weekly digest of events. The deadline for the digest is Sunday at 9 PM Pacific time to be mailed out later in the week (usually Thursday). Events received after this will be sent out the next week.

    Please keep in mind that events are only included in one email digest, so please plan your submission date accordingly.  And make sure you include all of the information. If you don't, people are generally too lazy to do the research on their own and simply won't come.

    If you are a playwright on a bill with other writers, we only publicize ALAP members by name. Non-members may be referred to as "and others" or something similarly clever.

    We do not announce wholly non-member productions unless they offer a discount to ALAP members that is a minimum of 10% off, or equivalent to the best discount being offered, whichever is higher. Non-members should send announcements (for example, submission calls and ALAP member discounts) with all necessary details to announce@laplaywrights.org. At this time, we recommend avoiding graphics or fancy fonts, as they don't transfer well to our email list, and no attachments. Please allow up to a week's lead time.


  7. Announcements of upcoming readings and productions that members have promoted through the website's Submit Upcoming Event area automatically make it into the NewsFlash.  For awards, publications or productions you didn't submit, send an email to  newsflash@laplaywrights.org.  The newsletter goes out approximately every other month (typically Jan, March, May, late June or early July, Sept and Nov).

  8. Unfortunately, our listings are only for readings or productions that our members have written.  Otherwise, we'd be inundated.

  9. Once you log in, look for My Account>Edit Member Profile at the top of the page. This is where you control your password, your contact information for the database, your bio and your photo. A few important things to remember:

    1. For now, you may login with either your username or your email, but at some point, the username will likely go away, and all logins will be by email. You may update any of these here.

    2. You will notice that you have two sets of contact information:

    Your Private Info is mandatory. No one sees it but the website administrators, and it links directly to ALAP's membership database. Therefore, it should NEVER be deleted. Of course, please update it should it change (e.g. if you move) so that we can keep in contact with you.

    Your Public Info is what someone sees if they click on your profile in Meet Our Members. We recommend listing your website and an email address, but you will probably wish to be cautious about putting up any phone/address information, unless it's an office. It's totally up to you what you wish to put in the public boxes. Just leave a field blank if you don't want it revealed to the rest of the world.

    3. If you have a website, there will be an opportunity to list that the end of the Public Info, and below that, you'll be able to upload a photo.

    4. Your bio may list whatever credits, experience or other information is important about you. A few guidelines:

    Please try to be grammatical and write it as a bio and not simply a list.
    For play titles, please use bold italics.
    For other titles (i.e. films, books, etc.), please use italics.
    Do not use ALL CAPS.
    Any plays that you list in the Script Catalogue will appear here as clickable links, so there's no need to list your plays on your own.

    When you finish making changes, be sure to click the Update Info button.


  10. Click here to visit the ALAP Facebook group.

    Members in good standing (i.e. paid ALAP members) may post about their upcoming productions, readings and screenings, as well as awards or publications. Posts should not, however, be general promotions of a show (e.g. posting the text of a play or a link to it on your website, etc.). Please do not post about the same upcoming event more than once in a two-week period.

    Members in good standing may also start discussion threads related to theatre, playwriting or writing in general. Examples: searching for collaborators, asking playwriting craft or business-related questions, or even inquiring as to whether someone else is attending an ALAP event and might wish to carpool.

    Non-members may participate in discussions initiated by ALAP members, or initiate posts to ask questions about ALAP or about an upcoming ALAP event. They may post about an upcoming ALAP member reading or production (i.e. on behalf of a member), but the member must be prominently mentioned as the author in the post.

    Script calls, ticket discounts or other opportunities should be emailed to announce@laplaywrights.org rather than posted to the group.

    Posts are moderated, so plan ahead when posting about a time-sensitive event, as your post may take several days to appear.

    No post should defame or attack any person or group, nor should any post imply that an event is an official ALAP event or in any way endorsed by ALAP. Further, all comments must be directly relevant to the original post or they will be deleted.

    Final judgment on whether a post or comment is appropriate for the group is at the discretion of the moderator. Repeated violation of ALAP's posting policy may result in removal from the Facebook group.


  11. Please just use regular text for your bio, capitalizing as appropriate in any standard sentence and placing titles of plays in bold/italics, with titles of other creative works (films, books, etc) in italics.  For example:  Jonathan Dorf is the author of Beef Junkies.  Please do not put titles (except for titles of songs or magazine articles) in quotation marks.  Also, please keep in mind that any plays listed in ALAP's Script Catalogue will automatically display on your Meet Our Members page with clickable links, so there is no need to offer up a complete list of your works.

  12. Members may list as many plays as they would like to input.  Just login and click on My Scripts>Manage My Scripts. From there, select either the add link if you want to add a new play, or the view link to edit an existing play.

    A few important reminders when you input data:

    1.  Just capitalize titles normally, for example, Beef Junkies.  It will automatically be formatted as bold when it displays in a search.  Do not put the title in ALL CAPS unless that's how it's really meant to be.

    2. Write the author's name using regular capitalization. In most cases, that will just be your own name, but if you have a co-author, this is where you'd note it (e.g. Sheila Stone and Bob Stone).

    3. Input the minimum and maximum running times in minutes.

    4. In the Genre box, write the genre as you'd like it to display when the play comes up in searches. Examples might be a Comedy, Drama, Tragicomedy, Farce, Mystery, Dark Comedy, etc. If a play straddles two genres, use a / character:  for example, Comedy/Drama. If the genre is more than one word, please capitalize the first letter of each word.

    5. Check each Category box for which the play is appropriate.

    6. Write the casting in terms of roles that require males, females and that are open to actors of all genders.

    7. Add a Synopsis, and below it, a succinct, catchy one-line version of it which will show when your play comes up in search results.

    8. You will then have the opportunity to upload an Excerpt (PDF format only), Photos (max 5 MB per photo in jpg, gif or png formats) and Music files (as applicable). You can even have a link to video. Note that when it comes to photos and music, you are responsible for making sure that you have permission to use these, and that your photos are properly credited (i.e. through the caption).

    9. The Notes is a place to mention anything that's important. It could be a place to discuss casting flexibility, the groups for which the play is most suitable, awards it's won, etc.

    10. For the Web/Order link, if the play is published, you'll likely want to link to your publisher's website. If it's unpublished, it could be a link to your own website, an NPX page, etc. Please make sure you include only the link (in proper format) in this area so that it's clickable. 

    11. Finally, include a contact email of your choosing. 

    When you're all finished, click Submit Script. While you should receive a notification that your update was successful, it's always a good idea to check your listing on the front end to make sure everything looks as intended.


  13. Please read these guidelines and follow them carefully.  Remember, your production photo or other artwork will rotate onto the front page of the ALAP website, so it's important that all materials are professionally presented.

    1.  Images must either be photos from a performance of the play (preferred), or from a promotional poster/postcard of the play.   Images should not be photos of the author or unrelated subject matter.

    2.  By posting images on the site, you warrant that you have permission to post them, and that they do not violate copyright or other laws.  You are solely responsible for all materials you post as a member.

    3.  In the case of production photos, please be sure to provide a caption with all necessary credits in one of the following formats:
    a.  Jake River Fraser at the Street Theatre (Canberra, Australia; photo by Pling)
    b.  The Street Theatre (Canberra, Australia)
    c.  Springfield Academy of Arts and Academics (Springfield, OR; directed by Michael Fisher; photo by Stephen Speidel)
    For posters or other artwork, if the image does not stand on its own, please use the following: Moving Arts (Los Angeles, CA; poster design by George Spelvin)

    4.      Please do not put dates on your captions.  They're not particularly relevant, and as time goes on, it will make your photos appear more and more dated, which does a disservice to your play.

    5.      Please do not place the title or author name in the caption.  The image will only appear on the play's  individual page or with the play's title/author next to it.

    6.  Images and language in the captions should be suitable for a PG-13 audience.

    7.      Image file names should contain ONLY ALPHANUMERIC characters.  Please do not use an apostrophe, hyphen or other symbol, as it may cause your image not to display. 

    8.      Image files should be in JPEG (preferably) format, or if necessary, PNG or GIF files.  Please do not upload files in any other format.
    Maximum file size is 1 MB, but in general, it's a good idea to keep files for the web much smaller (100K or less is a good rule of thumb).

    9.      Captions may contain the standard range of writing characters.  Be sure not to hit the enter (return) key between lines.  Just allow your text to wrap around naturally if necessary.

  14. To log in, first click on the "Actors/Directors/Support Workers" link on the left menu.  Then, click on the link for the specific area (i.e. Actors, Directors or Support Workers) for which you wish to log in.  Please keep in mind that every area is separate.  That means that if you have both an Actor and a Director account, you'll need to log into each account separately.  Further, if you are an ALAP member, you cannot access your Actor or Director info except by logging into that specific area.

    Do not log in using the "member login" area in the top right unless you are an ALAP member.

  15. Just sign in using the member login at the top of the page as you would for anything else on the site.  Then, in the Member Menu, click on Actor Search, Director Database, or Support Worker Database, respectively, and you're off and running.  Please keep in mind that the databases are for the personal use of members only and are not to be used on behalf of any third party or for any purpose other than that for which they are intended.

  16. Members are automatically be subscribed to every list for which they are eligible, with the default being a daily digest of all emails. Should you wish to modify your preferences (e.g. to receive individual emails or a weekly digest), you can do so by clicking on My Email List Preferences under your My Account menu (after you're logged in, of course).

    If you are not an ALAP member, you can subscribe to the general email list, which will give you news of upcoming ALAP events as well as member readings and productions. Just go to the front page and look for the "Sign up for our email list" option toward the bottom.

    If you don't seem to be receiving ALAP mailings, make sure that our emails are not getting caught by your spam blocker. Be sure to add laplaywrights.org to your whitelist, and info@laplaywrights.org to your address book.

  17. Just log into the Member Area and update your contact information in your profile (Edit Member Page).  It's that easy.  The email lists will update automatically, and we will be notified of the change.

  18. If you don't want to receive email, just click on Email List Preferences in the Member Area.  Uncheck the boxes of the email lists from which you don't wish to receive mail--just make sure to visit the website regularly so that you don't miss member opportunities and discounts! 



    Do NOT remove your email address from the private area of your member page, or we will have no way to contact you if we need to.

  19. It's simple: login to the website and click on Edit Member Profile. Update your information and save the changes. We'll get an automatic notification email.

  20. Login to the member area of the website and click on Edit Member Page. Input the website address (for example, http://jondorf.com) into the URL box and save the changes.  Your website will automatically show up in the Meet Our Members section.  It's that easy.

  21. Why aren't they an ALAP member? Get them to join! In any case, we are happy to advertise non-member productions to our membership via email as long as there is a discount to ALAP members equal to the best discount being offered or 10% off, whichever is greater. If this is the case, send an email to announce@laplaywrights.org with the subject line "ALAP member discount."  Please include all details in the body of the email, with no graphics or attachments.

  22. Send the full details in the body of an email (no attachments or graphics) to announce@laplaywrights.org.  Be sure to include all submission requirements, deadlines, royalty/payment details, contact info, etc.  ALAP condemns the practice of charging writers a fee to submit their work, and we do not publicize any such submission opportunities to our members.

  23. For ongoing classes within the greater Los Angeles area, the instructor must be an ALAP member for it to be posted to our email list.  We will continue to advertise one-time master classes and workshop opportunities from non-member playwrights who normally reside outside the greater Los Angeles area.  Regardless of the instructor's membership status, if there is a fee for the class or workshop, we will only advertise it to our membership (via the email list) if there is a minimum 10% discount (or a discount equivalent to the greatest discount being offered, whichever is greater) to ALAP members. Email announce@laplaywrights.org with the subject line "ALAP member discount" and all relevant details as plain text in the body of the email.  All postings are at the sole discretion of the Co-Chairs.

  24. Please keep in mind that ALAP is an all-volunteer organization, and that those who respond to emails have other obligations.  While we try to respond as quickly as possible, please be patient and be aware that it may take several business days for a reply.

  25. Do you have a website?  Please consider adding a link to us at http://laplaywrights.org.

    Are you a member of a playwrights' group or a theatre company?  Let your fellow members know about ALAP.

    If you are an ALAP member,  please include that you are a member of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights in your bio (e.g. in a play program).

  26. Membership payments are non-refundable. However, even if you're not in the Los Angeles area and can't regularly attend events, you can still take advantage of the Script Catalogue, promote yourself through Meet Our Members, take advantage of opportunities offered through our email list and more.