Festivals!

Producing a play is no easy task. As a playwright with no funds of my own, I've got one of two choices: Send my play to production companies and hope they read it, think it is wonderful and marketable and produce the play, or 2) submit my play to festivals and competitions. While the second option seems ideal, I'm finding that most theater festivals are more marketing umbrellas that anything else. Meaning, these festivals have branded themselves as a special time to see theater, and audiences will make it a point to go see plays during the festival when they would otherwise be doing something else. Maybe it is the guarantee that the shows will be good, maybe it is just a brand name that people have come to be familiar with, but for whatever reason, festivals draw crowds. When you send a play to a production company you never know if they actually read it- they probably get hundreds of plays a year, or month! With a festival, you know that at least your work is getting read (that's what that $30 fee is for, right? Right?...)
The downside is that in a festival, I, the playwright, still have to find a producer. And a cast, and a director and a ton of other things. In fact, most festivals give you a space to perform and the ability to but their logo on your advertisement. OK, a theater festival's name recognition make it invaluable, but as a playwright I am still back to square one even if my work is accepted into a festival- I still have to produce a full length play or find a producer.