The cast of The Suffragette’s Murder. Photo by Jamie Kraus Photography.

Sandy Rustin, the playwright behind the world premiere production of The Suffragette’s Murder, has another trick up her sleeve. Her adaptation of the cult-classic Clue was one of the most produced plays of the 2022/23 season in the United States, according to American Theatre’s annual roundup.

You never know where the next great American play will originate. Many start out from humble beginnings: playwriting workshops, world premieres at local theatre companies, or enduring adaptations from classic stories.

At the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Colorado New Play Summit is a harbinger of new works and budding playwrights. That includes Sandy Rustin, as The Suffragette’s Murder got its start as a reading at the 2023 Summit.

Take a look back at the top five most produced plays in the United States since the COVID hiatus, based on surveys from Theatre Communications Group theatres in 2022 through 2024*. Then, learn more about how the Denver Center Theatre Company is contributing to the theatre landscape with momentous productions and playwrights.

Number five on the list is Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher. This adaptation was performed on 19 different stages since 2023 – though other theatres elected to perform the original by Frederick Knott and those productions are not counted here.

Knott’s Dial M For Murder premiered in 1952 before being adapted by Alfred Hitchcock to a widely recognized film in 1954. In the play, Tony Wendice plots to murder his wife for her money. After hiring a hitman to cover up his own involvement, Tony is stunned to discover in a shocking turn of events that his wife was able to kill her attacker.

Hatcher’s adaptation premiered at The Old Globe in San Diego in 2021. Hatcher is a prolific playwright with dozens of plays in production across America. In 2023, American Theatre noted he tied for the fifth most-produced playwright in America.

Of note, the Denver Center Theatre Company staged the world premieres of Hatcher’s Pierre in its 2001/02 season, One Foot on the Floor in its 1996/97 season, and Bon Voyage in its 1992/93 season.

In fourth place is Fat Ham by James Ijames, which was awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This play was performed on 23 stages since 2023.

Fat Ham is a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, told through the eyes of a young, queer, Black man. The play comes from humble beginnings, commissioned by and premiering as a digital production at the Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia in 2021, where playwright Ijames was a Co-Artistic Director. The production made its Off-Broadway debut with The Public Theatre in 2022 and transferred to Broadway shortly thereafter in 2023.

The Broadway transfer of Fat Ham represents National Black Theatre’s first production on Broadway, and only the fifth play to be transferred by a Black theatre in Broadway’s century-long history.

Fat Ham was licensed by Concord Theatricals in May 2023, meaning those 23 theatres jumped at the chance to produce this play as soon as possible.

Sekou Laidlow and Brianna Buckley in Clyde’s. Photo by Jamie Kraus Photography.

Next, technically there is a tie, with two productions being presented 25 times since the 2022 season. Since one play opened earlier than the other, we’ll start there.

Clyde’s by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage opened on Broadway in November 2021 – and, as mentioned, has been produced nationwide 25 times since 2022.

This comedy follows the employees of a roadside sandwich shop as they attempt to create the perfect sandwich. It addresses issues of incarceration, racial tension, and chosen family, all while maintaining a sense of humor.

Clyde’s was the most produced play of the 2022/23 season with at least 11 productions, and the second most-produced play of the 2023/24 season with at least 14 productions. In fact, the Denver Center Theatre Company presented Clyde’s in the fall of 2023.

Lynn Nottage is also one of the most produced playwrights of the last decade, with several productions, like Pulitzer Prize-winning plays Sweat and Ruined, continuing to show on regional stages every year, not to mention the mega-hit Broadway musical, MJ.

POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive by Selina Fillinger, has also been produced 25 times, but since the 2023 season rather than 2022.

Fillinger made a splash as a student at Northwestern University, commissioned during her senior year by two local theatres and opening her first professional play only six months after graduation. Fillinger is one of the youngest playwrights to be produced on Broadway, with her Broadway debut POTUS opening at the Shubert Theatre in 2022 when she was 28 years old.

POTUS is a satirical comedy featuring an all-female cast, centered on a PR crisis caused by the president. The seven women he relies upon most risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble.

Only four short months after its Broadway opening, Concord Theatricals acquired the licensing rights to POTUS. Again, theatres nationwide jumped at the chance to produce this brand-new play as soon as possible, including a local production by Curious Theatre Company last fall.

Topping the list with 32 productions since the 2023 season is What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck. This play has come first on the Most Produced Plays list for two years in a row.

What the Constitution Means to Me explores the history, context, and future of the Constitution, especially how it impacts modern women and social change.

What the Constitution Means to Me had a long journey to regional stages, starting at the Wild Project new play festival in 2017. The play was then presented in 2018 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California with Schreck in the leading role.

Two Off-Broadway productions quickly followed, first at the New York Theatre Workshop before moving to Greenwich House. A limited Broadway run began in March 2019 and was extended twice, playing through August.

The production was hosted at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, the Mark Taper Forum, and Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse – though the pandemic paused the tour in the spring of 2020. What the Constitution Means to Me was then the first play to begin touring again during the pandemic, beginning at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.

The play was also filmed during its Broadway run and released on Amazon Prime in 2020, then licensed for production in 2021.

While this article only notes the most produced plays from the past five years, the Denver Center Theatre Company has been proud to contribute to theatre history with several celebrated world premiere productions and the works of renowned playwrights who have changed the theatre landscape.

The Laramie Project, Denver Center Theatre Company

In the Denver Center Theatre Company’s 1999/2000 season, The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and Tectonic Theatre Project premiered. This groundbreaking play centers around Matthew Shepard, a gay college student in Wyoming who was murdered in 1998, and how the hate crime impacted – and still impacts – the community. Since its opening, The Laramie Project has been produced at least 46 times in theatres across the country and was adapted into an HBO film.

And in 2014, the DCPA premiered The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez, the story of a man who turns to performing in drag to support his family. Since 2014, the play has been produced across the country at least 58 times (and counting).

Lauren Gunderson was the most produced living playwright in America in 2017, 2019 and 2023, in part because of The Book of Will, which received its world premiere in the 2016/17 Denver Center Theatre Company season.

Additionally, playwright Lauren Yee was the second most produced living playwright in the 2019/20 season, due to her plays Cambodian Rock Band and The Great Leap, the latter of which received its world premiere by the Denver Center Theatre Company in 2018.

If you want to be part of the action and see the nation’s next great play (before it becomes a play), get your tickets now to the 2025 Colorado New Play Summit taking place on March 1 & 2, and experience the Denver Center Theatre Company’s commitment to new play development.

*Note: The total number of productions is likely higher for each play, when including theatres not in the Theatre Communications Group. As of September 2024, there are 551 American theatres in the TCG.