Freelance writing, Teaching Theatre Journal, pays $50-$350 per accepted work

TEACHING THEATRE WRITER'S GUIDELINES

Editor: James Palmarini

Teaching Theatre is a quarterly educational theatre journal published by the Educational Theatre Association, a professional association for theatre educators and artists. Teaching Theatre, available to EdTA members and libraries only, has a circulation of approximately 3,200. The majority of the journal’s readers are high school theatre teachers. Subscribers also include elementary, middle school, and college theatre teachers, school administrators, libraries, and others interested in educational theatre.

Opportunities for contributors

Teaching Theatre is an even blend of advocacy, how-to, and theory. If an article can be of use to a theatre teacher—either by presenting a model, an innovative idea, or a specific teaching methodology—we’re going to be interested in taking a look at it. Teaching Theatre’s readers are a well-educated and experienced group, for the most part; general interest essays on the value of educational theatre aren’t going to be of much interest to them and, therefore, not to us either.
We buy twelve to fifteen articles a year, general length 750-4,000 words. A typical issue might include an article on theatre curriculum development, a profile of an exemplary theatre education program, a how-toteach piece on acting, directing, or playwriting, and a news story or two about pertinent educational theatre issues and events.

Queries and sample copies

We prefer to see a finished manuscript but will respond to query letters. Sample copies are available for $2.

Payment

Honorariums of $50 to $350 are paid for accepted work. Payment is based on quality of work, amount of editing and rewriting needed, length of work, and inclusion of photos or graphics.

Manuscript specifications

We edit manuscripts to conform to the Chicago Manual of Style. Manuscripts should be typed double spaced on a sixty-character line. Photocopies are acceptable as long as they are clearly legible. Contributors should keep an exact copy or computer file of any manuscript submitted.

Once articles are accepted, authors are asked to supply their work electronically via e-mail
(jpalmarini@edta.org) or on IBM compatible diskettes, sent to Teaching Theatre, 2343 Auburn Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45219.

All submissions are subject to editing, and we try to involve authors in that process as much as possible. Whenever time allows, we send galley proofs to authors for review—usually by fax.

A Contributor's Cheat Sheet:

What makes us cranky

• Writers who are too lazy or careless to do basic reporting and research. Very few articles are complete with only one quoted source.
• Writers who misrepresent themselves as experts, or are not up front about if and where a piece has been previously published.
• Submissions that ignore or misunderstand our audience; articles that either talk down to our readers or are way over their heads. (If a piece has footnotes, it’s probably too academic for us.)
• Contributors who create an impression of conflict of interest by writing about an organization in which they themselves are involved—although we do sometimes publish first-person accounts.
• Writers who are impossible to get ahold of, or who do not return messages.

What makes us happy

• Writers who really understand our audience.
• Writers who bring lots of strong, specific article ideas to the table, and keep abreast of topics recently covered by the journal.
• Contributors who submit written queries or complete articles, rather than interrupting our work to make a sales pitch by phone.
• Writers who understand the need for editorial input, and can make and/or accept necessary changes gracefully.
• Writers who can provide publishable photography to go along with their pieces (snapshots are not publishable). Illustration ideas are also appreciated.
• Writers who include student voices in their pieces when appropriate, as well as a variety of other sources.
• Writers whose work is well organized, factual, and clean.

More information here.