Young, Emerging, Submurging

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How do we define a particular group of playwrights? Are they "emerging" or "young" writers? Or perhaps they are something different altogether. This is one of the question I have considered throughout the dissertation research. Generally, I have found that the preference for one term over another, as well as the definition of each, depends in large part upon geographic region and the age of the playwright. However, even those aren't definitive rationale for using one term over another.

And then there are the occasions where a term is used, but the context leaves little clue as to what exactly it means. (I'm looking at you, Audible. The $5 million in commissions is great, but who do you mean when you say "emerging playwrights"?)

In the end, I think that each term refers to a group of writers who are "new" to the work both as writers who have never crafted a script before and those who are just becoming known to the larger audience. Here is an interesting blog post from the Emerging Writers Festival in Victoria, Australia that offers a new suggestion, the "submerged playwright":

http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/rmit-gazette-emerging-established-submerged/