What Font Are Plays Written In? Stage Play Fonts and Formatting
Screenplays have one rigid, industry-wide standard. Stage plays don't. There's a widely used manuscript format, a couple of acceptable fonts, and a lot of theatre-by-theatre variation — which is exactly why playwrights end up searching for the answer. Here's what's genuinely standard, what varies, and how a play manuscript differs from a screenplay.
The short answer
- What font are plays written in?
- 12-point Courier (or the free Courier Prime) is the safest choice for a play manuscript. 12-point Times New Roman is also widely accepted. Either will be fine unless a theatre or competition specifies otherwise.
- Is there one standard stage play format?
- No. There is a common American manuscript format, described below, but no single body enforces it. If a submission call gives formatting rules, those rules win.
- Does one page equal one minute, like a screenplay?
- Only very roughly. Stage time depends heavily on pace, pauses and physical action, so page counts are a loose guide to running time rather than a scheduling tool.
What a play manuscript looks like
Here is a short passage in a common American manuscript style: act and scene headings centred, character names centred in capitals, dialogue running the full width of the page, and stage directions indented, in parentheses and italics.
ACT ONE
Scene 2
(A rehearsal room. Folding chairs, a kettle, too many scripts. RUTH enters, reading.)
RUTH
Twelve-point Courier. Every page. Nobody told me it would be the fonts that broke me.
DEV
It's the only rule nobody argues about.
(She throws the script onto the pile.)
Set in Courier Prime. Notice there are no scene headings like "INT." or "EXT." — those belong to screenplays.
Why the font matters less than it does for screenplays
Film and television lean on Courier because a screenplay is also a budgeting document: one page of correctly formatted script is treated as about one minute of screen time, and that equivalence only holds if everyone uses the same font and spacing. We cover that reasoning in Screenwriting Fonts: Why Every Screenplay Uses Courier 12pt.
Theatre doesn't schedule from page counts in the same way, so there's less pressure to standardise. Courier remains the most common choice because it's what playwrights and literary managers are used to reading, and because monospaced text makes a manuscript look like a manuscript rather than a published book. But a play in 12-point Times New Roman is not a problem in the way a screenplay in Times would be.
The common American manuscript format
This is the layout most US theatres, competitions and playwriting programmes will recognise. Treat it as a strong default, not a law.
- Font: 12-point Courier or Courier Prime; 12-point Times New Roman is also widely accepted.
- Margins: 1 inch on all sides, with a wider left margin (around 1.5 inches) if the script will be bound.
- Title page: title, author, and contact details; no page number.
- Cast of characters: a separate page listing each character with a short description, followed by the time and place of the play.
- Act and scene headings: centred, often in capitals ("ACT ONE", "Scene 2").
- Character names: centred in capitals above each speech.
- Dialogue: starts at the left margin and runs the full width of the page, single-spaced, with a blank line between speeches.
- Stage directions: indented from the left, in parentheses, usually italicised. Character names inside directions are often capitalised.
- Page numbers: top right. Many manuscripts use act-scene-page numbering (for example 1-2-15 for Act 1, Scene 2, page 15), which makes rehearsal references easy.
Variations you'll meet
- Character names on the left. Common in British and European scripts: the name sits at the left margin, often in capitals, with the dialogue beside or immediately after it. It's more compact than centred names.
- Directions in italics without parentheses, or in parentheses without italics. Both are common; just be consistent.
- Musicals: lyrics are commonly set in capitals or otherwise distinguished from spoken dialogue, so actors and music directors can find them at a glance.
- Published acting editions — the paperbacks you buy — are typeset in proportional book fonts. That's a publisher's layout, not a manuscript format, so don't copy it for submissions.
Stage play vs screenplay format at a glance
| Stage play | Screenplay | |
|---|---|---|
| Font | 12-pt Courier or Times New Roman | 12-pt Courier, essentially mandatory |
| One standard? | No — conventions plus submission rules | Yes, very consistent industry-wide |
| Scene headings | Act and scene numbers, centred | Sluglines: INT./EXT., location, time of day |
| Character names | Centred (US) or left margin (UK) | Indented to a fixed position, in caps |
| Dialogue width | Full width of the page | A narrow indented column |
| Directions | Indented, parenthetical, often italic | Action lines at the left margin |
| Page ≈ minute? | Loosely at best | Yes — used for scheduling and budgeting |
Software that handles it for you
As with screenplays, the easiest way to get the format right is to let software do it. Final Draft and Fade In both include stage play templates alongside their screenplay ones; Scrivener has script modes that can be configured for plays; and theatre-specific templates for Word and Google Docs are widely shared by playwriting organisations. Whatever you use, check its output against the submission guidelines of the theatre you're sending to — templates encode one convention, and the theatre may prefer another.
A submission checklist
- Read the theatre's or competition's guidelines first, and follow them over anything here.
- Use 12-point Courier, Courier Prime or Times New Roman — one font throughout.
- Include a title page and a cast-of-characters page.
- Keep character names, directions and headings consistent on every page.
- Number the pages (act-scene-page if you're unsure).
- Export a PDF with fonts embedded, so the reader sees exactly the layout you set.
- Remove your name from every page except the title page if the competition asks for blind submissions.
Frequently asked questions
What font should a play script be in?
12-point Courier (or Courier Prime) is the safest default. 12-point Times New Roman is also widely accepted for stage plays, unlike screenplays. If a submission call specifies a font, use that.
Can I write a play in Times New Roman?
Usually, yes. Many theatres and competitions accept 12-point Times New Roman for stage plays. Screenplays are the format where Courier is effectively mandatory.
What is the standard format for a stage play?
There isn't one universal standard. The common American manuscript format centres character names in capitals, runs dialogue across the full page width, and indents stage directions in parentheses and italics. British scripts often put character names at the left margin instead.
How are stage directions formatted in a play?
Typically indented from the left margin, enclosed in parentheses and set in italics, with character names inside the direction in capitals. Consistency matters more than which of the common variants you choose.
How is a play script different from a screenplay?
A play uses act and scene headings instead of INT./EXT. sluglines, runs dialogue across the full page width instead of in a narrow column, and has no strict page-to-minute timing. Screenplays follow one rigid industry format; plays follow looser conventions plus each theatre's own rules.
How many pages is a full-length play?
It varies widely with the format and the play, and because page-to-minute timing is loose for theatre, there's no dependable conversion. Check the length guidelines of the theatre or competition you're submitting to, which are often expressed as running time rather than page count.
The short version: 12-point Courier, full-width dialogue, centred names, indented directions — and the submission guidelines always override the conventions. The font is the one part of a play manuscript nobody should have to think about, which is exactly why Courier is the default.