Stagistic is a script editor built specifically for theatrical plays and musicals. Not screenwriting. Not prose. The stage.
ACT TWO, SCENE ONE
An empty rehearsal room. Piano, lid open. MARA stands at the window. JONAS enters.
JONAS
I know you're not ready.
MARA doesn't turn around.
MARA
I'm always ready.
(a beat)
That's the problem.
JONAS
The director wants the number
from the top of Act One.
Musical number: FIRST LIGHT (reprise, bar 23)
Stagistic understands the craft of theatre: how a scene builds, how a musical number interrupts and transforms dialogue, how stage directions serve the director as much as the story. These aren't formatting rules. They're how theatre thinks.
Whether you're writing a one-act play or a full three-act musical, the editor stays out of your way and keeps your work structured exactly as theatre demands.
A first-class element, not an afterthought. Blocking, lighting cues, and set descriptions have dedicated formatting that keeps them visually distinct from dialogue.
Tag songs and sequences directly within the script. See how they sit in the show's structure, track reprise relationships, and understand the pacing of your score alongside your story.
Lyrics have their own formatting mode, distinct from spoken dialogue and stage directions. Write verses, choruses, and bridges with the clarity a musical score demands.
Every character tracked across the entire script. See who appears in each scene, how much stage time each role has, and find any character's lines in seconds.
The cast list writes itself. As you write, Stagistic builds a live dramatis personae with descriptions, first appearance, and scene count, ready to include at the front of any draft.
Export your script as a clean, properly formatted PDF, laid out to standard theatrical conventions. Ready to hand to a director, dramaturg, or cast.
Yes. Writing, structuring, and exporting are free, now and in the future. No subscription, no trial, no paywall. Open source too. Some production management features may become paid later, but the core writing tool will not.
Yes, and the distinction matters. Theatrical scripts have acts and scenes structured differently from screenplays. Stage directions serve directors differently. Musical numbers, lyrics, and vocal notation don't exist in screenwriting at all. Stagistic is built around how theatre actually works, not adapted from a film tool.
Yes. For plays, you get all the structural tools: acts, scenes, stage directions, character tracking, dramatis personae. For musicals, those are joined by musical number sequencing, lyric formatting, reprise tracking, and running time estimates that factor in your score. You can write a one-act play or a full three-act musical in the same editor.
Locally, by default. Your script lives on your machine. The browser version stores data in your browser. There's no cloud sync unless you opt into it. No account is required to write.
Yes. There are no restrictions on how you use scripts you write in Stagistic, for professional theatre companies, touring productions, or any commercial context.
Yes. The editor is open source. You can self-host it, inspect the code, and contribute. The repository will be linked publicly once the alpha stabilises.
The editor runs in any modern browser without installation. A native macOS app is available in alpha. Windows and Linux desktop builds are on the roadmap.
It's an experimental alpha. The core writing experience is functional, but expect rough edges. We recommend keeping backups of important scripts. Feedback and bug reports are very welcome — they directly shape what gets fixed first.
Writing in Stagistic is free: locally, in the browser, or self-hosted. No account, no paywall. Open source.
Some production features may be paid in the future. The editor never will be.