The latest blog post from playwright Fin Kennedy (published Weds 14 March) is essential reading for anyone involved in amateur theatre.

He makes a compelling case for the richness, strength and diversity of amateur theatre across the UK, and makes the perhaps underappreciated point that royalties from amateur performances can make a vital contribution to a playwright's livelihood:

'For playwrights in particular, as state funding for professional theatres contracts and commissions dry up, amateurs are an increasingly important marketplace for our work. They’re also a wonderful example of an entirely spontaneous and self-funding movement of ordinary citizens so in love with our art form that they want to get involved. We should be taking them more seriously. After all, weren't we all amateurs once?'

As well as praising Nick Hern Books' initiative in launching this Plays to Perform site (thank you, Fin), he raises the prospect of an independent, properly funded, industry-wide resource:

'an interactive, searchable database of all British plays from the last thirty years, no matter where they premiered, nor who publishes them... My own vision for the site is that it could go far beyond a mere listing service, by using social media technology to become fully interactive – the equivalent of a Facebook group page for every play in the country.'.

It's an exciting prospect. We wish you the best, Fin.

Fin Kennedy's plays are published by Nick Hern Books.