Developing Your Play Without Being Devoured
At our April 1999 meeting, David Dower, Artistic Director of ZSpace Studio, shared insights from his years of developing plays:

As you develop your play, you will be listening to tons of feedback and suggestions. In evaluating critiques of your work, separate "solutions" from "problems." For example, if someone says "I really like your character Jane, why don't you make the play more about Jane." This is suggesting a solution. But the problem may be that all your characters except Jane are boring.

Readings:
Often the first question asked of the audience after a reading is "Did you like it?" This may not be the most valuable question. Perhaps better would be a question that has been bothering you, like "Did you find it believable when Barney threw his father off the bridge in the second act?" Or perhaps a more general question such as "Is there a story here? What is the story you heard?" Is the story the audience experienced the one that you thought you were telling?

Readings are held for a variety of reasons. The reading may not be for development purposes at all, but rather may be an audition for producers. Or the reading may be the result of one rehearsal. Such a reading is not for development, but to hear the piece as it currently stands, and to get feedback. Since you as the playwright are typically too self conscious to really hear the play at the first reading, the ideal situation is to have two readings, perhaps separated by a week for rewrites. As a playwright, most of what you get from a reading is not the audience feedback, but rather your own internal feedback.