The stream of New Zealand drama has flowed more significantly in the twentieth century. An increasing number of full-length plays with New Zealand idiom, locale, and theme have been written and performed, although few writers have had more than two such plays to their credit and have seldom seen more than one production of each play. There has been some bridging of the gap between production and publication, particularly in the one-act field. (The first published New Zealand play was J. C. Firth's political comedy, Weighed in the Balance, 1882.)

Expatriates who achieved success in the theatre overseas include Arthur H. Adams (1872–1936) whose political comedy Mrs Pretty and the Premier was staged in London. Adams also wrote Tapu, set to music by Alfred Hill and played by the Pollard Lilliputian Opera Company. Cry Wolf, The Unhallowed Saint, and the other light comedies of Stafford Byrne reflect the English rather than the New Zealand scene. Two playwrights who made considerable theatrical reputations overseas were Reginald Berkeley (1890–1935), author of French Leave, The White Chateau, and The Lady with the Lamp, and Merton Hodge (1904–58) whose romantic comedy of student life, The Wind and the Rain, had a long run on the West End stage; but he was not so successful with Grief Goes Over, The Island, and The Story of an African Farm. Most distinguished New Zealand born dramatist is the poet and playwright Douglas Stewart (1913–). His radio play The Fire on the Snow, based on Scott's Antarctic expedition, is a recognised classic. The Golden Lover and the radio play The Earthquake Shakes the Land have New Zealand themes. All these playwrights left New Zealand in early manhood and most of their work has been performed elsewhere.

Douglas Stewart's verse drama, Ned Kelly, was an early production by the New Zealand Players Company which also presented A Unicorn for Christmas by Ngaio Marsh, Bruce Mason's study of Maori-Pakeha relations, The Pohutukawa Tree; Mason's comedy, Birds in the Wilderness; and The Tree by Stella Jones. In 1961 The New Zealand Theatre Trust played Three Women and the Sea by James K. Baxter, author of The Wide Open Cage, and Free by Joseph Musaphia. The Auckland C.A.S. Theatre toured in 1959 with Moon Section by Allen Curnow, whose verse play The Axe has had stage and radio performance. The poets Baxter and Curnow, with Frank Sargeson the novelist, head the creative writers in other fields who have turned their attention to drama.

The more progressive amateur societies have presented work by Baxter, Sargeson, Campbell Caldwell, Patricia Davidson, Jean Lawrence, J. A. S. Coppard, Isobel Andrews, Marie Bullock, Bruce Mason, Terence Journet, and Alexander Guyan. Unique among New Zealand dramatists, Claude Evans has seen all his plays published and produced locally: Overtime, Rich Man Poor Man, and So Laughs the Wind.

By promoting festivals of one-act plays and play-writing competitions, the New Zealand branch of the British Drama League has played a major part in creating a market for original work, particularly in the field of one-act plays. The Drama League founded the New Zealand Playwrights' Association in 1958. Four years later, the association had more than 60 members.