For example, costumes, sets and musical accompaniment may be excluded, or may be included in a simpler form.
Under the Actors' Equity Workshop Code, a workshop "can be produced for about one-eighth of what a Off-Broadway production would cost, and for about one-twentieth of what a Broadway production would cost".
Some theatre companies, in fact, specialize exclusively in workshop productions; amateur and youth theatre companies, for example, are commonly structured on the workshop production model.
When hearing about workshop productions and contrasting them with Off-Broadway or Broadway versions of these plays differences may include cut scenes or alternate scenes, while in the case of musicals, differences includes cut songs and alternate lyrics.
Some fictional works, including the musical A Chorus Line and the television series Smash, depict the audition and workshop processes of developmental theatrical productions.