It's the Intermission
A Creative Coffee Break

A great online resource is Richard Tuscan’s "The Playwriting Seminars."

There is no great book on playwriting, except maybe, Lojas Ejri’s The Art of Dramatic Writing.

And, of course, Aristotle’s Poetics.

Stuart Spencer’s The Playwright’s Guidebook is pretty good. Albee even likes it.

Jeffrey Hatcher’s The Art and Craft of Playwriting is decent.

There are tons of books. All you have to do is search Amazon books, or go to the library.

The best book on writing ten minute plays, if that’s your thing, is Gary Garrison’s The Perfect Ten.

For good measure, read Gary’s The New, Improved Playwright’s Survival Guide: Keeping the Drama In Your Work and Out of Your Life.

A lot of people think they can write a play. I have not found that to be true. Even though some of ‘em even get produced.

The best play you’ve
written is not your first, or even your second. There just aren’t that
many Margaret Edsons of you out there. However, if you only write one play, make it as good as Edson’s.

Take a class. Learn play structure. Yes, there’s a structure. You can’t throw it away until you know what it is.

Make friends with actors. Don’t begrudge that they need to eat, and can’t always travel 3,000 miles to read your play for free.

The best advice I can give you, which most of you won’t take:  See as
many plays as you can. What kind of playwright never attends the
theatre?