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Intermission
a creative coffee break from writing the play

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If we make well-crafted plays that express the essence of what it is to be human, then theatre will have a future...
Raymond Bobgan, Artistic Director, Cleveland Public Theatre
AT25: An Eye on the Future, American Theatre, April 2009

Posts Tagged ‘resources’


A brief interlude for those looking for “How to write a play”…apologies to all other readers

September 20th, 2006

If you are looking for a seminar on "how to write a play," this blog is not the place.

There are other places you can go, like 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 likes it.

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

There are tons of ‘em. 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. The best play you’ve written is not your first, or even your second. There just aren’t that many Margeret Edsons of you out there.

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

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?

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