Playwrights Practice: Playwriting Made Easy

Instructions for turning in your writing assignments.

Before you continue on to the lectures in section three, make sure you first read Summer & Smoke.

Summer & Smoke is a master case study in crisis/climax/resolution management.
For thought: How is T.W.'s language "large"?

Do you know which medium your idea is best suited for?

What makes great theater?
What is Dramatic Writing?
What drives the story?

Special Note:

To keep audience expectations in line with story, you will want to...

Find out why your first ideas probably suck.

Much of writing plays is learning to discern the truth in your own work, and an audience will only care about your character insomuch as they care about the difficulties that character must overcome.

This is the way to approach criticism when discussing another playwright's work.

The formula for a one-sentence outline. How to determine your play's theme (upon completion).

The formula for writing a one-act, two-character play.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: invent activities and events that facilitate great dialogue! It's time to write the first draft of you play. Please complete this assignment before you begin lectures in Section 3.

This is a short play I created called "Retribution." I show it to you here to demonstrate proper stage play format for the play you will create in this course.

In the United States, physical play scripts are printed on 8.5"x11" standard white paper. The text is 12 point Courier.

Before you continue on to the lectures in section four make sure you first read American Buffalo.

This will prepare you for my lecture on 3rd Level Dialogue in Section 4.

We discuss Tennessee William's play, "Summer and Smoke."

Large Language explained.
Deconstruction of play: series of multiple crisis, climax, resolution swirling around the Major Dramatic Question: "Will Alma get together with John?" and the scene-to-scene Dramatic Question: "Will Alma and John do it?"

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Rewrite your play in the style of Tennessee WIlliams (i.e., use simple metaphors; mimic his rhythm of language ; mimic him poetically).

Discussion of stage directions and what the abbreviations are.
Explanation fo why your play should only contain a minimum of stage directions.

This is a PDF download of an excerpt from "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof," used as an example in the previous lecture. It is provided here to illustrate stage directions associated with a 'produced' play.

This is a PDF download of the stage graphic used in the stage directions lecture. It is provided here to further illustrate stage directions and abbreviations associated with a 'produced' play.

Did you come up with a title for your play? You may want to rethink it!

Using the play "Paw" based on "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs, we take a look at rising tension and complications in plays.

This is the 'Attack-Complications-Crisis "Rising Tension" Graphic' used in the video for the previous lecture, presented here in PDF format for your download, print and study enjoyment.

Meter produces rhythm, but why is rhythm so important in the language arts?

Research is an important aspect of writing, but the type of research you need to do varies from situation to situation. Let's go over the basics.

We revisit your play's MDQ and your secondary character's DQ to make sure everything makes logical sense to your audience.

Let's revisit your one-sentence outline, make sure your story is mechanically sound, and see if we can figure out the theme.

Since writers are solitary creatures, it's necessary to execute exercises to combat the "working in a vacuum" affect.

Rewrite to solve problems.
Never tell anyone what they want to know the first time they ask it.
Find ways to make your main character's MDQ bigger and more important.
Find ways to make your secondary character's DQ bigger and more important.

Notice how Pinter blends comedy and serious writing seamlessly.

As you are reading, think about:
What is the subtext of each character's dialogue?
What is really being said?

Cycles in plays.
Surrealism and metaphor - used to examine the meaning of life.
What is really being said, or unsaid?
18_happyDaysStructures-pdf

We discuss the meaning of the third level dialogue in "Happy Days," as well as analyze the meaning of everything else in Samuel Beckett's surreal tour de force.

Let's talk a little bit about your character expectations as well as the expectations your audience - and you - have for your character(s).

Beats relate to Rhythm in playwriting. Beats relate to timing and movement. Beats are the events, decisions and discoveries each of your characters encounter that forces him/her to change methods to get what they want.

This is a sample of a play beat down (a.k.a., beat sheet). All beats (character tactic changes) have been identified. Your assignment is to identify what he tactic change is at each beat. Write it down in the margins. This will help you learn to identify tactic changes in your own play from your own characters to create deeper audience interest.

Create a conversation beat sheet. Understand how art imitates life, even in beats.

Now that you understand the process, create a beatdown for your own play's main character. Identify all beats, articulate the tactic change your character takes and why the change is needed. This will help you identify places where you can strengthen your play's rhythm and message.

Here I show you, by page number, exactly where the major incidents of your 10-minute play should hit to prevent your play from boring your audience.

The title says it all!

On any given page, there are more than 25 opportunities to change "specifics" that will alter how a character is seen. As artists, the playwright's job is to pick the specifics that will accomplish more than one thing.

For this last draft of what will be your official "first draft," we're going to focus on punching up specifics in your play. This alone can set you apart from 80% of new playwrights.

Now you need to let your play breathe. It's time to let the public see it. It's time to have friends or actors read your play. You need to hear it!