The Playwright at Work PDF Download

Author: Rosemarie Tichler
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810127628
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Rosemarie Tichler and Barry Jay Kaplan take us behind the scenes in conversations with thirteen of today’s most distinguished playwrights, including Tony Kushner, John Guare, Wallace Shawn, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Henry Hwang, and Sarah Ruhl. To familiarize the reader with the world of each playwright, Tichler and Kaplan introduce us to the environments in which the work happens, conducting their interviews in the playwright’s home, a dark theater, or a coffee shop. Topics of conversation range from the playwrights’ earliest memories of the theater to finding their unique voices, and from their working relationships with directors, actors, and designers to their involvement in the purely commercial aspects of their profession. Taken together, these conversations constitute a collectively taught master class in the art and craft of writing for the stage.

Author: Gary Garrison
Publisher: Heinemann Drama
ISBN: 9780325001654
Category : Playwriting
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Playwright's Survival Guide is written for both aspiring and established writers looking for an emotional, spiritual, or just plain practical connection back to what's important - the writing. It's a "how-to-be" book - with thoughts, stories of inspiration, a few tricks of the trade, a few outlets for venting frustrations, and a reassuring voice that speaks to all the doubts with an "I know. I've been there. This is what you do . . ." Gary Garrison demystifies the playwriting process, speaking honestly, poignantly, and with humor about the lessons he's learned along the way. He explores the issues playwrights face every day, including: inspiration criticism self-doubt relationships with teachers and mentors the art of self-promotion writer's block staying healthy in the art after your fingers are off the keyboard.

Author: Mayo Simon
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 9781557835628
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
"Structured as an evening in the theatre, this book is analytical but straightforward, serious but entertaining. Mayo Simon presents a working playwright's view of what really happens between the stage and the audience, from the beginning of the play until the end." --BOOK JACKET.

Author: Jean-Claude van Italie
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 1476844836
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description
(Applause Books). A series of 13 written workshops covering: conflict and character: the dominant image: Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller; Overheard voices: Ibsen and Shakespeare; The solo performance piece: listening for stories; Terror and vulnerability: Ionesco; The point of absurdity: creating without possessing: Pinter and Beckett; and much more.

Author: Enoch Brater
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780500512425
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 143

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Book Description
An informed study of the esteemed playwright's career evaluates his role in charting the landscape of the modern American theater, offering insight into his seminal dramas while tracing his life from his prize-winning student days through the successes of such pieces as Death of a Salesman.

Author: Jon Klein
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474285104
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Addressing the questions central to any playwright's career and identity, Jon Klein offers you a glimpse into a career writing for the theatre. As well as an account of the day-to-day life of a writer, he also discusses what an aspiring playwright should expect as they navigate the industry and how to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Furthermore, the book looks at situations that the emerging playwright is likely to encounter, including: handling rehearsals, workshops, castings, re-writing, venues, reviews, successes and failure. The book concludes with seventeen interviews with other USA-based playwrights, representing a wide range of experience, from writers just starting to make a name for themselves to seasoned, award-winning veterans such as Sheila Callaghan, Steven Dietz, Keith Glover, Lauren Gunderson, John Pielmeier and Jen Silverman. Author Jon Klein has a wealth of experience with over 30 of his plays produced in the USA and over 100 productions, including include T Bone N Weasel, Dimly Perceived Threats to the System, Betty the Yeti, and his most recent play, Resolving Hedda. Klein draws upon the lessons he has learned from his associations with numerous established theatre folk, many from the start of their careers. These include figures such as Bob Falls, Gregory Hines, Jon Jory, Kenny Leon, Dan Sullivan, and August Wilson.clude figures such as Bob Falls, Gregory Hines, Jon Jory, Kenny Leon, Dan Sullivan, and August Wilson.

Author: Carol Fisher Saller
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226734102
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 151

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Book Description
Each year writers and editors submit over three thousand grammar and style questions to the Q&A page at The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Some are arcane, some simply hilarious—and one editor, Carol Fisher Saller, reads every single one of them. All too often she notes a classic author-editor standoff, wherein both parties refuse to compromise on the "rights" and "wrongs" of prose styling: "This author is giving me a fit." "I wish that I could just DEMAND the use of the serial comma at all times." "My author wants his preface to come at the end of the book. This just seems ridiculous to me. I mean, it’s not a post-face." In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller casts aside this adversarial view and suggests new strategies for keeping the peace. Emphasizing habits of carefulness, transparency, and flexibility, she shows copy editors how to build an environment of trust and cooperation. One chapter takes on the difficult author; another speaks to writers themselves. Throughout, the focus is on serving the reader, even if it means breaking "rules" along the way. Saller’s own foibles and misadventures provide ample material: "I mess up all the time," she confesses. "It’s how I know things." Writers, Saller acknowledges, are only half the challenge, as copy editors can also make trouble for themselves. (Does any other book have an index entry that says "terrorists. See copy editors"?) The book includes helpful sections on e-mail etiquette, work-flow management, prioritizing, and organizing computer files. One chapter even addresses the special concerns of freelance editors. Saller’s emphasis on negotiation and flexibility will surprise many copy editors who have absorbed, along with the dos and don’ts of their stylebooks, an attitude that their way is the right way. In encouraging copy editors to banish their ignorance and disorganization, insecurities and compulsions, the Chicago Q&A presents itself as a kind of alter ego to the comparatively staid Manual of Style. In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller continues her mission with audacity and good humor.

Author: Jeffrey Sweet
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
In The Dramatist's Toolkit , playwright and Backstage columnist Jeff Sweet offers an intensive and practical guide to being a working playwright.

Author: Chiara Atik
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
ISBN: 0822239469
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
In this comedic quintet, five couples explore the delights and disappointments of their sex lives. Whether they are the first two people on Earth or the last two, modern partners with shifting needs, exes on the eve of a life-altering event, or twelfth-century pen pals, following those most natural desires uncovers truths about their humanity. Altogether, FIVE TIMES IN ONE NIGHT is a hilarious examination of intimacy through the ages.

Author: Bill Cain
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
ISBN: 0822225913
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 131

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Book Description
"England, 1605: A terrorist plot to assassinate King James I and blow Parliament to kingdom come with 36 barrels of devilish gunpowder! Shagspeare (after a contemporary spelling of the Bard's name) is commissioned by Robert Cecil, the prime minister, to write the "true historie" of the plot. And it must have witches! The King wants witches! But as Shag and the acting company of the Globe, under the direction of the great Richard Burbage, investigate the plot, they discover that the King's version of the story might, in fact, be a cover-up. Shag and his actors are confronted with the ultimate moral and artistic dilemma. Speak truth to power-and perhaps lose their heads? Or take the money and lie? Is there a third option-equivocation? A high-stakes political thriller with contemporary resonances, EQUIVOCATION gallops from the great Globe to the Tower of London to the halls of Parliament to the heart of Judith, Shag's younger daughter, who finds herself unexpectedly at the very heart of the political, dramatic and-ultimately-human mystery." - from publisher's website.