Writing Your First Play

by Hall, Roger

• ISBN13: 9780240802909
• ISBN10: 024080290X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-02-11
• Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS

Summary

Writing Your First Play provides the beginning playwright with the tools and motivation to tell a story through dramatic form. Based in a series of exercises which gradually grow more complex, the books helps the reader to understand the basic elements of drama, conflict, and action. The exercises help the reader to become increasingly sophisticated in the use of dramatic formats, turning simple ideas into a viable play. Topics include: the role of action in drama; developing action and conflict to reveal character; writing powerful and persuasive dialog; writing from personal experience:pros and cons; how to begin the story and develop the storyline. This new edition is thoroughly updated and contains new examples based on contemporary plays. The author has added additional writing exercises and a new student-written one act play. It also contains a new chapter on how to sell your play once it is written. With examples based on student work, this text both inspires and educates the student and fledgling playwright, providing solid tools and techniques for the craft of writing a drama. Roger A. Hall, a professor of theatre at James Madison University, had taught playwriting for nearly 20 years. Many of his students have gone on to write for theatre, television, and the screen. He has written numerous plays and articles and has acted and directed extensively in the theatre. Explores all aspects of how to write a first play Examples are based on undergraduate level student work Thoroughly updated, including a new chapter on how to market your play once it is written

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix	(2)
Phoef Sutton
Preface	xi	(6)
Introduction	xvii
1. Action	1	(11)
Dramatic Action Provokes Questions	3	(2)
Dramatic Action Employs Verbs	5	(2)
Exercise 1.1	7	(1)
Evaluation	8	(1)
Example: A Man in a Bus Terminal	9	(1)
Evaluation	10	(1)
Where Ideas Come From	11	(1)
2. Direct Conflict	12	(13)
Obstacles and Conflict	13	(1)
Outcomes	14	(1)
Stage Terminology	15	(2)
Exercise 2.1	17	(1)
Example: Who's Selling Out Now?	17	(3)
Example: Absolutely Nothing	20	(3)
Evaluation	23	(2)
3 Character	25	(13)
Character vs. Action	25	(4)
Example: A Woman At Christmas	29	(2)
Exercise 3.1	31	(1)
Example: Big Brother	31	(3)
Example: Conversation	34	(2)
Evaluation	36	(2)
4 Dialogue	38	(15)
Exposition and "Chunking"	41	(3)
Cliches	44	(1)
Exercise 4.1	45	(1)
Adverb Disease	45	(1)
Example: Good Idea, If It Works	46	(5)
Evaluation	51	(2)
5 Three-Character Conflict	53	(17)
Three in a Room	54	(2)
Dramatic Irony and Love Triangles	56	(2)
Exercise 5.1	58	(1)
Example: Break	58	(5)
Evaluation	63	(1)
Example: Nibbles	64	(4)
Evaluation	68	(2)
6 Writing From Life	70	(19)
Emotional Connections and Hazards	71	(3)
Exercise 6.1	74	(1)
Example: Cliche	75	(4)
Evaluation	79	(1)
Example: The Donut Shop	80	(7)
Evaluation	87	(2)
7 Writing From a Source	89	(15)
Dangers of Fact	90	(2)
Exercise 7.1	92	(1)
Example: Abracapocus	92	(6)
Evaluation	98	(1)
Example: Unattainable	98	(4)
Evaluation	102	(2)
8 Expanding Your Skills	104	(8)
Spontaneous Composition	104	(1)
Exercise 8.1	104	(1)
Example: Get a Life	105	(1)
Problem Solving: People, Places, and Props	105	(2)
Exercise 8.2	107	(1)
Location, Location, Location!	108	(1)
Exercise 8.3	108	(1)
Words, Words, Words	109	(1)
Exercise 8.4	109	(1)
Questions	109	(1)
Exercise 8.5	109	(1)
Live Theater	110	(1)
Exercise 8.6	110	(1)
Animals	111	(1)
Exercise 8.7	111	(1)
9 Writing Your Play	112	(29)
Why Now?	116	(1)
Style	117	(1)
Exercise 9.1	118	(1)
Example: Cable Man	118	(20)
Evaluation	138	(3)
10 Marketing Your Play	141	(8)
Format	141	(1)
Productions, Agents, and Contracts	142	(2)
Contests	144	(1)
Retreats, Residencies, Seminars, and the Web	145	(2)
Play-Leasing Companies and Publishers	147	(1)
Writing Your Second Play	148	(1)
Appendix: Classroom Procedures	149	(2)
Bibliography	151	(4)
Index	155