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9780240802909

Writing Your First Play

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780240802909

  • ISBN10:

    024080290X

  • Edition: 2nd
  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 1998-02-11
  • Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS

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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

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