Playwriting Master Class: The Personality of Process and the Art of Rewriting

by Michael Wright

Overview

Playwriting Master Class is a book about the process of playwriting for the active playwright, the evolution of the play as the playwright engages with it and the choices the playwright makes in creating the play.

Through the use of a number of case studies of playwrights engaged in writing and rewriting plays, Michael Wright focuses on different individual approaches to their work, fostering their own unique visions and voices as a means of helping the working playwright find her or his own voice.

From the various forms of inspiration, overcoming writing blocks, revising a manuscript, etc., this book provides the playwright with models to follow, new techniques to explore, or even mere confirmation in the many ways that playwrights tackle the tasks of creating a play.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781585103423
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/05/2010
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Michael Wright is the Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Creative Writing at the University of Tulsa, and holds joint appointments in Theatre and Film Studies Departments. He is a playwright and author whose books include "Playwriting at Work and Play," "Playwriting in Process," "Playwriting Master Class."He is the founder and moderator of the Fictional Character Writers Collective in Tulsa and is the U.S. Representative to both World Interplay and the Inter-Scribe project in Australia, as well as Interplay Europe. His plays have been produced across the US and the world.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	vii
	Preface	xi
	Acknowledgments	xv
	Introduction: An Overview	1
Part I	Dreams	13
Chapter 1	Elizabeth Wong: Inside a Red Envelope	15
Chapter 2	David Crespy: Beshert	39
Part II	Journeys	77
Chapter 3	Elena Carrillo: One Wasp	79
Chapter 4	Gary Garrison: Cherry Reds	107
Chapter 5	Velina Hasu Houston: Mister Los Angeles	137
Part III	Cut From Whole Cloth	159
Chapter 6	Guillermo Reyes: Bitter	161
Chapter 7	Julie Jensen: Give Us This Day	177
	Afterword	199
	Contributors	203

Editorial Reviews

- Foreward by Mead Hunter, AKS Theater Projects, L.A.

A fascinating and movingly honest look into several individual processes of playwriting, from the first kernel of dream state inspiration to the painstaking details of rewriting a final draft. More of an inside look into coaching sessions rather than our standard idea of a more rigid class, the book does indeed demystify the art of playwriting with revelations of the very individual progress down a creative road it is - albeit with helpful sign posts along the way.

- Morgan Jenness, Creative Consultant, Abrams Artists Agency

This book is an invaluable tool for anyone who seeks to understandint he secret that is playwrighting.

- Lee Blessing

This book is like an archeological dig: it reveals much of what usually remains buried about the most personal aspects of the act of writing. The eight playwrights in this book open up their processes to the reader’s scrutiny and in doing so, they provide a guide of sorts to the reader’s own trajectory.

A terrific addition to the literature on writing!

- Moisés Kaufman, Writer - Director, Tectonic Theater Project

This is a one-of-a-kind wonder of a book on the writer's complex,emotional process of writing a play. Deep inside you'll discover not only the unique path each writer takes to dramatically express their theatrical ideas, but you're privy to an assessment of that process by one our country's most important scholars in the theatre — Michael Wright.

- Gary Garrison

From the Publisher

Wright (Austin Script Works Theatre and WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab) examines the range of creative choices available as a new play evolves. Using sample drafts, explorations, journals, and follow-up interviews, he offers insight into the processes, methods and thinking of seven playwrights (Elizabeth Wong, David Crespy, Elena Carrillo, Gary Garrison, Velina Hasu Houston, Buillermo Reyes, and Julie Jensen) who span various generations, backgrounds, styles, and points of view. He provides an over-the-shoulder look at how these writers wrote and revised, and how they coped with dead ends as well as sudden flashes of insight and breakthrough. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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