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Jack Sullivan

              Playwrights Practice: Playwriting Made Easy 

                                           "The act of playwriting feeds the soul unlike anything else in the theatre arts." ~Unknown 

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              Playwrights Practice: Playwriting Made Easy 

                                           "The act of playwriting feeds the soul unlike anything else in the theatre arts." ~Unknown 

                                                                  This is a comprehensive course designed to teach aspiring playwrights the methods and skills necessary to create their own short stage plays from idea inception through polished final draft execution. We will reference and study theatrical masterpieces as examples.    Playwriting is about the journey of the play.  That journey offers you the chance to change your life through examination. It enables you to take a problem and look at it in ways you may never have considered before.  This can, in turn, present previously unseen options to you. 

                                                                        Herein, I offer to you the shortcuts, methodologies and creative insights taught to me during the first semester of MFA-level playwriting in Carnegie Mellon University's Dramatic Writing program. These fuzzy memories have been married to a myriad of professional tips, tricks and secrets I've learned through the experiments, successes and failures of both myself and fellow alum during our journey into the businesses of theater, film and television. 

                                                                        If you follow this course through from beginning to end and execute all of the readings and exercises, you will be armed with the tools necessary to transform yourself into a short-form playwright of note while becoming a better writer and a more thoughtful human being. 

                                                   You will learn about short play structure, writing formulas, various types and levels of dialogue creation, managing character expectations, managing audience expectations, rising tension, avoiding cliche, and proper stage play format ... and in the process of practicing you will develop your own personal writing style and flare. 

                                                                    If you complete the instruction provided along with the assignments and optional online table reading, you will complete this course with a minimum of: 

                                                                        1) one ten-minute play, and                                                                        2) the foundation necessary to prepare you to write your first full length stage play for the purpose of winning notoriety, influencing people, mastering advanced structure, applying for a possible residency, or submission to short-form playwriting competitions. 

           This course is dedicated to the memory of my playwriting mentor, Milan Stitt, February 9, 1941 to March 

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What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Learn the skills to create your own short stage plays from idea inception through polished final draft execution, ready for contests, readings, and workshops.
  • Master short stage play structure.
  • Discover formulas, shortcuts, methodologies and creative insights to help jumpstart your journey as a playwright.
  • Identify and overcome major flaws found in both new and professional writers today.
  • Understand what makes an idea right for theatrical exploration (versus cinematic exploration or literary exploration).
  • Study and master the art of nuanced dialogue creation.
  • Manage character and audience expectations.
  • Create and manipulate rising tension.
  • Uncover tips and tricks to help you avoid cliche in your writing.
  • Demonstrate and duplicate proper stage play format.
  • Enable you to examine and change your life through playwriting.
  • Valuable feedback provided when you pay full price for this course. no feedback is provided when this course is purchased at a discount.
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Syllabus

Course Overview
Welcome New Playwrights!

Learn about the tools of the playwright's trade and get a few pointers on mining the world around you for the best original ideas.

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Writer's Block = Procrastination.

  • Everything you write is a reflection of you. How deep into the looking glass do you dare to gaze?
  • Every time you think of a task and put it off, you suffer some of the same pain than if you had actually done it.

A few quotes that really get to the crux of what playwriting is about.

These are the quotes I read in the previous lecture. I would like to make these available to you to as a source of inspiration.

Why should you learn the art of playwriting? It's all about the voyage of the play.

The Bare Minimum: Everything You Need to Write Your First Draft

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.

Writing Assignment: Record and Transcribe Dialogue #1

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.

Getting Better: Tackling the First Rewrite

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.

Defeating the Problems of the Pros: The Second Rewrite

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

Levels of Dialogue 1: "American Buffalo"
Levels of Dialogue 2: "The Caretaker"

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.

Writing Assignment: Play Draft Three - Enhance Your Character Dialogue
The Final Draft. Now what?
Listening Assignment: William Shakespeare's "Antony & Cleopatra"

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!

A quick quiz to assess your knowledge of the process of creating a short play.

Stay In Touch. Share Your Success Stories.

Good to know

Know what's good
, what to watch for
, and possible dealbreakers
Provides intermediate-level playwriting skills, such as dialogue and narrative structure
Helps aspiring playwrights create their own short stage plays
Provides a comprehensive and thorough examination of playwriting, useful in developing playwrights of note
Instructs learners in transforming their lives through examination and reflection
May require prior experience with playwriting or theatre
Become a more thoughtful human being through examination

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Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Playwrights Practice: Playwriting Made Easy with these activities:
Playwriting Resources
Gather a collection of valuable resources to support your playwriting journey.
Show steps
  • Create a folder or document to store your resources.
  • Search for and bookmark articles, websites, books, and videos on playwriting.
  • Organise and categorise your resources based on topic or purpose.
  • Review and reflect on your resources regularly to enhance your learning.
Stage Play Format
Learn and apply proper stage play formatting to prepare your work for production.
Show steps
  • Review the conventions and guidelines for stage play formatting.
  • Use a playwriting software or template to create a formatted version of your play.
  • Check for accuracy and consistency in your formatting.
Explore Playwriting Techniques
Review foundational playwriting techniques and best practices to enhance your writing skills.
Show steps
  • Read and analyze the book to gain insights into different playwriting techniques.
  • Identify and practice the different types of dialogue used in plays.
  • Apply the techniques to your own playwriting to improve character development.
Two other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all five activities
Share and Discuss Play Drafts
Receive constructive feedback on your play draft from fellow students.
Show steps
  • Share your play draft with a peer or review group.
  • Attend a peer feedback session and actively listen to feedback.
  • Take notes and reflect on the feedback received.
  • Revise your play draft based on the feedback.
Submit Your Play to Contests
Challenge yourself and gain recognition by submitting your play to contests and competitions.
Show steps
  • Research and identify playwriting contests that align with your style and goals.
  • Prepare your play manuscript and ensure it meets the submission guidelines.
  • Submit your play within the specified deadline.
  • Attend award ceremonies or readings to connect with other playwrights and industry professionals.

Career center

Learners who complete Playwrights Practice: Playwriting Made Easy will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

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