The Playwright's Toolbox


Book Description

To an unusual degree among writers, playwrights’ creations are not simply words on a page. Instead, a well-wrought play is an intricate machine that will be used by directors, actors, designers, and other creators to bring a fully staged, real-time performance into the world. The construction and maintenance of that machine is the playwright’s job, and it requires an array of complex, interconnected skills and techniques. Enter Justin Maxwell and The Playwright’s Toolbox, a stimulating and wide-ranging resource for both beginning and experienced dramatists. It brings together invigorating, provocative, and irreverent exercises contributed by nearly 60 leading English-language playwrights, covering all stages of the writing process. It offers an accessible roadmap for those who have never written a play before, while providing new angles and solutions for seasoned writers struggling with a particular challenge. Covered here is everything fromgenerating ideas and world-building, through dialogue and plotting, to revision and the last steps before releasing a play into the world, making this an endlessly useful guide to building better plays.




An Outopia for Pigeons


Book Description

Author: Justin Maxwell Synopsis: The last passenger pigeon on earth, named Martha Washington, is desperately trying to save her species by building a Foucault-inspired outopia (a non-place.) Assisting Martha is a sperm whale named Charles Bronson, a whale so tough they named the toughest actor of all time after him. Their work is complicated by the arrival of Cotton Mather, a 300 hundred year old Puritan minister and witch burner extraordinaire, who has problems of his own. Cast Size: 2 Females, 2 Males




Writer's Toolbox


Book Description

Writing.




Writer's Toolbox: A Sentence Combining Workshop


Book Description

Drawing from his well known methodology, Bill Strong presents a broader application of sentence combining as the basis for teaching writing with the WRITER'S TOOLBOX: A SENTENCE COMBINING WORKSHOP. This exciting new developmental writing text uses a writing process framework and stresses a collaborative approach, while providing students with skill instruction through extensive sentence combining activities. In short, the WRITER'S TOOLBOX is the only text at the developmental level to teach grammar, usage, and punctuation skills in the context of a conceptual framework - one that covers generating and planning, freewriting and drafting, shaping and revising, and editing and proofreading.




The Dramatist's Toolkit


Book Description

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




Guide to Literary Agents 2020


Book Description

The Best Resource Available for Finding a Literary Agent! No matter what you're writing--fiction or nonfiction, books for adults or children--you need a literary agent to get the best book deal possible from a traditional publisher. Guide to Literary Agents 2020 is your go-to resource for finding that literary agent and earning a contract from a reputable publisher. Along with listing information for more than 1,000 agents who represent writers and their books, the 29th edition of GLA includes: • The key elements of a successful nonfiction book proposal. • Informative articles on crafting the perfect synopsis and detailing what agents are looking for in the ideal client--written by actual literary agents. • Plus, a 30-Day Platform Challenge to help writers build their writing platforms +Includes 20 literary agents actively seeking writers and their writing




The Writer's Toolkit


Book Description

Perfect for playwrights and screenwriters of all levels of experience, The Writer's Toolkit will equip you with everything required to kickstart your creativity, develop your craft, and make your writing the very best that it can be. Written by an experienced playwright, screenwriter and producer, this essential book is packed with almost two hundred practical exercises, techniques and ideas for every part of your process, designed to be used either solo or in a group. It includes: Writing warm-ups to focus your mind and get your creative muscles in gear Dozens of exercises to strengthen fundamental elements of your writing such as developing characters, improving dialogue, layering in subtext, creating a strong setting and constructing a compelling plot Immersive-writing techniques to lift the world of your script off the page and allow you to shape it more effectively A blueprint for writing a ten-minute play--a great way to practise your craft, explore a new idea and add to your portfolio A Submission Surgery with exercises and pointers so you can review and fine-tune your completed work before sending it out 101 quick-fire writing prompts to help you warm up, take a break from your current project, or just keep you feeling productive Also included are mindful meditations to use at the beginning and end of your writing sessions, to help you relax, boost your productivity and maximise your creative output. Whatever you need as a writer--whether that's to crack a problem in your current script, develop ideas for future projects, build up your skills and experience, or bust through writer's block--this book will give you the right tools for the job. So get writing!




The Writer's Toolbox


Book Description




The Director's Toolkit


Book Description

The Director’s Toolkit is a comprehensive guide to the role of the theatrical director. Following the chronology of the directing process, the book discusses each stage in precise detail, considering the selection and analysis of the script, the audition process, casting, character development, rehearsals, how to self-evaluate a production and everything in between. Drawing on the author’s own experience in multiple production roles, the book highlights the relationship between the director, stage manager and designer, exploring how the director should be involved in all elements of the production process. Featuring a unique exploration of directing in special circumstances, the book includes chapters on directing nonrealistic plays, musicals, alternative theatre configurations, and directing in an educational environment. The book includes detailed illustrations, step-by-step checklists, and opportunities for further exploration, offering a well-rounded foundation for aspiring directors.




The Gulf


Book Description

The divide between Kendra and Betty mimics the very world that devours them: a vast and polarizing abyss. On a quiet summer evening, somewhere down in the Alabama Delta, Kendra and Betty troll the flats looking for redfish. After Betty begins diagnosing Kendra's dead-end life with career picks from What Color is Your Parachute, their routine fishing excursion takes a violent turn. This is the full-length version of the 40th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival winner, The Gulf.