Playwriting: Writing Producing and Selling Your Play

A practical guidebook for effective playwriting! This imaginative and enthusiastic book is designed especially for those having the desire to create, to entertain, and to express their emotions and ideas. It features a practical, down-to- earth emphasis on craft and structure rather than on theory as its step-by-step approach shows just what's involved in creating a stageworthy play. Coverage includes basic considerations such as plot and character development, theme and dialogue as well as production and publication considerations. Outstanding features: offers concrete writing guidelines; includes exercises that get the reader going and inspirational anecdotes; presents excerpts from such classics as Macbeth, The Glass Menagerie, and The Dumb Waiter that help the reader grasp key concepts; lists plays to read for instruction; includes valuable information not usually found in comparable collections.

"Without Louis E. Catron's Playwriting: Writing, Producing, and Selling Your Play, I don't think I'd have had a professional writing career. I always thought of it as an instruction manual, which could have been titled `How To Become a Real Writer.' Inspirational yet eminently practical, I now use the book to teach my own screenwriting classes and seminars. Catron's book was, and remains, simply the best text out there for aspiring playwrights, screenwriters, and anyone who's serious about writing. It's been a constant companion on my own Writer's Journey, and I wouldn't trade it for anything." -- Stephen Berger, screenwriter and educator