Thoughts from PLAYWRITING: Writing, Producing, and Selling Your Play by Dr. Louis Catron

“We write because we have to say what we believe. We discover what we believe because we write.All else of writing is but a searching for a form, a style, a technique, to show those beliefs in an acceptable artistic manner. When we succeed, our hearts are on the stage to touch the hearts and minds of the audiences. It is an awesome process.”

“Showing, instead of telling, is the artistic goal of all playwrights.”

Turn off your “self-censor”! Just start writing…you can always go back later and revise, but first just start writing.

Don’t try to be “new and different” or “original”….just trust in your instincts and be true to yourself. Search yourself to find what is most important to you. Believe in yourself!

A “wright” is a skilled worker. The word implies superior craft, a pride in one’s work, and respect for one’s material and equipment.

A novelist records Life. The essayist seeks to correct Life. The poet responds to Life. The playwright constructs a work which imitates Life. The work therefore appears to be Life.

A novelist works in past tense, but a playwright work lives in a perpetual present tense. The events happen NOW in front of an audience.

Avoid flashbacks, changing locations, and breaks in the action.

Start with the significant moment! That helps with the sense of urgency.

Words are not as critical as they are to a poet or novelist. You are striving for conversation based on “real” life.

BUT…remember that ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS. What words can be replaced by actions?

Go for “instant clarity”. The audience must be able to perceive the basics because they can’t go back to earlier moments in the play (like you can when you go back to earlier chapters in a novel!)

A playwright pays attention to form (beginning, middle, end) and also to the 6 dramatic elements of drama (according to Aristotle): plot, character, thought, diction, music and spectacle. With your one-act your attention will primarily be with plot, character, thought (your theme, subject, message) and diction.

Dramatic action must be possible, plausible, and probable. A play must have conflict for it to have forward motion (praxis).

Use your CREDO. It will suggest to the writer the values of “self as source”…you are preparing resource material for future

use force deeper thinking of one’s values and makes the writer think more deeply about topics be an introduction of “self to self” and make you examine your inner beliefs possibly show your conflicting convictions which will then make you re-examine your feelings remind the writer that the major part of a play is its intellectual value—its thought

PLAYWRITING: Action + Counter-Action = Conflict“People on stage act, and these actions—better than anything else—uncover their inner sorrows,

joys, relationships, and everything about the life of the human spirit on stage.” Constantin Stanislavsky

The story of a play is told by what the characters SAY (dialogue) and DO (action).

Drama comes from the Greek root dran which means TO DO. (Dramatikos=full of ACTION)

ACTION: what the character does to solve the PROBLEM or fulfill the TASK or OBJECTIVE (PTO) set before him or her by the play (usually the protagonist—allies)

COUNTER-ACTION: the action (usually by the antagonist—allies) that is contradictory to the action of the protagonist—allies

ACTION + COUNTER-ACTION = CONFLICT

CONFLICT: the clash produced when the ACTION meets COUNTER-ACTION. This clash can be external or direct (as in a fist fight) or it can be internal or indirect (as in a passive-aggressive encounter or person vs. him/herself). (WHY + THIS + HERE/NOW -> high stakes & urgence)

THROUGH ACTION (Through line of action or “spine” of a play): a unifiying, overall action that connects all moment-to-moment actions throughout the play to each other. There can also be a COUNTER THROUGH-ACTION.

PRAXIS: Aristotle’s term which means forward moving action by the protagonist that propels him/her through the story.

PLOT: Exposition, Inciting Incident, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution

These may not follow the “witch’s hat” formula in a play, but the basic structure is there.

GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES: all the conditions, detailed by the playwright and suggested in the play’s social and historical setting, which determine the character’s behavior. These may also include circumstances set up by the director and designers during production. As a playwright, you must consider these. Include any necessary GCs in your stage directions and dialogue. These will serve as CLUES for the director and actor to interpret your play.

SUPER TASK (Problem, Objective—PTO): the larger, one main Problem, Task, or Objective that links together actions throughout the play (through-action). This can also mean the goal of the playwright. What is your “Super Task”? What do you want your audience to feel? What do you want them to take away from the experience of watching your play? How do you want them to react? (Feel, Think, Do?)

COMMUNICATION (Communion): verbal and non-verbal interaction between scene partners and between the actors and the audience. The Russian word suggests communion, sharing, interacting, relating, and being in contact. Actors must communicate the playwright’s message verbally and non-verbally.

(VERBAL) Words= 7% (NON-VERBAL) Tone of Voice= 23-38% & Body Language = 55-70%

Your ultimate goal as a playwright is to COMMUNICATE your “Super Task-PTO” with the audience using the DIALOGUE and ACTIONS of the characters interpreted by the actors with support from the director & designers (along with the production staff.)