The Playwright's Guidebook: An Insightful Primer on the Art of Dramatic Writing

by Stuart Spencer

Overview

A Crucible for Creativity: Unleashing the Playwright Within

This engaging and concise handbook is a beacon for both budding and seasoned playwrights alike, illuminating the path to creating compelling, well-structured plays. The Playwright’s Guidebook is more than just theoretical musing; it encapsulates practical advice based on the experience of a seasoned playwright, making it the ideal companion for those embarking on the thrilling odyssey of playwriting.

From crucial aspects like act structure, character development, and plot construction to the art of creating conflict and building drama, every nuance of playwriting is laid bare, empowering writers to unleash their own unique storytelling prowess.

The guidebook shines light on the lesser-explored aspects of playwriting like handling exposition, tackling writer's block, and understanding cover letters and literary agents. Offering insightful writing exercises and guidelines, it facilitates an invigorating exploration into the creative process. It doesn't stop at simply instructing how to write; it also troubleshoots recurrent problems, preparing playwrights to face and overcome the challenges they might encounter along the way.

Tap into the reservoir of creativity within you, pick up the tools of the playwright's trade, and weave dramatic narratives with The Playwright's Guidebook as your indispensable mentor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780571199914
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	03/29/2002
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	392
Sales rank:	442,924
Product dimensions:	5.45(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stuart Spencer's most recent play, Resident Alien, has been produced around the country and been optioned for film. He teaches playwriting at Sarah Lawrence College.

Read an Excerpt

The Playwright's Guidebook

PART ONE
STRUCTURE

PROLOGUE: THE TOOLS
THE TOOLS we're about to discuss provide you with the means to begin writing your play. Even the expert use of these tools will not solve all your writing problems, but they can offer you a sense of craft. Then you can apply that craft to begin the infinitely more difficult job of actually saying what you're trying to say.
It's important to remember as you're reading and working on the exercises in Part One that these ideas really are tools, not rules. There may be the laws of drama I mentioned in the Introduction, but you're better off not thinking of them as that.
Many great plays do not use the tools I'm presenting here, or if so, they use them in such idiosyncratic fashion that they are almost impossible to identify. For example, one is hard pressed to find a clear action for Lear in King Lear. Even if one does find action and conflict in Waiting for Godot, anevent for the play is very elusive. In fact, that's the point of Beckett's play--that there is no event. The contemporary work of playwrights such as Richard Foreman and Robert Wilson also lack any of my tools, yet many people--myself included--find their work fascinating and rewarding.
An audience goes to the theater to be entertained, informed, excited, provoked. People go because they are interested in your play, for whatever reason and on whatever level that may be. And your job is to keep them interested. If you have done that, then you have accomplished your task, no matter how little you may have used the tools I will tell you about.
Conversely, no matter how brilliantly you may have structured your play, if it can't capture an audience's interest, then you've failed.
 

Some students ask if they should think of these structural tools as a blueprint. My reply is an emphatic no. A blueprint suggests a preconceived plan, a rigid form into which you have to make your own ideas fit. It suggests also that the idea work has already been done and that all you need to do is follow instructions. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It bears repeating that the ideas described in Part One should be thought of as the tools that will come in handy while you are constructing your play. But it is your own play you are constructing, according to your own plan.
It's as though you have begun to build your dream house. It's conceivable (if highly unlikely) that you might even do the work without any tools at all. If you're like most people, you'll want a hammer, some nails, a saw, and so on. Soon you'll have them. And like building a house, the blueprint ofyour play may very likely change, grow, and evolve as you create it.
Other students approach me in the middle of learning some of the tools in Part One and say that they really don't want to use the tools they've been shown. They have a vague feeling of discomfort and suspect that there is something banal about them. They're afraid the tools will drain their work of creativity and that if they employ them, it will be embarrassingly obvious to the audience, who will see the play's scaffolding.
This apprehension about craft is peculiar to our modern age in which we value creativity over artifice, not realizing they are two sides of the same coin. Still, it's an understandable concern. Certainly none of us wants our audiences to see the scaffolding. But that's no reason not to have it. It's only a good reason to make sure that it isn't visible. Good scaffolding is by definition invisible--it's intrinsic to the play you are writing. You'll see, in the course of using this book, that structure is not something that must be artificially imposed onto your play. It is part of your play, the foundation of it. You know you've struck gold when what you are trying to say and the way you are trying to say it, are one.
Copyright © 2002 by Stuart Spencer

What People are Saying About This

Michael Weller

Mr. Spencer's Guidebook is full of solid, straightforward advice in a conversational voice that takes the mystery out of how plays are wrought, not written.

Warren Leight

Eureka! A clearly written, well-structured, intelligent how-to book about playwrighting. Like the good teacher and good writer that he is, Stuart Spencer guides rather than browbeats. Should be next to the laptop of any aspiring, or working, playwright.

David LindsayAbaire

If you want to be a playwright, here's your bible.

Edward Albee

Stuart Spencer's The Playwright's Guidebook is indispensable. Clearly and thoroughly, Mr. Spencer—a playwright himself—leads all playwrights (not only the beginner) through the travails of creation and the jungle of production. He is to be congratulated.

Jack O'Brien

At last! A straight-from-the-shoulder approach to playwrighting that finally blows the dust off much of the mystique surrounding this craft. Stuart Spencer writes with wit, insight, clarity, brilliant first-hand knowledge, and yes, finally, offers genuine help! Refreshing and beautifully organized, this book is long overdue.

Romulus Linney

A sensible, lucid, thorough and tremendously helpful journey into the always mysterious realities of playwriting.

Jon Robin Baitz

Stuart Spencer's meticulous handbook does something I had thought was almost impossible: it describes, clarifies and analyzes the mysterious process of building a play. And moreover, he does so with the grace and respect of a first–rate teacher for the intelligence and potential of his students. There is no ideology, no formula for instant success here. Just the distilled experience of a real practitioner generous enough to share, and reliable enough to be trusted.

Editorial Reviews

Stuart Spencer's meticulous handbook does something I had thought was almost impossible: it describes, clarifies and analyzes the mysterious process of building a play. And moreover, he does so with the grace and respect of a first-rate teacher for the intelligence and potential of his students. There is no ideology, no formula for instant success here. Just the distilled experience of a real practitioner generous enough to share, and reliable enough to be trusted.” —Jon Robin Baitz, author of Ten Unknowns and Substance of Fire

“Stuart Spencer's The Playwright's Guidebook is indispensable. Clearly and thoroughly, Mr. Spencer—a playwright himself—leads all playwrights (not only the beginner) through the travails of creation and the jungle of production. He is to be congratulated.” —Edward Albee

“Eureka! A clearly written, well-structured, intelligent how-to book about playwrighting. Like the good teacher and good writer that he is, Stuart Spencer guides rather than browbeats. Should be next to the laptop of any aspiring, or working, playwright.” —Warren Leight, author of Side Man

“If you want to be a playwright, here's your bible.” —David Lindsay-Abaire, author of Fuddy Meers and Wonder of the World

“At last! A straight-from-the-shoulder approach to playwrighting that finally blows the dust off much of the mystique surrounding this craft. Stuart Spencer writes with wit, insight, clarity, brilliant first-hand knowledge, and yes, finally, offers genuine help! Refreshing and beautifully organized, this book is long overdue.” —Jack O'Brien, Artistic Director, The Globe Theatres, San Diego

“A sensible, lucid, thorough and tremendously helpful journey into the always mysterious realities of playwrighting.” —Romulus Linney, author of The Sorrows of Frederick, Holy Ghosts, and Tennessee

“Mr. Spencer's guidebook is full of solid, straightforward advice in a conversational voice that takes the mystery out of how plays are wrought, not written.” —Michael Weller, author of Moon Children and Loose Ends

From the Publisher

Mr. Spencer's guidebook is full of solid, straightforward advice in a conversational voice that takes the mystery out of how plays are wrought, not written.

Michael Weller

A sensible, lucid, thorough and tremendously helpful journey into the always mysterious realities of playwrighting.

Romulus Linney

At last! A straight-from-the-shoulder approach to playwrighting that finally blows the dust off much of the mystique surrounding this craft. Stuart Spencer writes with wit, insight, clarity, brilliant first-hand knowledge, and yes, finally, offers genuine help! Refreshing and beautifully organized, this book is long overdue.

Jack O'Brien

If you want to be a playwright, here's your bible.

David Lindsay-Abaire

Eureka! A clearly written, well-structured, intelligent how-to book about playwrighting. Like the good teacher and good writer that he is, Stuart Spencer guides rather than browbeats. Should be next to the laptop of any aspiring, or working, playwright.

Warren Leight

Stuart Spencer's The Playwright's Guidebook is indispensable. Clearly and thoroughly, Mr. Spencer—a playwright himself—leads all playwrights (not only the beginner) through the travails of creation and the jungle of production. He is to be congratulated.

Edward Albee

Stuart Spencer's meticulous handbook does something I had thought was almost impossible: it describes, clarifies and analyzes the mysterious process of building a play. And moreover, he does so with the grace and respect of a first-rate teacher for the intelligence and potential of his students. There is no ideology, no formula for instant success here. Just the distilled experience of a real practitioner generous enough to share, and reliable enough to be trusted.

Jon Robin Baitz

A practical compendium based on author Stuart Spencer's experience crafting plays (Resident Alien; The Rothko Room; etc.) and teaching at Sarah Lawrence College, The Playwright's Guidebook offers counsel on issues like structure, conflict, character and problem-solving. This contemporary guide fills the gaps left open by many books, supplying organized and realistic advice for would-be playwrights. As Spencer says, "A play is more wrought than written. A playwright constructs a play as a wheelwright once constructed a wheel: a general shape is laid out, and then hammered, bent, nailed, reshaped, hammered again and again, until finally a functionaly and artful product has emerged." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Spencer has written many plays (Resident Alien is his most recent) and has taught playwriting at Sarah Lawrence College for the last ten years. Frustrated by not being able to find a playwriting handbook that addressed key issues and also included useful exercises, he decided to better his craft by writing his own how-to. The result is this succinct but insightful manual. In Part 1, Spencer lays out the "rules" of playwriting with the caveat that they are not written in stone but still need to be studied and understood, especially by new writers. Part 2 covers the creative process, describing how to define an idea and use gut instincts to write what you need to say. Part 3 deals with problems and tips on how and when to rewrite (e.g., how to create "cut lines" files). Finally, Part 4 is loaded with advice on what to read and how to write cover letters and contact literary agents. Well structured and easy to read and use, this book will be helpful to aspiring playwrights. Public and academic libraries should consider adding it to their collections. Lisa J. Cihlar, Monroe P.L., WI Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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