Playwriting 101: A Quick Guide on Writing and Producing Your First Play Step by Step From A to Z

To write for the theatre you need to know about theatre. Ideas are easy to come by. Examine your background interest and beliefs. Examine the world around you. Exercises can help you come up with ideas. Choose the audience you want to reach and write to that audience. To learn to write dialogue listen to and record everyday conversations. Dialogue should sound like ordinary conversations but has more direction. Know as much as you can about your central characters. Do a character analysis. Choose the character traits to emphasize. A character should come across as both typical and individual. Most plays have a plot which involves conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. The parts of a plot are: inciting incident rising action turning point climax and falling action. Other types of organization for a play are circular and thematic. Before starting to write you need to develop a central idea. Plays exist for a number of reasons--entertainment to bring attention to something and to teach. You need to decide what you want to accomplish. Its easier to gain an audiences interest if you start with a theme they agree with. A play needs a sense of universality. A play should be unified but it also needs contrast. Since theatre is a collaborative art the director actor and designers may see the different facets differently than you do. Its not difficult to have a well-written produced. Possible markets are schools organizations and professional theatre. Finished plays have to follow a particular format. About the Expert Marsh Cassady has had thirty-eight plays published and/or produced--including Off-Broadway. A former theatre professor with a Ph.D. degree he started a playwriting program at Montclair State in New Jersey that included beginning and advanced classes workshops and individual projects. He also taught creative writing including playwriting at UCSD. Marsh is the author of sixty published books in a variety of genres from theatre textbooks to novels to true crime and hundreds of shorter pieces. For about thirty-five years he led all-genre writing workshops in San Diego and in Rosarito BC Mexico where he has lived since 1997. HowExpert publishes quick how to guides on all topics from A to Z by everyday experts.