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The art of playwriting has been with us for hundreds of years-- plays were the first form of popular art to come out of Europe in the Middle Ages. The "Comedia del Arte" traveled around the countryside to spread the Gospel through dramatic representations in the form of improvised plays. First begun by Romans circa AD 200 with... more »
The playwright begins by developing the characters, scenes and dialogue that form the play. Different writers accomplish this in different ways. He may start with a detailed outline of the plot and create scenes based on that map. Or she may create dialogue and actions in chronological order until the play reaches a natural... more »
The more hats that you wear in Hollywood the better off you are. There’s even a term for it: “hyphenate.” There are zillions of actors and writers in Hollywood. If you can write and act, crafting a one-person show may be the way to get noticed.
In the 1980s, actor Chazz Palminteri’s career was barely scraping by with tiny bit roles... more »
Imagine being able to make money seeing your ideas come to life. That’s what you can expect if you become a successful playwright. And, like Tyler Perry and many others in the industry, you can make even more money if your plays get converted into movies, television shows and novels. You just need to know how to get started.... more »
A producer or director calls unfamiliar actors in for interviews based primarily on their headshots. However, their resumes factor into the decision because their job experience shows whether they can handle a particular type of script or performance and whether they're seasoned veterans or rank beginners. An acting resume usually... more »
For some, there is nothing more satisfying than to make an honest living using only the words...
Playwriting provides a dynamic way to teach history. It involves students in the lesson so they don't have to passively listen while you cover... more »
For some people, there's no reason to include profanity in a piece of writing like a play or other production. For others, art with limitations... more »
Playwright Layon Gray got his scriptwriting start by writing a Gospel play on a dare in two days and went on to create the Los Angeles African... more »
The University of California at Los Angeles is one of the premier public colleges in the nation. Although science careers are the most popular,... more »
If you're young at heart, enjoy making up stories for kids and have a long memory when it comes to backyard games of "let's pretend," the next... more »
A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors. They also may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance.
The term is not a variant spelling of playwrite, but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder (as in a wheelwright or cartwright). Hence the prefix and the suffix combine to indicate someone who crafts plays. The homophone with write is in this case coincidental.
Early playwrights
The earliest playwrights in Western literature with surviving works are the Ancient Greeks. These early plays were written for annual Athenian competitions between playwrightsFraser, Neil. "Theatre History Explained," The Cowood Press, 2004, page 11 held around the 5th century BC. Such notables as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes established forms that are still relied on by their modern counterparts.
The term playwright appears to have been coined by Ben Jonson in his Epigram 49, To Playwright, as an insult, to suggest a mere tradesman fashioning works for the theatre. He always described himself as a poet, since plays during that time were always written in meter and so regarded as the provenance of poets. This view was held even as late as the early 19th century. The term later lost this negative connotation.
Contemporary playwrights
Contemporary playwrights often do not reach the same level of fame or cultural importance that they have in the past, since the theatre is no longer the only outlet for serious drama or entertaining comedies, and must compete with films and television for an audience. In addition, the perilous state of funding for the arts in the U.S. and a growing reliance on ticket sales as a source of income for non-profit theatres has caused many of them to reduce the number read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playwright
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