The Dramatic Writer's Companion
Tools to Develop Characters, Cause Scenes, and Build Stories
Dunne, Will
Hardcover
booksXYZ price: $45.00
$2.25 of your order (5%) will be donated to the school of your choice.
VIEW MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS ONE
Submit a book review
BOOK SYNOPSIS
Moss Hart once said that you never really learn how to write a play; you only learn how to write this play. Crafted with that adage in mind, The Dramatic Writers Companion is designed to help writers explore their own ideas in order to develop the script in front of them. No ordinary guide to plotting, this handbook starts with the principle that character is key. The character is not something added to the scene or to the story, writes author Will Dunne. Rather, the character is the scene. The character is the story. Having spent decades working with dramatists to refine and expand their existing plays and screenplays, Dunne effortlessly blends condensed dramatic theory with specific action stepsover sixty workshop-tested exercises that can be adapted to virtually any individual writing process and dramatic script. Dunnes in-depth method is both instinctual and intellectual, allowing writers to discover new actions for their characters and new directions for their stories. Dunnes own experience is a crucial element of this guide. His plays have been selected by the Eugene ONeill Theatre Center for three U.S. National Playwrights Conferences and have earned numerous honors, including a Charles MacArthur Fellowship, four Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, and two Drama-Logue Playwriting Awards. Thousands of individuals have already benefited from his workshops, and The Dramatic Writers Companion promises to bring his remarkable creative method to an even wider audience.
AUTHOR BIO
Will Dunne is currently a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, where he develops plays and teaches workshops. He also has led over fifteen hundred workshops through his San Francisco program, served as a dramaturg at the ONeill, and twice attended the Australian National Playwrights Conference as guest instructor. His plays, which include How I Became an Interesting Person and Hotel Desperado, have been presented in Russia, Australia, and Croatia as well as in the U.S.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
About This GuideExercises at a GlanceDeveloping Your Character Stage 1: Fleshing Out the Bones Stage 2: Getting to Know the Character Better Stage 3: Understanding Who the Character Really IsCausing a Scene Stage 1: Making Things Happen Stage 2: Refining the Action Stage 3: Refining the DialogueBuilding Your Story Stage 1: Triggering the Chain of Events Stage 2: Developing the Throughline Stage 3: Seeing the Big PictureFixing Common Script ProblemsGlossaryAcknowledgments
BOOK REVIEWS
"Will Dunne has taken everything he knows from the powerful dual standpoints of an award-winning playwright and a master teacher to create the book we've been waiting for. It's all there-from every angle and every perspective-how to bring fascinating, fully-developed characters in conflict out into the light and onto the stage."-Susan Stauter, artistic director, San Francisco Unified School District
FOR RELATED BOOKS
Reference Books :: Writing Skills Books
Performing Arts Books :: Theater Books :: Playwriting Books
MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 0226172538
ISBN(13-digit): 9780226172538
Dewey Decimal: 808.2
Library of Congress: 2008054026
Book Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 318
