Description

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The art and craft of playwriting as explored in candid conversations with some of the most important contemporary dramatists

Edward Albee, Lanford Wilson, Lynn Nottage, A. R. Gurney, and a host of other major creative voices of the theater discuss the art of playwriting, from inspiration to production, in a volume that marks the tenth anniversary of the Yale Drama Series and the David Charles Horn Foundation Prize for emerging playwrights.
 
Jeffrey Sweet, himself an award-winning dramatist, hosts a virtual roundtable of perspectives on how to tell stories onstage featuring extensive interviews with a gallery of gifted contemporary dramatists. In their own words, Arthur Kopit, Marsha Norman, Christopher Durang, David Hare, and many others offer insights into all aspects of the creative writing process as well as their personal views on the business, politics, and fraternity of professional theater. This essential work will give playwrights and playgoers alike a deeper and more profound appreciation of the art form they love.

About the Author

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Jeffrey Sweet is an award‑winning playwright and theater historian. His previous work includes the play The Value of Names, histories of the Second City and the O’Neill Theater Center, and two books on playwriting.

Praise For…

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“Sweet’s collection of interviews is itself rather like a good play. For a start, it is not remotely boring or abstract and, significantly, the voices of the ‘characters’ come to life vividly on the page… A vocal celebration of the solitary writer in the most collaborative of industries.”—Laura Baggaley, TLS
— Laura Baggaley

“Sweet has assembled a group of successful contemporary playwrights and gotten them to open up about what they do and how they do it. . . . There’s a lot of professional insight in this collection of interviews, a lot of good advice, and the invaluable perspective of a glimpse into how these writers think.”—Jonathan Richards, Santa Fe New Mexican
— Jonathan Richards