One of the most valuable things I’ve learned about writing from the process of writing for TV is the concept of ‘not this, but.’ It allows a writer to say ‘here is the terrible version …
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not this, but
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The End Feeling
Did you know that even if you’re not really a theater person, you still have an innate sense of when a play should End? I’ve felt it so many times: I’m watching a play with …
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in an image
When I have a play in production, I tend to become fixated on two elements: the scene change music, which can NOT be female vocalists earnestly playing guitars and singing about strawberries which for some …
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wordgiver
A synonym for playwright is wordgiver. We sit in rehearsal and watch the actors read scenes, and if we watch closely, we can actually feel the moments when they wish they had more or different …
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lady vs. woman
Part of an actor’s job is to hunt for meaning and subtext in a writer’s words. The really good and intuitive ones tend to find something complicated and rich in your play that you did …
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those who can’t sing / write and stare
First I loved writing stories, then poems, then plays, then movies, then TV, then emails to high schoolers who just discovered they love plays, then the occasional succinct note in Morrison’s lunch, but most recently: …
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scriptpiphanies
I would just like to formally apologize to every actor who came to callbacks for The Cake last night for how much I was frantically writing during every read. If I were you, I would …
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Plays n Pie
People who love plays to tend to also love food and when people gather to eat food. If when people gather to eat food there is also a play, EVEN BETTER. This lovely genius girl …
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with alacrity
I woke up REALLY needing to find a picture of the book I learned words from as a kid, and HERE IT BE: I think this was all of elementary school, opening this owl and …
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Girl #2!
Every year I write a short play for Theater Breaking Through Barriers, an NYC based company that works mainly with disabled actors — on plays sometimes related to issues of disability, but sometimes not. Their …