Published in The Dramatist Magazine What are we doing when we write for the stage? Are we entertaining ourselves? Entertaining others? Having our say? Trying to make a living? Trying to make a point? Furthering the art form? Joining the dialogue? Trying to save the ship? Trying to sink the ship? Getting even? Getting ahead? […]
Published by the Dramatist Guild, July 2006 Keynote address from the Southeastern Theater Conference in 2006 The age-old answer to this question was always “No, playwriting cannot be taught.” And like other age-old answers – abstinence is the only way, father knows best, etc – it was not true at all, but did serve a […]
Wesleyan University 2006 Thank you for inviting me to give this lecture. Because I have won prizes for writing plays, and teach the writing of plays, people always think I want to talk about the theatre, which I’m happy to do later on in the evening, if anyone has any questions. But my subject tonight […]
Southampton Writers Conference – July 2005 I am pleased to be asked to give a craft lecture, though truthfully, playwrights always feel a little odd in the company of poets and novelists and, you know, decent, honorable people. Because writing plays and musicals and movies feels like a real low down life most of the […]
Marsha is currently working on her book about the Musical Book. These are quotes from some other book writers, and some from Marsha and some from Peter Stone and John Weidman. Look at this page as a page of post-its. Many of these ideas are from, “Writing Musical Theater” by Allen Cohen and Steven Rosenhaus. […]