Intermission

What Playwrights Do

Intermission — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:04:26 +0000

I believe that in their hearts, playwrights are trying to make sense of it all, trying to sell us something more than just tickets.

Carlyle Brown, “New Plays: Survivor or Lost?” American Theatre Magazine, Vol 27, No. 6, July/August 2010, p.54

Playwrights Born in July

Intermission — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:15:45 +0000

Caridad Svich
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Birthday Unknown

…I write for the body in space, and I write for the voice in space—so it’s not meant to be literary; you’re not supposed to get it in readings. You’re supposed to get it in performance. That’s what plays are supposed to be. They’re meant to be performed.

Cartography Lessons with Caridad Svich, by Justin Maxwell, American Theatre Magazine, July/August 2009

Other playwrights born in July include:

Aphra Behn
Wye, England
10 July 1640

Susan Keating Glaspell
Davenport, Iowa, USA
1 July 1876

Jean Kerr
Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA
10 July 1922

Ann Jellicoe
Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England
15 July 1927

Nathalie Sarraute
Ivanovo-Voznesensk (near Moscow)
18 July 1902

Rosie Malek-Yonan
Tehran, Iran
4 July 1965

And someone else
who is
unknown to us.

Theresa Rebeck on How Everyone Thinks They Can Write

Intermission — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:10:51 +0000

Theresa Rebeck
Playwright
Birthday Unknown
Kenwood, Ohio, USA

…if I had spent the past 15 years being a writer, assuming that then when I got around to it I would suddenly become a doctor, most people would consider me delusional.

Free Fire Zone, by Theresa Rebeck, p.1

Quotes from Lillian Hellman

Intermission — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:15:14 +0000

Writing for the Theatre

What Lilly Said to Marsha Norman
Theatre Criticism
Celebrity
Failure in Theatre
Joy in Writing
Theories about Writing
Bureaucrats and Writing
When Writers Talk About Writing
Where Writers Come From

On Writing Plays
On Research
On Writing about People
Emotions and Writing
Waiting for Ideas
Hearing Your Words Aloud
Where Plays Come From
More: Where Plays Come From
Even More: Where Plays Come From
Lots of Drafts
Writing in Fragments
Know Your Characters
How to View Your Characters
Creating Characters
Stage Entrances and Exits
Length of Plays
Writer’s Block

What’s Required to Write Plays
Confidence
Being Present
Time Needed
Teaching Drama

Lilly on Not Wasting Your Life

Intermission — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:24:38 +0000

I suppose the point I have in mind is this—you come to a place in your life when what you’ve been is going to form what you will be. If you’ve wasted what you had in you, it’s too late to do much about it. If you’ve invested yourself in life, you’re pretty certain to get a return.

Lillian Hellman Drama Forgoes a Villain, by Harry Gilroy, New York Times, Feb 25, 1951.