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Playwriting

Students stuck on “what do I write?”

These playwriting activities are all about sparking ideas. Use prompts, quick exercises, and creative challenges to get students thinking, imagining, and writing without the pressure of a full script.

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Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Forrest Musselman

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Ken Preuss

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Todd Espeland

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Claire Broome

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know David Hammers

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Chris Evans

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Jeffrey Harr

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Treanor Baring

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Matthew Webster

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know John Donald O'Shea

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Christian Kiley

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwright Spotlights

Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Lindsay Price

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius...
Playwriting Playwriting Exercises

Playwriting Exercise: Your Ideal Future

Free writing can be a great way to get your students into the drama class mindset. They have to pause, focus, and write for a specific amount of time without stopping or getting distracted. For...
Playwriting Story Structure

5 Tips for Writing a Murder Mystery Play

Whodunnit? Murder mystery plays are a lot of fun for both performers and audiences. Audiences get to be detectives and discover throughout the show who committed the crime, while the actors get to...
Playwriting Playwriting Exercises

Playwriting Exercise: Baby Photo Prompt

In this article you’ll find instructions for a playwriting choice board exercise. For this exercise, students should bring in a photo of them as a baby or toddler. It needs to be a physical copy,...
Playwriting Writing Prompts

Resource: Tons of Emotion Prompts

Not sure how your character is feeling? Not to worry, fret, or flounder. Below you’ll find 50 emotion prompts, and another 50 in the download at the bottom of this article. Use these prompts when...
Playwriting Writing Prompts

Resource: Tons of Rainbow Prompts

Sometimes you need to brighten up your playwriting and scene work with a splash of colour. Try assigning small groups of students each a colour and seeing how many of those prompts they can include...
Playwriting Playwriting Exercises

Playwriting Exercise: The Next Scene

A common acting exercise for students is to imagine what their character is doing next when they exit a scene, and what they’re doing when they aren’t onstage. We’re turning that exercise into a...