Playwriting Articles for Drama Teachers

The Best Writing Exercise ever? How can there be just ONE? Surely there’s a different “best” exercise for playwrights or novelists or poets? It’s impossible to make that claim! I am making that...

Who am I? It’s a question not a lot of people ask. Who am I? What defines me? Effective artistic expression begins with you. If you’re going to write a well detailed character, you should know...

Did you know that the word moment actually used to mean a specific time? It’s so general now – Just a moment….. I’ll be there in a moment…. wait a moment.” In medieval time a moment meant 90...

Birthdays are wonderful character development material because every human being has an immediate emotional reaction to their birthday. It could be that the character hates getting older or isn’t...

This exercise works for both playwrights and actors. It can be done by playwright working on a new play, or by an actor in rehearsal. It’s very simple, but also illuminating. It will encourage you...

If you want writing to become a tangible act, practice it with consistency. Consistency does not mean volume – there’s no need to start with a 400 page project. That will weaken your resolve almost...

This is a great Fun with Words Exercise. Hopefully you can use this in your writing, or take them in your classroom. We’re taking a word that means a mouthful and using it as an inspiration for a...

We’re taking a word that means a mouthful and using it as an inspiration for a scene. But not only that, the word in question is from a foreign language. Today’s word is: Pachemuchka The definition...

It’s time to have some fun with words! We’re taking a word that means a mouthful and using it as an inspiration for a scene. But not only that, the word in question is from a foreign language....

Here’s the deal. There are many words out there that mean a phrase, their definition is practically a sentence. I love those words, it’s so cool to take one word and have it mean so much. For...

Sometimes I see a picture, hear a sentence, something flashes in front of my eyes and a dramatic conversation instantly forms. It’s a moment that would come alive on the stage. This is one of those...

Episode 43: What is a Playwright? What is a playwright? Lindsay talks about what that question means to her and what happens when she assumes everyone is aware of that meaning. Guess what? Everyone...

Use this exercise to practice creating titles based on a picture. • Find a photograph. A great source for public domain photos is flickr.com/commons. • Take a few moments and study the photograph....

Over on Buzz Feed they have pictures of Happy Objects. Not, you know, objects with a cheery disposition, but that have happy faces somehow in them. They can’t help it, they look really happy. You...

I’m working on a new play in a different way this month. It’s going to be from the ground up with a class. When we had the first meeting a student raised their hand and asked “What’s this play...

““I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged”...

Episode 21: The Name Game Lindsay talks about her process when it comes to naming characters. It’s much more involved (read obsessive) than one might think…

I was recently in Arizona and visited a most unique museum. It was out in the desert (I love its name – the Superstition Mountain Museum) and on the property there was a wedding chapel that had...