THR w/Anatoly *
Text-only versions of SELF and other WeBooks will be on GeoAlaska website!
See WRITE directory @ Film-North (POV, PostAmeriKa, Theology of Technology, Self) New: www.anatoly.tv
SummaryThe best way to see what is new -- subscribe to my mailing list!Questions![]() Notes![]() The Playwright's Guidebook: An Insightful Primer on the Art of Dramatic Writing * During the ten years that Stuart Spencer has taught playwriting, he has struggled to find an effective playwriting handbook for his courses. Although most of the currently popular handbooks have good ideas in them, they all suffer from the same problems: they're poorly organized; are composed mostly of quirky, idiosyncratic advice on how specific playwrights have gone about writing their own work; and are full of abstract theorizing on the nature of art. As a result, they fail to offer any concrete information on how to construct a well-written play or any useful guidelines and exercises. Moreover, few of these books are actually written by working playwrights. Out of frustration, Spencer wrote his own book. The result, The Playwright's Guidebook, is a clear, concise, and engaging handbook. Spencer addresses the important principles of structure, includes insightful writing exercises that build upon one another, explores the creative process, and troubleshoots recurrent problems that playwrights actually face.
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History: This directory was the root directory and this page was created before I made "write" directories, including "plays" directories. Next -- I had to separate non-fiction and textbooks projects, theatre and film... In short, now this is a gateway page at "Theatre w/Anatoly" directory. Mostly for the news about writing projects; and only about theatre.The Art & Craft of Playwriting The Elements of Playwriting For those interested in learning and honing the art and craft of creative playwriting! With an infectious enthusiasm for the theater, Catron presents the basic principles of playwriting, including plot, dialogue, and character development, as well as the more complex issues of creating multi-dimensional characters and writing stageworthy plays that will attract producers, directors, actors, and audiences. Throughout, he sprinkles examples from classical and modern plays, provides exercises for sharpening and developing skills, and offers practical guidelines on working with actors and directors, getting produced and published, and finding an agent. Favoring concrete advice over theory, The Elements of Playwriting is an invaluable resource for both beginning and advanced playwrights and for anyone involved in the art and craft of theater. Special features: 1) provides step-by-step techniques for improving a play; 2) includes information about copyright, agents, organizations, and references; and 3) offers end-of-chapter exercises for fine-tuning creative application of topics discussed.Non-Fiction projects are @ Film-North. Also, papers, presentations, talks in Theatre Theory.
My plays, translations, adaptations -- Ant Theatre.
I write. Nothing is published, but I write. A lot. Every day. In fact, I do nothing else besides writing.NEW: in THR215 DramLit and THR413 Plyascript Analysis I will have a new playwrighting segment (2003). Respect for Acting In her introduction to Respect for Acting, actress and teacher Uta Hagen talks about a time when she herself had no respect for the art of acting. "I used to accept opinions such as: 'You're just born to be an actor'; 'Actors don't really know what they're doing on stage'; 'Acting is just instinct--it can't be taught.'" But this attitude of "you got it or you don't" is fundamentally one that denigrates the craft, as she points out. Great actors do not perform effortlessly, or merely through learning the appropriate tricks and cheats to manipulate an audience. Great acting is about the difficult fusion of intellect and action--about sincerely and truthfully connecting to the moment, your fellow actors, and the audience--and Hagen's thoughtful and profound book contains a series of observations and exercises to help an actor do just that. Her prose style is admirably clear and filled with examples from her own lengthy career both as a performer and in the classroom. While her exercises in sense memory and basic objects skirt close to the sort of self-absorption that followers of "the Method" are routinely accused of, they are presented clearly and with a focus on practical results. And in such places as her chapter "Practical Problems," which includes discussions of stage nerves and how to stay fresh in a long run, her straightforward advice is invaluable.I do not say "writer," I say -- "write"!
I know why I write online. I know why I do not read what I write.
I hope that one day, I could open my webpages and the books will there. Good books, the books I want to read. I want this day of discovery!
I want to discover myself. I want to surprise myself.