writing
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Review: “Edward” by Ed Schmidt
When I teach playwriting, I talk a lot about objects. (There’s a chapter on it in my book, The Dramatist’s Toolkit.) One of the things I discuss is how, for example, two people negotiating over an object in a scene may reveal an enormous amount of what is going on between them under the surface.… Continue reading
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ULYSSES by the Elevator Repair Service
I tried to read James Joyce’s Ulysses three times without success. Then I switched to the Audible recording of the book, read by Jim Norton, with Marcelle Riordan as Molly. Before plunging into each chapter, I listened to a lecture on what was to come to help me focus on what I should be following.… Continue reading
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“Kyoto”
One of the things I value about Lincoln Center Theater is it has a history of putting up large-scale plays that no other management in town would attempt. Now, sometimes they’re from the UK. But then American writers have been discouraged by our managements from writing large-scale non-musical plays. (Among my least-produced plays is American… Continue reading
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“Punch” and “Caroline”
I’ve gotten tired of thuds. They are particularly obnoxious in the coming attractions for films in which every other cut is accompanied by a huge WHOMP! In combination with the images of explosions and fireballs, the effect can be numbing. The relentless noise suggests that the filmmakers don’t believe the subject matter might be sufficient… Continue reading
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A Conversation With Christopher Durang
This appeared in my book What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing, which was published by Yale University Press in 2017. Q: When I’m asked to teach, I discover more about what my philosophy is just because I’m required to articulate it to others. To what degree have you surprised yourself teaching? To… Continue reading
Jeffrey Sweet--Making the Scene 