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The Elements of Playwriting
Louis Catron imbued experienced and fledgling playwrights with inspiration, guidance, and a passport to maximizing their writing skills as well as their overall ability to transform written words into a stage production. He understood that being a playwright is more than putting pen to paper. It involves expressing a personal point of view, bringing a vision to life, developing dimensional characters, structuring a play’s action, and finding producers, directors, and actors to bring the work to life. In the second edition Norman Bert infuses the enduring merits of Catron’s original work with examples, technological developments, and trends geared to today’s readers. Bert’s play references are familiar to contemporary students, including examples from plays written since 2000. He includes useful information on web-based research and the electronic submission process. A new chapter focuses on the playwright’s responsibility to lay the groundwork for production elements like casting, design, theatre architecture as it impacts audience–performer relationships, staging modes, and the uses and expectations of stage directions. Also new to this edition are reading resources for delving deeper into topics discussed.
199 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 1994
12 people are currently reading
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About the author
Louis E. Catron
16 books9 followersLouis E. Catron was a professor of Theatre and Speech at William & Mary from 1966-2002 and Director of the William & Mary Theatre. He held a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University, and was the author of several plays and books on playwriting.
From a Faculty and Staff Announcement Email from Provost Michael Halleran on November 3, 2010:
"With deep sadness, I write to inform you that Professor Emeritus Louis E. Catron died on October 30, following a long illness. Catron was Professor of Theatre, Speech, and Dance at William & Mary for more than 35 years. A beloved and highly esteemed instructor, Professor Catron is remembered as "a special teacher who continued to nurture former students years after they left William & Mary."
Distinguished as both a teacher and director, Professor Catron received the Virginia Council of Higher Education's Outstanding Faculty Award, was twice named an "Outstanding Educator of America," and was elected to the William & Mary chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. He directed more than 50 William & Mary Theatre productions, setting attendance records with many of his musicals.
In addition to his active teaching career, Professor Catron was also an accomplished playwright whose works were performed thousands of times around the world. He wrote several books, many of which became standard college texts. A special source of pride to Professor Catron was that many of his students went on to become successful actors, playwrights, screenwriters, and novelists, penning more than 40 books themselves.
A graduate of Millikin University, Professor Catron earned his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he found success as an actor before embarking upon a teaching career. He first joined the College in 1966, earning promotions to associate professor in 1969 and professor in 1974. Upon his retirement from William & Mary in 2002, he was named Professor of Theatre, Speech and Dance, Emeritus. In retirement, he continued to teach courses for the Christopher Wren Association and was active in the community, volunteering for Meals on Wheels and Faith in Action.
Professor Catron is survived by his son, two brothers, and a sister. A memorial service is scheduled at 2 p.m. Sunday, November 7, at the Williamsburg United Methodist Church on Jamestown Road.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the Louis E. Catron Scholarship Fund for Artistic Development which supports W&M students who focus on studio art, creative writing, applied music, or theatre arts. Gifts should be directed to the Office of Development, College of William & Mary, P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795."
https://scrc-kb.libraries.wm.edu/loui...
https://www.wm.edu/as/charlescenter/s...
From a Faculty and Staff Announcement Email from Provost Michael Halleran on November 3, 2010:
"With deep sadness, I write to inform you that Professor Emeritus Louis E. Catron died on October 30, following a long illness. Catron was Professor of Theatre, Speech, and Dance at William & Mary for more than 35 years. A beloved and highly esteemed instructor, Professor Catron is remembered as "a special teacher who continued to nurture former students years after they left William & Mary."
Distinguished as both a teacher and director, Professor Catron received the Virginia Council of Higher Education's Outstanding Faculty Award, was twice named an "Outstanding Educator of America," and was elected to the William & Mary chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. He directed more than 50 William & Mary Theatre productions, setting attendance records with many of his musicals.
In addition to his active teaching career, Professor Catron was also an accomplished playwright whose works were performed thousands of times around the world. He wrote several books, many of which became standard college texts. A special source of pride to Professor Catron was that many of his students went on to become successful actors, playwrights, screenwriters, and novelists, penning more than 40 books themselves.
A graduate of Millikin University, Professor Catron earned his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he found success as an actor before embarking upon a teaching career. He first joined the College in 1966, earning promotions to associate professor in 1969 and professor in 1974. Upon his retirement from William & Mary in 2002, he was named Professor of Theatre, Speech and Dance, Emeritus. In retirement, he continued to teach courses for the Christopher Wren Association and was active in the community, volunteering for Meals on Wheels and Faith in Action.
Professor Catron is survived by his son, two brothers, and a sister. A memorial service is scheduled at 2 p.m. Sunday, November 7, at the Williamsburg United Methodist Church on Jamestown Road.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the Louis E. Catron Scholarship Fund for Artistic Development which supports W&M students who focus on studio art, creative writing, applied music, or theatre arts. Gifts should be directed to the Office of Development, College of William & Mary, P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795."
https://scrc-kb.libraries.wm.edu/loui...
https://www.wm.edu/as/charlescenter/s...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 9, 2010
Catron has an interestingly top-down approach to playwriting- he actually suggests that a playwright begin by writing a manifesto about what they believe is important in life. Next one should write an essay on what qualities one believes are admirable or heroic, and what actions exemplify these qualities. And so on. Eventually, one ends up with a play.
I suppose I shouldn't knock it until I've tried it, but I've never produced any other piece of fiction in this way, and I'm not sure why a play should be different.
Setting aside that methodological peculiarity, there's a lot of advice in this book that applies pretty well to writing any kind of fiction. It's presented well, but not particularly better than in many other writing books. The information specific to plays in particular was more interesting - there's a particularly good discussion of the differences between writing for the stage and writing for film or television.
My favorite thing in this book were the examples - snippets from actual plays chosen to illustrate particular points, with analysis of what the playwright was doing. I would have liked more of the examples, or indeed longer examples.
I suppose I shouldn't knock it until I've tried it, but I've never produced any other piece of fiction in this way, and I'm not sure why a play should be different.
Setting aside that methodological peculiarity, there's a lot of advice in this book that applies pretty well to writing any kind of fiction. It's presented well, but not particularly better than in many other writing books. The information specific to plays in particular was more interesting - there's a particularly good discussion of the differences between writing for the stage and writing for film or television.
My favorite thing in this book were the examples - snippets from actual plays chosen to illustrate particular points, with analysis of what the playwright was doing. I would have liked more of the examples, or indeed longer examples.
January 11, 2020
Took me a while to finish reading, but I’m slow when it comes to highlighting, underlining, and tabbing pages. This book had a lot of good information! I feel like I better understand the world of playwriting and how it works from start to finish.
May 15, 2012
Catron seems to be a tactical writer, rather than a strategic one. His suggestions for line-edits border on the obsessive, while his big-picture suggestions were frustratingly vague. There was also a surprising dearth of example quotes from plays for a book that alleges to teach about playwriting. Still, the book contains some good suggestions I hadn't considered before about script revisions. I suspect I would like the more recent edition better; a more up-to-date take on certain technical aspects of writing and a less dismissive treatment of 10-minute plays would help this book quite a bit.
June 15, 2008
used some of his exercises in my playwriting group (I'm the moderator).
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews