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Seminar in Playwriting MPW 965B 39250 Spring 2008 Instructor

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Seminar in Playwriting MPW 965B 39250 Spring 2008 Instructor Seminar in Playwriting MPW 965b 39250 Spring 2008 Instructor: David Scott Milton Tuesday, 7-10 p.m. THH 109 Purpose: To examine and deal with the building blocks of the stage play. Work will be done in these areas: The essential idea or dramatic problem. How to develop the dramatic problem. The necessity for meaningful, interesting complication in the dramatic problem. The expression of dramatic ideas and their importance in the stage play. How to approach dialogue, character, scenes. The structuring of scenes. The development of the stage play through sequences. Structuring a sequence. Dealing with texture and style and rhythm in the stage play. [The “b” connotation for this course involves, where indicated, the revision of plays already developed in the class.] How the class will operate: Each week the members of the class will bring in sections of their work. Please be prepared to hand in between 5 and 15 pages. These will be read aloud and commented on. Requirements: In order to qualify for an A grade, the rough draft of a full-length stage play is due at on February 19, 2008. On the last day of class, April 29, 2008 a full-length stage play must be completed. (For the purposes of the class, “full-length” means a play of 70 pages or longer.) Plays: It is strongly recommended that a proportion of the following plays be read. This will assist you in your playwriting for this class and can also be read for one’s enrichment as a thinking, sentient, civilized human being. General: Plays of William Shakespeare. He wrote thirty-seven. You should be acquainted with all of them. Start with *“Hamlet”, *“King Lear”, “Macbeth”, *“Othello”, “Henry V”, “Twelfth Night”, “As You Like It” on and on and on. Plays of Anton Chekhov, *“Three Sisters,” *“The Seagull,” “The Cherry Orchard,” “Uncle Vanya” (as well as “Ivanov,” “The Wood-Demon,” “The Harmfulness of Tobacco,” etc.) August Strindberg, “Miss Julie,” “The Father,” “A Dream Play,” etc. 1 Henrik Ibsen, “A Doll’s House,” “An Enemy Of The People,” “Hedda Gabler,” “Peer Gynt” Luigi Pirandello, “Six Characters In Search Of An Author” George Bernard Shaw, *“Heartbreak House,” “Major Barbara,” “Candida,” “The Devil’s Disciple,” “Pygmalion,” etc. American: Eugene O’Neill, *“Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” “The Iceman Cometh” Clifford Odets, “Waiting For Lefty,” *“Golden Boy,” “Awake And Sing.” Tennessee Williams, *“Glass Menagerie,” *“A Streetcar Named Desire,” *“Camino Real,” “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof,” etc. Arthur Miller, “All My Sons,” *“Death Of A Salesman,” “The Crucible,” “After The Fall,” etc. Edward Albee, “The Zoo Story,” “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf,” “Tiny Alice” David Mamet, “American Buffalo,” “Edmund,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” British: John Webster, *“The Duchess of Malfi” and “The White Devil” Christopher Marlowe, “Tamburlaine,” “Dr. Faustus” Cyril Tourneur, *“The Revenger’s Tragedy” Oscar Wilde, *“The Importance Of Being Ernest” Harold Pinter, *“The Caretaker,” *“The Homecoming,” “The Dumbwaiter,” “Old Times,” etc. Tom Stoppard, *“Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” Joe Orton, *“Loot,” “What The Butler Saw” John Osborne, “Look Back In Anger,” “The Entertainer” Irish: Sean O’Casey, *“The Plow And The Stars,” “Shadow Of A Gunman” Russian: 2 Maxim Gorky, *“The Lower Depths” German: Berthold Brecht, “Mother Courage,” “Galileo,” *“In The Jungle Of Cities” French: Moliere, “Tartuffe,” “Le Malade Imaginaire” Jean Giraudoux, “Tiger At The Gates,” “Ondine, “ The Madwoman Of Chaillot” Jean Anouilh, “The Lark,” *“Mademoiselle Colombe,” “The Waltz Of The Toreodors” Swiss: Friedrich Durrenmatt, “The Visit,” “Mister and Mississippi” Recommended Texts: *“A Life” by Elia Kazan “The Fervent Years” by Harold Clurman *“My Life In Art,” Constantine Stanislavsky *“Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays” and *“A View of the English Stage” by Willliam Hazlitt *“Aspects of the Novel,” E.M. Forster [* Signifies particular favorites of mine] Grading: Your grade will be based upon fulfillment of these requirements: full-length play, rough draft, on February 19. This will amount to 10% of your grade. In order to qualify for an A, this must be carried out. Revised full-length play on April 29, 40% of your grade. A consistent pattern of bringing in work in progress over the length of the semester and your growth during the course of the semester: 40%. Your participation in class: 10%. Attendance is a must. Persistent lateness or absence will bring down your grade. Two unexcused absences will result in lowering your grade by a half letter. Three unexcused absences will lower you grade a full letter. 3 .
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