Customer Reviews

To Be a Playwright

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I found these essays, which address the day-to-day rules for writing a play, filled with such deep and comfortable wisdom that they can easily and usefully be taken as addressing the rules for living a good life as well. They will inform any class of young playwrights with wonderful insight into the theater; but they'll also make for a nice evening of pure pleasure in the company a warm, smart, sensible, humorous writer--whose own story of how she became a playwright is nothing short of inspiring.

I've read scripts for a living and taught writing, and have been looking for a book like this to recommend. It's the perfect combination of "How To," inspiration, and encouragement. In most writing books you can't find much real content; maybe one or two nuggets buried in the many pages. This book is chock full of real helpful information. It's the real thing. It also addresses the fears and realities of life as a writer which is funny, encouraging, and inspiring.

As both a playwright and teacher of playwriting, I find this a unique book. It is inspirational both to playwrights in the field and students of playwriting. It gives me inspiration to keep on "Keeping the Flame" and comfort in seeing myself in Ms. Neipris' journey. My students,I feel will find inspiration in the role model Ms. Neipris provides as they identify with her playwright's journey. Never a "How-to-do-it" book, never a textbook with exercises and assignments, this is a beautifully crafted, personal and affecting book for every playwright young or old, and for all devotees of the theater. A must read!

Shirley Lauro, playwright/novelist/screenwriter

Here is a book with keen insights not only into dramatic writing but every aspect of creative expression and, indeed, life itself. The language is luminous, the passion palpable. It is essential reading not only for practitioners of the art and craft and business of writing plays but for all souls of light who truly love theater.

From someone who wrote a lot of plays in high school and college and hasn't written at all since entering the so-called Adult World: this book is truly an inspiration. Ms. Neipris not only gives practical, easy-to-follow advice about how to solve the common problems in writing a play, she makes working in the theatre seem like the most wonderful, important, glorious thing that a person can do with their life. I'm convinced and inspired.

Janet Neipris' plays are known for their insight and sensitivity. This book about her long career and her advice to others based on that career is no exception. We learn a lot about how she came to be a successful writer and teacher, and how others can apply her hard-won lessons to their own efforts. It's concise and fun to read, too, not an academic exercise in pedantry.

I had flirted with the idea of writing a play for years, but it wasn't until I read this book that I found the necessary confidence and guidance to begin. Neipris anticipated all of the questions that were on my mind and in the order in which they occurred to me. I read the book with mounting excitement and admiration for her command of the subject. I took notes as I read and, by the time I was finished this slim, but potent book, I had accumulated enough good advice to stop flirting with the idea and start working. To Be a Playwright should be required reading in playwriting courses or for would-be playwrights.

Disclosure--I am a social scientist who has never aspired to be a playwright, but I have been an avid theatre goer all my life.

This book is a wise and delightful read. Anyone who loves theatre will thoroughly enjoying getting into the mind of the playwright. The author provides wonderful insghts into the creative process. I can't imagine that I will ever again see a play without thinking of her words about what has gone into the writing of a play. It should go without saying that any aspiring playwright will find this book a charming and essential guide to the craft.
Monica Holmes, PhD

"To Be A Playwright" offers a unique and personal glimpse into the soul of a dedicated playwright. It suggests not only how to become a better writer, but also what it means and how it feels to be a writer--someone who sits down at a well-ordered (or supremely messy) desk, and engages in a lifetime of difficult and rewarding work. Neipris' self-revealing, funny and extremely useful essays are filled with wisdoms you'll want to copy out and tape to the wall over your own desk.

Books on writing (novels, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, plays, memoirs) are a dime a dozen, and should be offered for sale for precisely that amount.

"To Be A Playwright" is a book that captures and makes specific what has been, until now, seemingly without explication; ephemeral.

It is, apart from being an engaging memoir by a successful, award winning playwright, very grounded in the ways-to convert the dream into producible,saleable marks on the page.

Forget the title and buy it for reasons and ways to write.