Customer Reviews

Dramatists Sourcebook: Complete Opportunities for Playwrights, Translators, Composers, Lyricists and Librettists, 25th Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The person who gave this book a one-star review is basically just bitching about a defective copy that he received -- totally irrelevant to the quality and content of the Dramatists Sourcebook itself. It's a great book, clearly written, detailed, well-organized, a highly useful tool for any playwright.

I always purchase a Dramatists Sourcebook as soon as the new edition is released. I would normally give this publication four or five stars, but this edition is missing 49 pages right in the middle of the book!

It also reproduces the same 47 pages back to back. Here's how the numbering goes in the book I received:

Pages 1-180 are fine.
Then it immediately skips to pages 229-276; I'm missing pages 181-228.
Then immediately after page 276, it goes right back and repeats pages 229 - 276, the same exact pages.
Then it continues on through to page 322.

This is not a case of the pages simply being numbered incorrectly and the content being correct; the exact same pages, 229-276, are literally duplicated.

If a corrected version of this edition is sent to me, I will amend this review at once.

UPDATE: Today, 3/5/09, TCG sent me a new copy of this book without the printing errors. They sent me the following email response two days ago:

"Thank you very much for letting us know. We sincerely apologize for that. Apparently there was a mix up at the printing house and a shipment's signatures were duplicated. We are sending you a new one from our offices here. Again, we do apologize."

I am unable to amend the the number of stars for this review. The corrected publication merits four stars. If it were published in a slightly more timely manner, meaning some of the deadlines within weren't already passed by the time the book hits the stands, it would be a five-star publication.

One further suggestion would be, in addition to Tony Kushner's helpful introduction, to have detailed specifications for things like indentation of stage directions, margins, title page, cast of character page, etc. Would be most helpful to have a couple of pages of examples instead of just a couple of lines. Also, Mr. Kushner's example shows a space between printing a character's name and their dialogue, whereas all other examples I have seen allow for there to be no space here.

All in all a great tool.