Playwriting: The Structure of Action, Revised and Expanded Edition [Paperback]

Prof. Sam Smiley (Author), Norman Bert (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2005

This practical guide provides the principles of dramatic writing. Playwrights and screenwriters will discover these essential principles and acquire the tools to put them to use. Sam Smiley incorporates extensive new material in Playwriting: The Structure of Action, a revised edition of the book that dramatists in theatre and film have relied on for more than twenty-five years. No writer, director, critic, or teacher concerned with dramatic writing should be without this intelligent and inspiring guide.
Sam Smiley offers insights derived from a lifetime of writing, teaching, and consulting. While preserving the best of the earlier edition of the book, he offers new discussion on contemporary playwrights (Tony Kushner and Tom Stoppard), on copyright law, on new writing approaches, and on nontraditional dramatic forms.
Reaching far beyond simplistic how-to instructions, the book focuses on identifying and explaining principles essential to creating dramas: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. Smiley explains these classic topics and provides the modern keys for realizing each element in effective dramatic scripts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this book. Always a classic on the playwright’s bookshelf; now that it has been substantially reorganized, updated, and rewritten for contemporary playwrights, I believe it is a must-own text for the serious dramatist.”—David A. Crespy,Writing for Performance Program, University of Missouri-Columbia

(David A. Crespy )

"It''s great to see the granddaddy of all playwriting books back in action, more vigorous than ever in this newly revised edition, ready to mentor and inspire a whole new generation of young playwrights."—Paul Stephen Lim, English Alternative Theatre, University of Kansas 

(Paul Stephen Lim )

About the Author

Sam Smiley is a playwright, screenwriter, and former professor of theatre at the University of Arizona. Norman Bert is a playwright and professor of theatre at Texas Tech University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; Rev Exp edition (October 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300107242
• ISBN-13: 978-0300107241
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid philosophy, little information, March 15, 1999

By 

Sally Atman ([e-mail]) (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playwriting: The Structure of Action (Prentice-Hall series in theatre and drama) (Paperback)

As a 30-year playwright and a 20-year playwriting instructor, I can recommend Smiley's text for those interested in the philosophy of script construction, but do not suggest it as a "how-to" book. Smiley is poetic, romantic, and writes well, yet assumes the reader already understands basic structure. Not for everyone.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a classic, October 20, 2005

By 

M. King - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Playwriting: The Structure of Action, Revised and Expanded Edition (Paperback)

I've been hoping for a reprint of this for years. It is one of the wisest books about play construction I know. I use it extensively in my Playscript Analysis class. The Aristotle-based approach to understanding play structure leads readers beyond the shallow "how to" approach of most books about playwriting and leads them to a deeper understanding of the essential nature of dramatic art. This book will still be read when the flavor-of-the-month how-to-write-a-screenplay-in-one-weekend books are all forgotten. The extensive examples from classics of dramatic literature illustrate the author's points. An essential part of any theatre practitioner's library.

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate text on dramatic writing, September 13, 2009

By 

Sky Myers (Washington, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playwriting: The Structure of Action, Revised and Expanded Edition (Paperback)

This is not a cookie-cutter how-to book on playwriting. Sam Smiley knows that great writing must be both well-crafted and inspired. In this text he presents the elements of story structure (adapted from Aristotle's elements of drama) needed to craft a strong storyline and build dramatic action from page one through the final resolution. It also illustrates these elements with examples from both classic and contemporary literature that will inspire even those with the most diverse tastes. Because the elements of dramatic action are core to every successful work of drama, this text is useful to both the beginning dramatist and the experienced writer. And the principles presented are equally useful to both playwrights and screenwriters. There are many texts out there that will hold your hand through a process of writing a play, but few that will give you as deep an understanding of the dramatic art as this book does. This is not a step by step guide to writing a play, but rather an intense analysis of the foundational elements of the dramatic arts. And for Smiley, drama is art, not merely entertainment. Hidden in his text is the assumption that the reader is an artist and poet, and hidden in this assumption is encouragement and inspiration. In addition, Dr. Smiley offers his understanding of these principles as tried and true rules, yet he always allows for the breaking of rules, the inspired departure from the traditional forms, and even wholly new writing approaches.