4. Secondary Character:  who stands in equal opposition to the main character, who forces the action and heightens the...

5. Central Conflict: which fuels the most mysterious of dramatic elements, the action of the play, incorporated in your...

6. Central Image:  real or symbolic, the Lode Stone of Drama, which pulses with the play's thought and meaning and points toward the...

7. Over Arching Metaphor:  the theme of your play.
 

And!
 
• Character perspective exercises, from 1st, 2nd and 3rd person points of view, which will help you explore your main characters in detail. Who are they? Why are they in this particular play? What motivates them in terms of spirit, heart, mind and body? (See Dream Dreams  and See Visions )

 
• Suggestions, tailored to your work, regarding the use and development of short and long scenarios. These often over looked 'blueprints' of scenes, and plays as a whole, are extremely useful when the how and why of your plot get lost among the story details of who, what, when, where... etc.

 
• A selected bibliography of the best screen and play writing/craft texts I have found, about twenty titles, texts to which I frequently refer in my own development and when teaching Introductory and Advanced Play Writing, Character Generated Plot , and Image, Symbol and Myth in Play Writing.

 
• A complimentary copy of my monograph Dramaturgy; Dreadful and Divine, an exploration of constructive and destructive dramaturgical models published in 1999 in CanPlay, official journal of  The Playwright's Union of Canada (Where you can also find a photo and soon to be updated bio of yours truly)
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Plus!

I n addition to the three to six page critical analysis, the perspective exercises, monograph and bibliography described above, MasterPlayWorks will explore relevant questions such as:

• Why is this a play, as opposed to a film or TV script... and vice versa?

• Are you telling the story you wish to tell?

• Will this entertain, hold, elevate and satisfy an audience?

• If so, how? If not, why not?

• Tone, pace and rhythm... the voice of your screen or stage play. Is  your work distinctive, singular, unique?

• Have you considered the five Aristotelian structural elements of standard well made works for the theatre: i.e., the introduction, development, climax, denouement and resolution?

• Analysis of dramatic, mytho-poetic, and practical stage-able elements of your work.

• Clarity, precision, and the power of rising action will be the chief concern.

• Is your stage or screen play about right versus wrong, (the purview of melodrama) or more interestingly, right versus right?

Dramaturgy for Stage and Screen

The stakes get higher with each new draft. The goal remains the same. Whether you're writing comedy or tragedy, the fullest possible realization of an emotionally engaging, intellectually stimulating, entertaining evening of theatre is the prize.

Presupposing dramatic talent, a love of craft,  imagination and discipline, everything you require to write a stage or screen play already exists inside you. What doesn't is often readily accessible.  I can help you explore and refine your thinking  —  your own myth charged, poetic/dramatic sensibility, where you'll discover the world of your play. I'll help you relate what you discover to contemporary life; we'll mine enduring archetypes for their contemporary resonances.

I offer further analysis of subsequent drafts of your play's 'stage readiness' or cinematic suitability.   Carefully considered questions are posed, your answers to which will lead to further development.  The analytic process is substantially the same for each draft. We will trace character development, thematic arcs, questions of tone, pace and rhythm, and continue to push your play's action forward to its inevitable climax.

I'm not here to fix your play.  I'm not here to write your screen or stage play for you. My job, by carefully following your lead, is to assist you as you strive to make your play worthy of  presentation to a live audience in the living theatre or cinema.

As each draft emerges, telescopic from the last, our understanding of the piece will have matured. We will see together where dramatic power lies, where it falters, where characters surprise us, where dialogue soars, grabs hold, deflates, etc.

Again, I follow your lead. Our mutually accumulated knowledge of what you wish to write, in the context of your play's evolution, will help draw first you, then your audience, closer to your play's core. (See What I Need From You for further details)
 
 

For further information, contact me at;

playwork@isn.net