Argues that teachers need to reinforce the idea that the successful actor's first step in the process of finding and developing a character is to understand the script. Includes the script for a 10-minute play, Christopher Graybill's "Go Look." Presents a close study of the script. (RS)

Discusses the casting of small roles in television's dramatic series in terms of social stereotyping. Information is based on interviews with writers, producers, directors, casting directors, and talent agents. (JMF)

Offers advice from a playwright on how to use a play's stage directions. States that stage directions (1) are one playwriting technique for eliminating unnecessary words, (2) are strong suggestions from the playwright, and (3) often reveal character traits. Discusses script analysis. (PA)

Clara Tree Major, the first producer to provide professional touring plays exclusively for children's audiences (from 1925 until 1954), not only produced these plays but also wrote the scripts by adapting children's stories for the theatre. This paper investigates Major's playwriting principles and techniques, examines Major's philosophy in play…

Suggests American screenwriters experiment with the lighting, colors, perspectives, angles, and positioning of images in works of art to generate narrative. Argues that American screenwriters, unlike European counterparts, unnecessarily adhere to the concept that characterization is essential to generate narrative. (KEH)

Designed to guide students through the process of writing a film script, this book is an analysis of eight classic screenplays and one novel written in cinematic style, which may serve as models for screenwriting. Each chapter in the book, except the last, is devoted to one script emphasizing a certain aspect of screenwriting. The focus is on how…

Horton Foote was among the television writers who helped make NBC's "Television Playhouse" the most popular live dramatic program on the air during the "Golden Age" of television drama, the period between 1952 and 1957. Foote felt a strong affinity for the land and people of his youth, and modeled the imaginary towns of…

Discusses the contributions of Clare Tree Major, the first theatre professional to provide touring plays exclusively for children's audiences, and examines her treatment of classic children's literature through the play "Little Women" Available from: Children's Theatre Review, American Theatre Association, 1029 Vermont Avenue, N.W. Suite…

Based on the Screenwriting 434 graduate-level seminar at the University of California Los Angeles, this book guides readers/students through every step of the screenwriting process by putting them through the actual writing of an original script. Chapters in the book are: (1) Ideas; (2) The Two-Minute Movie; (3) Building Your Characters; (4) The…

This collection of monologues describes women's roles in theater in 1994 as being "ripe with possibility." The collection includes work from playwrights Gloria Naylor, Harold Prince, Tony Kushner, Terrence McNally, and Harold Pinter, among others. The collection contains 57 brief audition pieces for women to perform from the 1994…

This essay is an examination of a particular kind of change which has been made with some frequency in recent motion pictures derived from novels. Because the market for cinema is youth and the young people of the country are largely disenchanted with foreign languages, motion pictures derived from novels are occasionally rewritten in such a way…

Examines how old age is portrayed in 35 popular plays for children. Suggests ways children's theatre can help children form positive attitudes on aging. (PD)