New and Good
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| David Ball |
Backwards and Forwards : A Technical Manual for Reading Plays. Great material for playwrights, directors, and actors as well as students. Gives a great view from the stalls. |
| Michael Bloom |
Thinking Like a Director. Director's POV. You cannot afford to not know what and how a director thinks. |
| Shelly Frome |
Playwriting : A Complete Guide to Creating Theater. Wonderful insights. |
| Stuart Griffiths |
How Plays Are Made . A short book that summarizes all the essentials. I'm told by the publisher that you can purchase this book here. |
| Stuart Spencer |
The Playwright's Guidebook. Structure, creative process, problems, advice, recommended reading, exercises. |
Older and Better
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| Aristotle |
Poetics. One I found useful is Aristotle's Poetics by Francis Fergusson. It contains an introduction that takes you through some of the more obscure passages. |
| Michael Chekhov |
Michael Chekhov : On Theatre and the Art of Acting. Anton's nephew helps you understand what the actor needs from the script.
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| Lajos Egri |
Art of Dramatic Writing. Contains all the essentials and more. Has everyone else copied him?
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| Maren Elwood |
Characters Make Your Story. Drives home the point that it's all about character. |
Academic
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| Peter Brook |
The Empty Space. Deadly theatre. |
| Robert Brustein |
Dumbocracy in America : Studies in the Theater of Guilt. Urbane, witty, and true look at what passes for theater. |
| Culpepper, Verdonk, Short (Eds.) |
Exploring the Language of Drama : From Text to Context. Very good on 'turns' in dialog (the significance of who speaks next). |
If you can find...
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| Michael Checkhov |
On the Technique of Acting .
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| Josaphina Niggli |
Anything by her. Cuts to the chase. Brilliantly simple.
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Playwrights to read
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| Howard Barker |
Collected Plays : Claw, No End of Blame,... Collected Plays : The Love of a Good,... Off center and always surprising. |
| Horton Foote |
Collected Plays. Video: Alone The playscripts and screen script demonstrate Foote's brilliance at quite conflict. |
| Brian Friel |
Translations, Philadelphia, Here I Come. |
| John B. Keane |
The Field, The Year of the Hiker. |