New Playwriting Strategies: A Language-Based Approach to Playwriting

Paul C. Castagno is Professor of Theatre at UNC-Wilmington where he served as founding chair of the Department of Theatre. He formerly served as Director and Head of M.A. Programs of the School of Theater at Ohio University, and headed the MFA Playwriting/Dramaturgy Programs at University of Alabama. He teaches playwriting, dramatic literature and directs, and has published books and/or articles on playwriting and commedia dell’arte.

"Unique in its genre...goes far beyond [a] useful study...recommended enthusiastically..." -- Choice
"New Playwriting Strategies is a lively dramaturgical gesture that not only blows cobwebs off the existing contemporary notions of what constitutes a stageplay, but also chronicles the seismic shift in playwriting over the past two decades in the United States. This language-based approach to playwriting offers a rigorous collection of writing exercises that will challenge playwrights at a formative and advanced stage to discover new creative strategies and forms for theatrical expression." -- Mark Bly, Chair of the Playwriting Program, Yale School of Drama
"The new school of playwriting needs a new poetics, and Paul Castagno provides it in New Playwriting Strategies, a text that is lucid, intelligent, and, above all, practical. He offers an insightful analysis of the work of today's most inventive dramatists, creates a critical vocabulary to illuminate their work, and provides clear and fun excercises. Truly an indespensable book--not just for playwrights, but directors, designers, and critics, as well." -- David Rush, author of Police Deaf Near Far and Head of Playwriting, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
"The new school of playwriting needs a new poetics, and Paul Castagno provides it in New Playwriting Strategies, a text that is lucid, intelligent, and, above all, practical. He offers an insightful analysis of the work of today's most inventive dramatists, creates a critical vocabulary to illuminate their work, and provides clear and fun excercises. Truly an indispensable book--not just for playwrights, but directors, designers, and critics, as well." -- David Rush, author of Police Deaf Near Far and Head of Playwriting, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Introduction Part I: The Language Playwright Chapter 1: The Playwright's Two Voices Chapter 2: Dialogic Applications and Practices Part II: The Dramaturgy of New Playwriting: From Building Blocks to Revision Chapter 3: The Poetics of New Playwriting Chapter 4: Defining, Rewriting and Refining the Script Part III: Monologic Structures: From Orthodoxy to Innovation Chapter 5: Show us, don't tell us Chapter 6: Toward Dialogic Monologue in New Playwriting Part IV: Formulating Character Chapter 7: Establishing New Approaches to Character Chapter 8: Len Jenkin's Dramaturgy of Character: Stage Figures to Archetypes Chapter 9: Eric Overmyer: Some Principles of Character Transformation Chapter 10: Mac Wellman: Language-based Character Works Cited Index