To an unusual degree among writers playwrights' creations are not simply words on a page.
Instead a well-wrought play is an intricate machine that will be used by directors actors
designers and other creators to bring a fully staged real-time performance into the world.
The construction and maintenance of that machine is the playwright's job and it requires an
array of complex interconnected skills and techniques. Enter Justin Maxwell and The
Playwright's Toolbox a stimulating and wide-ranging resource for both beginning and
experienced dramatists. It brings together invigorating provocative and irreverent exercises
contributed by nearly 60 leading English-language playwrights covering all stages of the
writing process. It offers an accessible roadmap for those who have never written a play before
while providing new angles and solutions for seasoned writers struggling with a particular
challenge. Covered here is everything fromgenerating ideas and world-building through dialogue
and plotting to revision and the last steps before releasing a play into the world making
this an endlessly useful guide to building better plays.
