Playwriting: The Structure of Action

This is not a cookie-cutter how-to book on playwriting. Sam Smiley knows that great writing must be both well-crafted and inspired. In this text he presents the elements of story structure (adapted from Aristotle's elements of drama) needed to craft a strong storyline and build dramatic action from page one through the final resolution. It also illustrates these elements with examples from both classic and contemporary literature that will inspire even those with the most diverse tastes. Because the elements of dramatic action are core to every successful work of drama, this text is useful to both the beginning dramatist and the experienced writer. And the principles presented are equally useful to both playwrights and screenwriters. There are many texts out there that will hold your hand through a process of writing a play, but few that will give you as deep an understanding of the dramatic art as this book does. This is not a step by step guide to writing a play, but rather an intense analysis of the foundational elements of the dramatic arts. And for Smiley, drama is art, not merely entertainment. Hidden in his text is the assumption that the reader is an artist and poet, and hidden in this assumption is encouragement and inspiration. In addition, Dr. Smiley offers his understanding of these principles as tried and true rules, yet he always allows for the breaking of rules, the inspired departure from the traditional forms, and even wholly new writing approaches.

I've been hoping for a reprint of this for years. It is one of the wisest books about play construction I know. I use it extensively in my Playscript Analysis class. The Aristotle-based approach to understanding play structure leads readers beyond the shallow "how to" approach of most books about playwriting and leads them to a deeper understanding of the essential nature of dramatic art. This book will still be read when the flavor-of-the-month how-to-write-a-screenplay-in-one-weekend books are all forgotten. The extensive examples from classics of dramatic literature illustrate the author's points. An essential part of any theatre practitioner's library.