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Letters to a Young Playwright

Practical and Impractical Advice on the Art of Playwriting

Adam Szymkowicz author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Globe Pequot Press

Published:24th Sep '24

£14.99

Supplier delay - available to order, but may not be available until after 3rd February 2025.

Letters to a Young Playwright cover

Adam Szymkowicz is that rarest of things: a working playwright. At a time when the entire business model of American theatre seems on the verge of implosion—and most dramatists survive only through soul-sucking day jobs, the largesse of patrons or their own families, or writing for television—Szymkowicz has carved out a distinctive niche for himself without relying on big institutions or the brass ring of a Broadway production. Each year, his body of work—over 20 sharp, funny, pop-culture-inflected plays animated by an unabashed romanticism—is staged everywhere from major urban theatres to colleges and high schools.

In Letters to a Young Playwright, Szymkowicz dispenses hard-earned, unsentimental, and entertaining advice to early-career dramatists. Modeled on Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, it covers topics like writer’s block, self-promotion, and the pluses and minuses of pivoting to Hollywood in insightful and digestible short essays. Perfect for beginning playwrights as well as mid-career writers looking to reinvigorate their craft and career, it contains endlessly useful advice and reflections from one of the most-produced living playwrights in America—as well as a handful of select excerpts from the over 1,100 interviews he has conducted with playwrights since 2009.

ISBN: 9781493088195

Dimensions: 202mm x 127mm x 22mm

Weight: 227g

194 pages