The Dramatist

Landmark Symposium: West Side Story

TERRENCE MCNALLY:  It’s hard to imagine what the musical theatre would be like in 1985 without the efforts of the four gentlemen sitting here with me, the authors of West Side Story. In our theatre community, they are held in great, great respect and much love. West Side Story is the one time these four extraordinary talents came together. I’d like to start with the germ of the idea, the first time somebody said, “Hey, there’s...
Advocacy Newsroom

The Dramatist Jan/Feb 2022: The Motivation Issue

The January/February 2022 issue of The Dramatist magazine is now available to access online, and hard copies are currently being shipped to DG members  as well.  In this latest edition of The Dramatist, Blossom Johnson, Jeremy Geragotelis, Brianna Barrett, TS Hawkins, and Psalmayene 24 reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic’s lasting impact, while...
Advocacy Newsroom

The Dramatist Jan/Feb 2021: The Terrence McNally Issue

The January/February issue of The Dramatist magazine is now available to access online, and hard copies are currently being shipped to DG members  as well. This issue is dedicated to Terrence McNally (1938-2020) and features writing advice from him, as well as tributes from numerous friends and collaborators. It isn't often that we dedicate an entire issue to one person. Terrence McNally is that rare exception for many reasons including his impressive body of work, his...
Advocacy Newsroom

The Dramatist Nov/Dec 2020: Craft & Career

The November/December issue of The Dramatist magazine is now available to access online, and hard copies are currently being shipped to DG members  as well.  The theme of this issue is Craft & Career. According to The Dramatist Editor Joey Stocks, "since so many of us are still at home, we thought we’d shift the conversation back to some basics of writing. Initially, we conceived this issue to be solely about craft. In the course of editing transcripts...
The Dramatist

On Setting

What is setting? It’s defined as; “the space or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place” or “the time and place a play, novel or film is represented as happening.” OK, but there is something starchy, hard, and fast about the definition that I don’t like.
The Dramatist

The Rooms Where It Happens (for some)

As a rural southern playwright, I am often isolated from the most vibrant theatre artists in the country even though I previously lived in New York for over a decade and currently work remotely with a New York based collaborator.