playwrights
Writers of dramas
Playwrights are writers who create plays for theatrical performance.
The word combines play with wright, an old term for a craftsman or maker (as in wheelwright).
A playwright constructs dialogue, stage directions, and dramatic structure: Shakespeare remains the most performed playwright in the English language.
The playwright revised the second act after previews.
Art of theatrical structure
- dialogueSpoken exchange between parties
- scriptWritten words for performance
- scenesDivisions within acts
- actsDeeds or play sections
monologue · soliloquy · stage directions · character development · plot structure · dramatic arc · revision · workshopping
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
- IbsenNorwegian playwright, drama reformer
- ChekhovRussian short-story master
- Tennessee WilliamsAmerican Southern Gothic playwright
- Arthur MillerAmerican dramatist, mid-century
August Wilson · Sophocles · Euripides · Oscar Wilde · Samuel Beckett · Bertolt Brecht · Anton Chekhov · Eugene O'Neill
Disastrous or sorrowful event
- comedyWork meant to amuse
- farceAbsurd, laughable situation
- melodramaSensational, emotionally overwrought drama
- tragicomedyGenre blending sorrow and mirth
absurdist · naturalism · expressionism · kitchen sink · musical · one-act · two-hander · ensemble
Ongoing payments to creators
- commissionPayment for services rendered
- premiereFirst public performance
- opening nightFirst staged performance
- producerOne who makes things
director · staged reading · development · grant · fellowship · residency · agent · submission
dramaturgy
Art of theatrical structure
- dialogueSpoken exchange between parties
- scriptWritten words for performance
- scenesDivisions within acts
acts · monologue · soliloquy · stage directions · character development · plot structure · dramatic arc · revision · workshopping · table read
Shakespeare
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
- IbsenNorwegian playwright, drama reformer
- ChekhovRussian short-story master
- Tennessee WilliamsAmerican Southern Gothic playwright
Arthur Miller · August Wilson · Sophocles · Euripides · Oscar Wilde · Samuel Beckett · Bertolt Brecht · Anton Chekhov · Eugene O'Neill
tragedy
Disastrous or sorrowful event
- comedyWork meant to amuse
- farceAbsurd, laughable situation
- melodramaSensational, emotionally overwrought drama
tragicomedy · absurdist · naturalism · expressionism · kitchen sink · musical · one-act · two-hander · ensemble · historical drama
royalties
Ongoing payments to creators
- commissionPayment for services rendered
- premiereFirst public performance
- opening nightFirst staged performance
producer · director · staged reading · development · grant · fellowship · residency · agent · submission · competition
actors
Those playing roles
rehearsal · workshop · casting · interpretation · notes · rewrite · feedback · ensemble · staging · composer
- Chinese Writersnovelists, poets, classical poets, modern writers, modern novelists
- dramatistsdramatists, dramaturgs, dramaturges, comedy writers
- Elizabethan writerspoets, sonneteers, dramatists, chroniclers, pamphleteers
- Greek writersHomer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes
- Finnish LiteratureMoomin, poets, novelists, prose fiction, literary heritage
- Hebrew LiteratureHebrew texts, novelists, poets, Hebrew language, literary journals
playwrightsnovelists
Writers of long-form fiction
screenwriters · poets · essayists · librettists · journalists
playwrightsactors
Those playing roles
performers · directors · producers · stagehands · theater critics
playwrightstheatergoers
Live performance attendees
spectators · audiences · theater critics · reviewers · readers
- Greek playwrightAncient Athenian drama author
- French playwrightDrama writer from France
- female playwrightsWomen authoring stage works
- English playwrightAuthor of British theatre
- popular playwrightSuccessful writer for stage
- influential playwrightImpactful writer of dramas