Embodied Playwriting: Improv and Acting Exercises for Writing and Devising is the first book to compile new and adapted exercises for teaching playwriting in the classroom, workshop, or studio through the lens of acting and improvisation.
The book provides access to the innovative practices developed by seasoned playwriting teachers from around the world who are also actors, improv performers, and theatre directors. Borrowing from the embodied art of acting and the inventive practice of improvisation, the exercises in this book will engage readers in performance-based methods that lead to the creation of fully imagined characters, dynamic relationships, and vivid drama. Step-by-step guidelines for exercises, as well as application and coaching advice, will support successful lesson planning and classroom implementation for playwriting students at all levels, as well as individual study. Readers will also benefit from curation by editors who have experience with high-impact educational practices and are advocates for the use of varied teaching strategies to increase accessibility, inclusion, skill-building, and student success.
Embodied Playwriting offers a wealth of material for teachers and students of playwriting courses, as well as playwrights who look forward to experimenting with dynamic, embodied writing practices.
Author(s): Hillary Haft Bucs, Charissa Menefee
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 304
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Contributors
Introduction: Embodied Playwriting
Part I: Creating Characters
1 The Meet and Greet: Creating Opportunities for Surprise and Discovery
2 Improvising Between the Lines: Enhancing the Script by Embodying Subtext
3 Using Improv to Create Original Plays: Respectfully Writing Diverse Characters
4 Character’s Search for Authenticity: Improvisation for the Revision Process
Part II: Body and Mind
5 The Picture Project: Originating Story through Movement
6 Physical Expressions in Devised Playwriting
7 Active Group Playwriting: Psychodrama Techniques Adapted for Theatre-Making
Part III: Playing Games
8 Building the World of the Play Through Collaborative Performance
9 It’s All About Play: Locating the Game in Embodied Playwriting
10 Folkgames as Creative Stimulus for Devising: The Case of Chaskele
Part IV: Changemaking
11 “Laughter that Shatters”: Improv Techniques for Social Justice Comedy Playwriting
12 Writing for Change: Guiding Activist Playwrights in Classrooms and Communities
13 Community-Based Play Creation
14 Writing Climate Justice: Personal Storytelling and Source Material Devising as Embodied Methodology
Part V: Curated Exercises
15 Embodied Playwriting Exercises for Classroom, Workshop, and Studio: Skill-Building and Content Generation
The Ceiling Fan Speaks!
Letters to Self: An Improvisational Exercise for Playwriting and Personal Writing
Find the Event in the Tale of the Inanimate Object
Many Characters, Many Objects
Collaborative Drafting
Activating a Character
Sharing the Story: A Playwriting Train
Word Choice: Working in Space
Uncovering Character through Mask Exploration
Writing Inside the (Rasa) Box
16 Embodied Playwriting Exercises for Classroom, Workshop, and Studio: The Revision Process
Half-Life as a Tool for Revision
Acting Tactics for Writers: An Improvisational Exercise for Revising Dialogue
Spectator Storyboarding
Diagnosing the (Rasa) Box
Acknowledgments
Index
