There is a bit more to theatre than the performance and technical aspect of it. One of the other--rather vital--aspects of theatre is the literary aspect: the script. And the playwrights are in charge of writing the script. Most people never really think about the playwrights and their great importance in the theatre. Their work is the foundation on which to build the entire production. They are very much like authors of books--they basically use the same structures when writing a story regarding plot, characters and setting.
There are some noticeable differences when one looks at an excerpt from a book as opposed to a script. You might have seen a script before, but if you haven't, here's what an excerpt from a book looks like:
"Then three men entered the room and made a beeline over to where I was sitting. One of them grabbed the front of my shirt, lowered his head till his face was inches from mine, and growled, 'Where's the key?'"
Now here's what the excerpt would look like in script form:
Enter three men. Man 1 walks toward boy and grabs his shirt.
Man 1: (growling) Where's the key?
This is just an example. I don't know if most people have seen scripts before--I like theatre and have been involved with it before, and I am familiar with its world so, I don't know how many people haven't. But as you can see, the two writing styles demonstrated above differ greatly. The first example, the kind of writing average authors use for books and such, tell the story by describing everything that's going on directly to the audience; whereas in a script, the story is more instructional. It's telling the actors what to do and how to act, so they can interpret the story for the audience.
This is basically what playwrights do. They write plays. Their work is the starting point; from there, the other departments that are working for the production can then set to work, taking what the playwrights have written, and bringing their visions to life. Without them, there is no story. And really, storytelling is what theatre is all about.
I love the idea of this post: it's challenging and interesting and provides readers with new understandings of the theater. I'd love for you to expand on this topic...it feels like you just scratched the surface. How long are theatre scripts, for instance? How long do writers generally work on them before they get into production? And, importantly, how does a writer get a script from the draft stage to final stage to performance?
ReplyDeleteKeep going with this idea! My only note: I don't think your title does the topic justice...