Category: Playwriting

Power In The Theater

A lot of playwrights seem to be obsessed with power. They believe the theaters have all the power. I suspect this attitude is partially based on the bad social theories being taught in universities. Critical…

Should Theater Nurture Artists?

Should theater nurture artists? To ask this question seems hopelessly naive since theater does exactly squat to nurture artists. The theater community takes everyone for granted. They take actors for granted. And they take playwrights…

Maintaining Enthusiasm

Writing plays can be very discouraging. Every book I’ve read on playwriting has been discouraging. Most playwriting books emphasize that your chances of getting a play produced are very slim. Every rejection of a script…

Moral Muddles

I think a playwright is in greater danger of getting into a moral muddle than other writers. In general a playwright can more easily get muddled in his thinking because he is forced to give…

Shamanism

I have a keen interest in shamanism and have read scores of books on the subject. However, this should not be seen as an interest in comparative religion or spirituality for its own sake. What…

The Value of Objectivity

Although it may seem strange for a playwright to write about the value of objectivity, it is relevant to theater. Theater is inherently an illusion. Actors are pretending to be the characters and the stage…

On Literary Success

Ever since high school I have dreamed of literary success but I’ve done very little to work towards it. I got discouraged submitting poems to literary magazines only to get rejected every time. I don’t…

Evolutionary Psychology

I was introduced to Evolutionary Psychology by Jordan Peterson who clearly got some of his best ideas from this branch of psychology. I was watching his videos because he is one of the few public…

Enemies Of The Arts

There are many things that discourage artists; lack of arts funding, competition, favoritism, nepotism, social status seeking, poverty, jealousy, critics, gate keepers etc. But the most discouraging thing is prissy, self-righteous moralists who attack the…