Writing for Stage and Screen

It's hard for me to think of anyone who has shaped the way I think about playwriting more than Sherry Kramer. While most of my education as a playwright was awash in silly rules surrounding plot mechanics, Sherry showed me how plays are organized in more meaningful and fundamental ways. While others taught me the structure of playwriting, she taught me the poetry of it. * Samuel D. Hunter, Playwright and 2014 MacArthur Fellow * I have been waiting a decade for this book. Not since Lajos Egri's classic The Art of Dramatic Writing have I been so excited and inspired by and grateful for the ideas contained within a text on dramatic writing. Reading and digesting the lessons in this book can be of greater value to an aspiring dramatist than years in an MFA program. Whether you are writing for the stage, screen, or audio, this book is an invaluable teacher and guide to have by your side throughout the development and revision process. * Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Playwright and Former Head of Playwriting, UC Santa Barbara, USA * Sherry Kramer is a brilliant and uncommon mind, someone who mixes a keen understanding of narrative structure and mechanics with a reverence for theatrical magic. I will never forget the first time I heard her talk about the DNA of plays, how they code themselves line by line, how they reveal to an audience how to understand them-and, to their writer, how to be faithful to their core questions. As a former student, I'm still using the many tools she gave me, both when writing a new draft or when in the throes of rewrites. Sherry is an artist and a teacher, and her ability to harness pedagogy to illuminate instinct is one of her many unusual gifts. * Jen Silverman, Playwright, Author of We Play Ourselves and The Island Dwellers * Sherry Kramer is the best kind of playwriting guide-generous, ingenious, and wise. She is an audience's best friend and the fairy godmother of storytelling. Without Sherry's big ideas on structure, magic, and perception shift, I'd be lost as a writer and teacher. I plagiarize her daily. Most books on the playwriting craft are derivative and oddly traditional-Sherry's guide is both the tornado and yellow brick road. You will never go back to thinking about drama the same way again. * Austin Bunn, Screenwriter, playwright, co-author of A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond, and Associate Professor at Cornell University, USA * Sherry Kramer has a singular, comprehensive approach to teaching playwriting. This book is both a toolbox and divining rod, giving playwrights tools and strategies to make their own unique theater magic. For years, students have raved about Sherry as a mentor and a teacher, sharing notes on her classes as though it was precious contraband. Having access to this 'Kramer Bible' is a major moment for playwrights, teachers and theater-lovers alike. * Lisa D'Amour, playwright, interdisciplinary artist, and Co-Artistic Director, PearlDamour *