How It All Began
So the first play I wrote was Headstrong (“Romance, Sex, Murder, Middle English”). I wasn't planning to write a play. Actually I had...
PLAYWRIGHT • PRODUCER • DIRECTOR • DRAMATURG
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Jun 6, 2020
- 3 min
#THEATREWILLSURVIVE
COVID-19 and social distancing requirements have closed most theatres. Tragically, some will stay closed permanently. Some theatres will...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Apr 24, 2020
- 1 min
#GOTEEM
There are millions of words teeming around in my nether-wherevers, all jockeying for position to get onto the next page. They don't...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Mar 3, 2020
- 2 min
Not for Nothing, But ...
...You will fail. You will fail a thousand times. Some of these failures will be astonishingly acute. You'll watch your colleagues...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Sep 16, 2019
- 5 min
Asking for 10-page samples
Having had to negotiate reading 50+ submissions at a time (on more than a few occasions), I favor asking for 10-page samples. This is not...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Jun 9, 2019
- 8 min
Hamlet's Hamartia
So—theoretically—if somebody whacked my beloved old man then proceeded to wed and bed my mom I'd resolutely be set on the path to...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Mar 29, 2019
- 3 min
Development, Part XVII
In my endless quest for places to send my scintillating scribblings, I routinely come across opportunities for play development. Most of...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Mar 20, 2019
- 4 min
De-confusing “Cast Appropriately"
Casting Call BEN: Male, 35-40, large-boned, seems dangerous but really a pussycat. Dark blond hair. ALVY: cast appropriately. The above...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Feb 23, 2019
- 2 min
Giving Yourself Every Advantage, or Shameless Book Plug
We all have different ideas about playwriting and development, and that's great. I've fielded more than a few questions about the...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Dec 7, 2018
- 4 min
Where does a playwright’s responsibility to the audience’s emotional health begin and end?
We like to proclaim proudly that “the best plays are the ones that move the audience, challenge the intellect, and serve as a catalyst...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Nov 19, 2018
- 3 min
Trigger Warnings
A colleague recently posted a New York Times article about trigger warnings with the comment “Nothing ruins a magic trick more than...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Sep 28, 2018
- 2 min
Bad Decisions Make Great Drama.
It's a truth. Look at any great play and see what the bad decision was. Someone fucked up hugely. Someone got badly burned. Someone got...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Sep 12, 2018
- 5 min
How much control is too much? How much control is not enough?
There's an ongoing discussion (started around Euripides' time, I think) about how far playwrights should go to protect the intent, the...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Jul 8, 2018
- 6 min
“Ehhhh, Mr. Sapio...this is Harlan Ellison. We need to talk.”
With I heard these words on my answering machine* I knew I was pipik-deep in serious shit. For those of you unacquainted with the legend...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Jul 3, 2018
- 3 min
Obstacles. Those bits in the middle.
We've all had issues with obstacles--those pesky road blocks that all protagonists have to navigate successfully in order to achieve...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Jun 15, 2018
- 5 min
The Best of Us (3)
The call came in the early afternoon. That very morning I had seen three—count 'em—three rejection slips. This was the fifth year of my...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- May 9, 2018
- 3 min
Notes from "The Viking Suicides" Workshop, Part 2
In Part I of this post I promised to address why I encourage everyone at the table to speak their minds freely and openly. Here’s why. I...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- May 5, 2018
- 4 min
Notes from the "Viking Suicides" Workshop, Part 1
We’re having the first workshop rehearsal for my new play, The Viking Suicides. Two of the cast members have been through this process...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Mar 29, 2018
- 3 min
Just Mull. And Enjoy It.
It's called Writer's Block, that agonizing period fraught with insecurity when the creative river dries up. Writer's Block: when you need...
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Inflexible Dynamo
- Feb 23, 2018
- 3 min
Best Advice I Ever Received About Playwriting: Learn How to Do Everything
Seems like a simple concept, and yet many playwrights continue to keep themselves away from the rest of the profession. I've heard them...
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