Rating: 
Summary: Catron helped get my play on stage
Review: I completed the first draft of my play "American Brass" back in 1999. It was pretty awful. Then, I found this wonderful book by Prof. Catron. Following the guidelines and inspiration contained in his book I eventually transformed the draft into a stageworthy script.Before reading his up front advice "Don't show anyone your first draft", I had given a reader a look at the play. The reader, an experienced theater person, tried to be helpful with constructive comments, which I came to understand after reading Catron's book meant - I had no plot, my characters were flat and I was writing narrratives rather than dialogue. This book provides a clear understandable guide to the structure and dynamics of a successful play and how to write one. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.. and before each rewrite review Caron's book for insight and inspiration. There's also practical advice - look to get your play on stage not necessarily on Broadway. So I had a high school do a reading and then a church group and now I have the area community theater interested in a full production. Thank you Prof. Catron
Rating:
Summary: Catron helped get my play on stage
Review: I completed the first draft of my play "American Brass" back in 1999. It was pretty awful. Then, I found this wonderful book by Prof. Catron. Following the guidelines and inspiration contained in his book I eventually transformed the draft into a stageworthy script. Before reading his up front advice "Don't show anyone your first draft", I had given a reader a look at the play. The reader, an experienced theater person, tried to be helpful with constructive comments, which I came to understand after reading Catron's book meant - I had no plot, my characters were flat and I was writing narrratives rather than dialogue. This book provides a clear understandable guide to the structure and dynamics of a successful play and how to write one. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.. and before each rewrite review Caron's book for insight and inspiration. There's also practical advice - look to get your play on stage not necessarily on Broadway. So I had a high school do a reading and then a church group and now I have the area community theater interested in a full production. Thank you Prof. Catron
Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: IMHO, the very best playwriting guide now in print. No need for modesty, Prof. Catron--the book IS priced far below its value. Thank you for giving us a superb guide
Rating:
Summary: Second only to Catron's first book.
Review: Louis Catron is the most highly respected playwriting instructor of our time, and deserves every ounce of credit playwrights give him. Rather than bog us down with poetic inspiration, Catron gives us the structure of a solid script, in simple and useful language and layout. The difference between "playwriting" and "playwrighting" is the bottom line of Catron's excellent instruction. For those who prefer writing to talking/thinking about writing, his books are simply the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Paperback edition IS easily available!
Review: The above catalogue entry says "difficult to find," but that refers to the hardcover edition. The paperback edition is readily available (and, all in all, remarkably inexpensive given what I, with a horrible lack of modesty, think is a wealth of valuable information for beginning or experienced playwrights!)
Rating:
Summary: A powerful "user-friendly" guide to writing
Review: We've studied many "how to books" and curiously the two we found best are both by this same author --- this "Elements of Playwriting" plus his other "Playwriting." From his guides we've written both stage works and screenplays. Distinctly valuable! "Playwright's Resources" alone worth the entire book. "How to Revise" is the only such chapter in any such book.
| 
