How to Read a Play: Script Analysis for Directors - Softcover

Kiely, Damon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1032470828 ISBN 13: 9781032470825

Publisher: Routledge, 2024

Synopsis

Now in a fully updated second edition, How to Read a Play offers methods for analyzing play scripts from a diverse range of perspectives, giving directors practical tools as they prepare for production.

Based on interviews with award-winning directors, university professors, and experimental theatre companies, How to Read a Play provides practical advice on how to first approach a script, prepare for design meetings, get ready for casting sessions, and lay the groundwork for rehearsals with actors. The book starts with a brief historical overview of famous directors, surveys the work of experimental theatres that devise their work, and ends with twenty-one practical exercises. The second edition includes material from interviews with a diverse range of directors and features perspectives on identity, race, trauma, and joy in working on new plays and redefined classic works.

How to Read a Play is written for anyone who loves studying the craft of directing. Students and early career directors will be introduced to basic techniques for breaking down a script for production. Established artists will enjoy a behind the scenes peek at the methods and processes of directors with a diverse range of perspectives.

About this title

About the Author

Damon Kiely is a professional director, writer, and professor of directing and acting for the Theatre School at DePaul University. He is the author of How to Rehearse a Play: A Practical Guide for Directors (Routledge 2020) and Play Directing: The Basics (Routledge 2023).

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1032470828
• ISBN 13: 9781032470825
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 208