A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance. This does not cite any references or sources. ... A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud in a small group. ...

The term is not a variant spelling of playwrite, but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder (as in a wheelwright or cartwright). Hence the prefix and the suffix combine to indicate someone who crafts plays. The homophone with write is in this case coincidental. This article has been illustrated as part of WikiProject WikiWorld. ...

The term 'playwright' appears to have been coined by Ben Jonson (see his Epigram 49, 'To Playwright [1]') as an insult, to imply an inferior hack-writer for the theatre. He always described himself as a poet. It later lost this negative connotation. For other persons of the same name, see Ben Johnson (disambiguation). ...

The earliest playwrights in Western literature with surviving works are Ancient Greeks with some of the earliest plays being written around the 5th century BC. These playwrights are notable as they established forms that are still relied on by modern playwrights. Notable among them are Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek_speaking world in ancient times. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 5th century BC started on January 1, 500 BC and ended on December 31, 401 BC. // The Parthenon of Athens seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... Sophocles (ancient Greek: ; 495 BC - 406 BC) was the second of three great ancient Greek tragedians. ... A statue of Euripides Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (c. ... Sketch of Aristophanes Aristophanes (Greek: , ca. ...

The most famous playwright in English is William Shakespeare, whose classic tragedies, comedies and histories are still being performed hundreds of years after they were written. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Contemporary playwrights often do not reach the same level of fame or cultural importance that they have in the past, since the theatre is no longer the only outlet for serious drama or entertaining comedies, and must compete with films and television for an audience. In addition, the perilous state of funding for the arts in the U.S. and a growing reliance on ticket sales as a source of income for non-profit theatres has caused many of them to reduce the number of new works they produce. For example, Playwrights Horizons produced only six plays in the 2002-03 seasons, compared with thirty-one in 1973-74 [2]. As revivals and large-scale production musicals become the de rigeur Broadway (and even Off-Broadway) production, it has become much more difficult for playwrights to make a living in the business, let alone become major successes. Generally, patronage is the act of a so-called patron who supports or favors some individual, family, group or institution. ... A non-profit organization (often called non-profit org or simply non-profit or not-for-profit) can be seen as an organization that doesnt have a goal to make a profit. ... Located in New York City, Playwrights Horizons is a major off-broadway theater dedicated to the development and production of new work by American playwrights. ... Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ... Off-Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway, productions. ...

However, the most successful playwrights are often high-status figures in their industry, in stark contrast to the status of the screenwriter in Hollywood. While this may be considered to be a result of the more literary approach that has characterised the theatre since its roots in poetry, its also because of the hard fact that according to Dramatists Guild contracts, the playwright has the final say — a situation which leaves less room for the director to be as much of an auteur as the film director, since the playwright’s vision takes precedence. Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... ... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... The Dramatists Guild of America is a professional organization for playwrights, composers, and lyricists working in the U.S. theatre market. ... A theatre director is a principal in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a play by unifying various endeavors and aspects of production. ... The term auteur (French for author) is used to describe film directors (or, more rarely, producers or writers) who are considered to have a distinctive, recognizable vision, because they (a) repeatedly return to the same subject matter, (b) habitually address a particular psychological or moral theme, (c) employ a recurring... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ...

Documentary plays are also a common feature of the theatrical landscape since the middle of the Twentieth Century when they were employed, often tendentiously, in agit-prop or general political protest. These plays demand something different of a playwright, often the editing and reproduction of the other people’s words within a narrative structure. A recent example is Stuff Happens, David Hare's 2004 play about the Iraq War, in which many of the speeches were taken verbatim from George W. Bush, Tony Blair et al. Agitprop is short for отдел агитации и пропаганды (otdel agitatsii i propagandy), i. ... Stuff Happens is a play by David Hare, written in response to the Iraq War. ... Sir David Hare (born June 5, 1947) is an English dramatist and director. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency...

See also

• List of playwrights
• Screenwriter
• Script (comic)
• Scriptwriter

List of notable playwrights. ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... A script is a document describing the underlying story of a film, tv-series episode or comic strip in detail. ... This list is poorly defined, permanently incomplete, or has become unverifiable or an indiscriminate list or repository of loosely associated topics. ...

External links

• Playwriting 101 - A playwriting tutorial written by playwright and screenwriter Jon Dorf.
• The Playwriting Seminars - playwriting site written and maintained by Richard Toscan of the Virginia Commonwealth University, USA.