Parra - Playwriting For Dummies

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Playwriting For Dummies

by Angelo Parra

Playwriting For Dummies

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Copyright 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930315

ISBN 978-1-118-01722-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-12095-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-12096-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-12097-2 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Angelo Parra, an award-winning playwright and playwriting instructor, has had productions of his plays Off-Broadway in New York City and in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Hes also had productions at many prestigious regional venues, including Hartford Stage, Florida Stage, Cape (Cod) Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Theatre Memphis, Passage Theatre, Penguin Rep Theatre, and Florida Rep, and at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival.

Angelo is the author of The Devils Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith, the critically acclaimed play with music named among the Top Ten Off-Broadway Experiences of 2001 by The New York Daily News. Another of his plays, Journey of the Heart (which dramatizes the seesaw struggle of a hospital committee to decide who gets a heart for transplant), won the Jewel Box Theatre Award, Mixed Blood Versus America Award, and David James Ellis Memorial Award. His screenplay adaptation of Journey of the Heart was a finalist in the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. Two other plays, Casino and The Slope, were the recipients of a Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions grant (a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Information Agency, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts), awarded to sponsor the plays at the 1993 Edinburgh International Theatre Festival.

Angelos honors include two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships in Scriptwriting, the 1998 Chicano/Latino Literary Award (University of California), and a prize for his play, Song of the Coqu, in the 1998 The American Dream competition sponsored by Repertorio Espaol. In 2000, he was named a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the renowned Sewanee Writers Conference. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a member emeritus of the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. He was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture grant in 2008 and, in 2011, a New York State Council on the Arts/Arts Council of Rockland grant to underwrite a new play in conjunction with the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

Angelo studied playwriting at Roundabout Theatre Conservatorys Professional Playwrights Unit, New Dramatists Playwrights Forum, the playwrights workshop at Playwrights Horizons, and the Playwrights Lab at T. Schreiber Studio, among others. He holds a B.A. in journalism from Fordham University and a master of fine arts degree in playwriting, earned under the late Jack Gelber at Brooklyn College.

Angelo Parra is the founder and director of the Hudson Valley Professional Playwrights Lab, teaches playwriting and performing arts at SUNY Rockland Community College, and is president of the board of Penguin Rep Theatre.

Dedication

To the four most important figures in my life:

My parents, Edith and Angelo, who always believed in me, no matter how harebrained my ambitions seemed to be.

My best friend, Sandy also my proofreader, cheerleader, and wife (not necessarily in that order) for her love, support, and patience.

And Charlie, who makes me laugh.

Authors Acknowledgments

This book would not have happened without the theatre career Ive had, which, in turn, would not have been possible without significant help and encouragement and support along the way. My most heartfelt thank you: