A lavishly illustrated celebration of the fifty-year history of the most influential theatrical organization in America, the O’Neill Theater Center "At the O'Neill, we were all engaged with full-hearted passion in sometimes the silliest of exercises, and all in service of finding that wiggly, elusive creature, a new play."—Meryl Streep "I would not be who or where I am today without the O'Neill."—Michael Douglas As the old ways of the commercial theater were dying and American playwriting was in crisis, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center arose as a midwife to new plays and musicals, introducing some of the most exciting talents of our time (including August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, and Christopher Durang) and developing works that went on to win Pulitzer Prizes and Tony Awards. Along the way, it collaborated with then-unknown performers (like Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Courtney Vance, and Angela Bassett) and inspired Robert Redford in his creation of the Sundance Institute. This is the story of a theatrical laboratory, a place that transformed American theater, film, and television.

The O'Neill: The Transformation of Modern American Theater

Sweet, Jeffrey

Humor & Entertainment

Yale University Press

The art and craft of playwriting as explored in candid conversations with some of the most important contemporary dramatists Edward Albee, Lanford Wilson, Lynn Nottage, A. R. Gurney, and a host of other major creative voices of the theater discuss the art of playwriting, from inspiration to production, in a volume that marks the tenth anniversary of the Yale Drama Series and the David Charles Horn Foundation Prize for emerging playwrights. Jeffrey Sweet, himself an award-winning dramatist, hosts a virtual roundtable of perspectives on how to tell stories onstage featuring extensive interviews with a gallery of gifted contemporary dramatists. In their own words, Arthur Kopit, Marsha Norman, Christopher Durang, David Hare, and many others offer insights into all aspects of the creative writing process as well as their personal views on the business, politics, and fraternity of professional theater. This essential work will give playwrights and playgoers alike a deeper and more profound appreciation of the art form they love.

What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

Solving Your Script is a hardheaded approach to solving technical problems in scripts. In down-to-earth chapters, award-winning playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Sweet introduces tools enabling writers to: <ul>
<li>write exposition using the future tense </li>
<li>make characters vivid even before they appear </li>
<li>find the idiosyncrasies in a character that will generate story </li>
</ul> Each chapter includes a discussion of a particular technique, followed by an assignment from Sweet's workshop and scenes written by his colleagues and students. There are also detailed discussions of what works in the scenes, what is problematic, and why.

Solving Your Script: Tools and Techniques for the Playwright

Heinemann Drama

In The Dramatist's Toolkit, playwright and Backstage columnist Jeff Sweet offers an intensive and practical guide to being a working playwright. In this informative guide, Sweet discusses such matters as: <ul>
<li>The building blocks of playwriting </li> <li>How characters relate to one another </li> <li>The differences and similarities between musicals and plays </li> <li>Screenwriting vs. playwriting </li> <li>and much more! </li> </ul>
Jeff Sweet offers guidance for the beginning playwright and advice for the seasoned professional.

Dramatists Toolkit,The Craft of the Working Playwright: The Craft of the Working Playwright

Heinemann

Spanning a quarter of a century, this collection of plays demonstrates author Jeffrey Sweet’s eye for the drama of human relationships. Sweet works with sensitivity and irony to confront both personal politics and the impact of historical change. These nine works, taken together, present a playwright who extends the struggles of his small circles of characters to his audience and humanity in general.
The title work, first mounted in 1982, is a comedy-drama about the aftermath of the blacklist whose continued relevance makes it a frequently produced play today. The family drama Porch suggests larger social changes through the interaction of a small-town shopkeeper and his defiant daughter. The lauded American Enterprise, set in the Chicago of the robber barons, is a song-filled true story about a millionaire whose stubborn idealism leads to disaster. Stay Till Morning is a rueful comedy about sex and accommodation in the Florida Keys. The three plays that grew out of his fascination with the effects of World War IIBerlin ’45, Court-Martial at Fort Devens, and The Action Against Sol Schumanndramatize the ways in which that conflict transformed private fates. Each script is accompanied by an extended introduction from the playwright as well as complete performance notes.

The Value of Names and Other Plays

Northwestern University Press

Ties by Jeffrey Sweet. Comedy. 6M, 2W Set on a college campus the central questions are to the working out of the questions of love and friendship. Dealt with warmth, wit, and sensitivity of what the main characters must do to realize their fullest potential.

Ties.

Jeffrey Sweet

Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

Benny Silverman, a retired, successful actor, seems to have surmounted the bitter time in his life when Leo Greshen, a good friend and colleague named him in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Bennys flourishing career was nearly destroyed, and his comeback was slow and painful. The two men havent spoken since. But they are forced to deal with each other 30 years after the fact, when Bennys daughter wins a career-making role in a hot new play Leo is directing. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Hector Elizondo,Garry Marshall, Sally Murphy

The Value of Names (Acting Edition for Theater Productions)

The Value of Names

Dramatist's Play Service

(Limelight). Prominent alumni (Mike Nichols, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, among others) bring theatrical improvisation to life, with all the vitality, the power and the exuberance the satire and spontaneity that they made famous and that launched their careers. "An important book about the most important American theatrical endeavor since the Group Theatre. Plus, it's fun to read." David Mamet

Something Wonderful Right Away: An Oral History of the Second City and the Compass Players

Humor

Limelight Editions

L.A. Theatre Works

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sweet, Jeffrey. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sweet, Jeffrey

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sweet, Jeffrey. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The O'Neill: The Transformation of Modern American Theater

What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing

Solving Your Script: Tools and Techniques for the Playwright

Dramatists Toolkit,The Craft of the Working Playwright: The Craft of the Working Playwright

The Value of Names and Other Plays

Ties.

The Value of Names (Acting Edition for Theater Productions)

The Value of Names

Something Wonderful Right Away: An Oral History of the Second City and the Compass Players

The Value of Names