Musicals can do a bunch of things more easily than straight plays — not because they’re “higher art,” but because they have extra gears: music, rhythm and often choreography. But before we get started, what are your favorite musicals, and why? [more]

In a play, the point of no return is the moment when the characters’ main problem stops being avoidable and becomes inevitable.  After this beat, the story can’t go back to “before” — even if everyone suddenly wanted to. It’s often called the commitment or crossing-the-threshold moment (not necessarily the climax). The rest of the play becomes the cost of that choice. [more]

Two wants, one room: Write a 2-page scene where each character wants a different concrete thing and neither can leave. End with a small betrayal. Power flip: Same scene premise, but on page 2 the lower-status character gains leverage without raising their voice. The unsaid line: Write a scene where the most important sentence is never spoken — but the audience can tell exactly what it is. [more]

Character development for a play is less about “deep backstory” and more about stageable pressure: what they want right now, what blocks them and what they’re willing to do in front of us to get it. Here are some of the most reliable methods. [more]

Watching a play as a theatre creator is different from watching it for pleasure. You’re not judging taste — you’re studying craft under pressure. Here’s how to do it without killing the magic. 1. Watch the problem, not the plot. Every play is trying to solve a dramatic problem. Ask early: What does this play need to make true? What tension is it built to sustain? What would break if one character disappeared? Don’t track events. Track necessity. [more]

In a play, silence in dialogue is not absence — it’s action. Silence is the moment when: a character can’t say what they want; a character won’t say what they know; power shifts without words; meaning lands instead of being explained. Silence is where the audience does the work. [more}

Subtext is what characters mean, want, fear, or avoid, expressed indirectly through what they say and do. In plays, subtext carries enormous weight because the form is spoken, embodied, and immediate. The audience reads between the lines in real time. [more]

Realism — life-as-lived, subtext, ordinary rooms. Spot it: overlapping dialogue, small stakes that add up, behavior > speeches. [more]

A scene is the smallest complete unit of dramatic action.  It isn’t defined by location or time so much as by a change in the balance of power, knowledge or desire.  Good scenes do something — they turn the story. Someone enters wanting something specific and urgent. Rule: If no one wants anything concrete, the scene has no engine. [more]

In a play, the point of attack is the moment in the story where the dramatist chooses to begin the onstage action. It is not the beginning of the story’s chronology. It is the moment when the dramatic pressure becomes unavoidable. The point of attack answers this question: Why does the play start here and not earlier or later? [more]