THE HUMAN NATURE OF PLAYWRITING

A most informal approach to and type of instruction in playwriting is recorded by playmaker Raphaelson who was invited to conduct a course, at the School of Journalism in the University of Illinois in 1948, in creative writing with emphasis on drama. With no accepted teaching methods he was allowed to experiment in classroom procedures. With his class of thirty, in using human interest material, questions about the personal lives of students, in prying loose rather than forcing details of their personal experiences, he found basic material for their assignments, etc. Through his own personal reminiscences in theater and adventures in living, through the class and their contributions of their own subconscious memories and feelings and actual biographical incidents you see the fashionining of stories, plays and absorbed group discussion. It makes a book of interest for classroom study, for writing and drama courses in its offering of a personal angle in matters theatrical.