Perfect 10: Writing and Producing the 10-Minute Play

by Gary Garrison

Book Overview

Writing with a sharp wit and wise, conversational voice, Gary Garrison demystifies the process of writing and producing the ten-minute play.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0325003122
• ISBN13: 9780325003122
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Heinemann Drama
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

the Perfect 1: Writing and producing the 10 minute play

I have used this book with my beginning playwriting students for several years now. It gives excellent parameters for beginning playwrights to keep in mind. In educationalese, you might call the book a set of rubrics for the young wrtier.

"Perfect Ten" gets a perfect ten from me

Perfect 10: Writing and Producing the 10-Minute Play I have selected this book as supplementary to my college playwriting course for 2009. I think it fits well with my primary text and provides a good, easy to follow, process for writing and workshopping a ten-minute play. I expect the book will enhance my course and make playwriting more interesting to my students.

Drama Teacher Gives Book on Playwrighting a Good Review

This was just the type of book I was looking for - one specifically addressing the 10-Minute play, a creature different from any other theatrical endeavor. I found the book easy to understand, well organized and very informative. I think it could have spent a little more time on the mechanics but overall it will be a great help in teaching my theatre arts students how to write 10-Minute plays for class and for the various festivals that now feature them.

Well done!

I was very pleased with the way this book was written and organized. As a fledgling author of ten minute plays, I found Mr. Garrison's book to be very helpful, witty and professionally done. His experience as director of ten minute play festivals is invaluable to anyone planning on doing the same. As a member of a community theater looking to include ten minute plays in their repetoire over the next few years, Mr. Garrison's book has given me a good idea of what I'm in for. Well worth the price of the book.

Simple and Straightforward

Most how-to-write guides are completely worthless. Once you've learned your grammar and have the concepts of conflict and resolution mastered, the writer's ard lapses into something some people can do and some people can't, and no one really knows why. I keep buying how-to-write books, like this one by Gary Garrison, hoping one will eventually deliver more.Well, this one delivers. By assuming the reader has already tried at least some writing, the paradigm shifts from simple instruction to specific points that green writers often need fine-tuned. Garrison seems more like a copy editor at times, making suggestions for clarity and story efficiency, than a mere how-to writer.The book is slim, little more than a pamphlet, and the conversational tone sometimes comes across as flippant, so not everyone will enjoy working with it. Also, there's only about so much you can learn from reading a book; if you expect your work to be magically transformed by Garrison's charisma and ability, you're in for a sore disappointment.However, this book is more useful than not. The two most useful chapters are Five and Seven. In Chapter Five, Garrison interviews experienced ten-minute play producers, who make some actual nuts-and-bolts suggestions to improve the average young playwright's style. In Seven, Garrison reprints five whole ten-minute plays and asks astute study questions about them.This book is no magic bullet. Writing remains hard work, and plenty of it. However, for a new writer looking to expand skill and depth in writing, this book helps you avoid the pitfalls that beleaguer those who insist on going it alone.