Gary Garrison (1) (1956–)

This book is a short introduction to the up-and-coming world of the 10-minute play, a disgraceful form of pandering to the truncated attention spans of the modern audience that the author embraces slavishly. As a how to book, it's often more of a how-not, which does have a very important place in play writing, so you can avoid those pitfalls that trip up so many aspring playwrights. One useful feature is a list of ten-minute play festivals and what they expect from submissions; this can come show more in handy for a reader who plans to take up this particular form of playwriting. Also of interest are the seven selections he includes in the book, with a couple of them actually demonstrating some potential for this limited form. It is obvious, however, that the short play is like the short story - there are many more ways to do it wrong than to do it right, and most of it is likely to be unfulfilling and incomplete. And now that we are heading inexorably toward the one-minute play format, is this book about to become obsolete? show less

I used this book when writing my first ten minute play for a class and found it immensely helpful. Garrison is easy to read and is approachable, even for theatre newbies like myself.

Amazon: “The honesty and humor make me laugh out loud with tears of joy and pain streaming down my face. I want to give it to everyone I know - its such a life lesson.â€?–Carolyn J. Griffin, Managing Director, Metro Stage
“The fundamental value of this book is that it outs the playwright as a vulnerable human, living in the messy and dirty real world . Chatty, not analytical, more Ethel Merman than Antonin Artaud, this book is good company.â€?–Mike show more Kenny, Research in Drama Education show less