A Selected Bibliography of Playwrights on Playwriting.
“American Playwrights Self-Appraised,” compiled by Henry Hewes, Saturday Review of Literature, September 3, 1955, pp.18–19.
Anderson, Maxwell. “The Basis of Artistic Creation in Literature,” in The Bases of Artistic Creation. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1942, pp. 3–18.
———. The Essence of Tragedy and other Footnotes and Papers. Washington, D.C.: Anderson House, 1939.
Anouilh, Jean. “Jean Anouilh et l’artifice,” Les Nouvelles Littéraires, March 27, 1937, p. 10.
Archer, William. Playmaking. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1923.
The Art of Playwriting: Lectures delivered at the University of Pennsylvania by Jesse Lynch Williams, Langdon Mitchell, Lord Dunsany, Gilbert Emery, Rachel Crothers. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1928.
Auden, W. H. “Notes on the Comic,” Thought (Fordham University Quarterly), 1952, pp. 57–71.
Becque, Henri. Souvenirs d’un auteur dramatique. Paris: Bibliothèque Artistique et Littéraire, 1895.
Bennett, Arnold. “Writing Plays,” The English Review, July 1913, pp. 556–568.
Bourdet, Édouard. “Play Endings,” Theatre Arts, February 1930, pp. 121–27.
———. “Playwriting as a Profession,” Theatre Arts Monthly, February 1931, pp. 125–133; April 1931, pp. 292–300.
Brecht, Bertolt. “Chinese Acting,” translated by Eric Bentley, Furioso (Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota), Autumn 1949, pp. 68–77.
———. “German Drama: Pre-Hitler,” The Left Review, July 1936, pp. 504–08.
———. “A Model for Epic Theatre,” translated by Eric Bentley, Sewanee Review, July-September 1949, pp. 425–436.
———. “Notes for The Threepenny Opera,” translated by Eric Bentley, From the Modern Repertoire, Series One. University of Denver Press, 1949, pp. 391–400.
———. “On Unrhymed Lyrics in Irregular Rhythms,” translated by Beatrice Gottlieb, Tulane Drama Review, November 1957, pp. 33–38.
———. Schriften zum Theater; über eine nicht-Aristotelische Dramatik. Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1957.
———. Theaterarbeit: 6 Aufführungen des Berliner Ensembles. VVVDresdner Verlag, 1951.
———. “Über experimentelles Theater,” Theater der Zeit, April 1959.
Bridie, James. See “The Play of Ideas.”
“Can the Craft of Playwriting be Learned?” World Theatre, Vol. I, No. 3, Paris, 1951, pp. 15–35.
Capek, Karel. How a Play is Produced. London: G. Bles, 1928.
———. “The Making of a Play,” in How They Do It, translated by M. and R. Weatherall. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1945.
Chekhov, Anton. Letters on the Short Story, the Drama and other Literary Topics, selected and edited by Louis S. Friedland. New York: Minton, Balch & Co., 1924.
———. The Life and Letters of Anton Chekhov, translated and edited by S.S. Koteliansky and Philip Tomlinson. London: Cassell & Co., 1925.
———. The Personal Papers, with an introduction by Matthew Josephson. New York: Lear Publishers, 1948.
Claudel, Paul. Positions et propositions, 2 vols. Paris: Gallimard, 1934.
———. “Modern Drama and Music,” Yale Review, Autumn 1930, pp. 94–106.
Cocteau, Jean. Call to Order, translated by Rollo H. Myers. New York: Henry Holt, 1927.
———. On the Film, translated by Vera Traill. London: Denis Dobson, Ltd., 1954.
———. Two Prefaces, Intimate Relations, translated by Charles Frank, From the Modern Repertoire, Series Three, edited by Eric Bentley. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1956, pp. 525–26.
Connelly, Marc. “The Old Theatre and the New Challenge,” in The Arts in Renewal. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1951, pp. 141–156.
“Dokumente zur Dramaturgie des zeitgenössischen Theaters,” Drama zwischen Shaw und Brecht, by Siegfried Melchinger. Bremen: Carl Schünemann Verlag, 1957.
“Dramatic Theory: A Bibliography,” compiled by Richard B. Vowles. The New York Public Library, 1956.
“The Dramatist’s Problems,” World Theatre, Vol. IV, No. 4, Autumn 1955.
Dunsany, Edward John Plunkett. The Donnellan Lectures, 1943. London: W. Heinemann Ltd., 1945.
Eliot, T.S. Poetry and Drama: The First Theodore Spencer Memorial Lecture, November 21, 1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1951.
———. Selected Essays, 1917–1932. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1932.
Ervine, St. John. How to Write a Play. New York: Macmillan, 1928.
“Études de psychologie sur les auteurs dramatiques,” by Alfred Binet and J. Passy, L’Année Psychologique (Paris), Vol. 1, 1894, pp. 60–173. (Interviews with Victorien Sardou, Alphonse Daudet, Alexandre Dumas fils, Édouard Pailleron, Henry Meilhac, François Coppée, François de Curel, Edmond de Goncourt.)
European Theories of the Drama, with a Supplement on the American Drama, edited by Barrett H. Clark. New York: Crown Publishers, 1947.
Evreinoff, Nicolas. The Theatre in Life, edited and translated by Alexander I. Nazaroff. New York: Brentano’s, 1927.
Fry, Christopher. “Poetry in the Theatre,” Saturday Review, March 21, 1953, pp. 18–19, 33.
Galsworthy, John. The Inn of Tranquility: Studies and Essays. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1919.
García Lorca, Federico. “Declaraciones de García Lorca sobre el teatro,” Anales Organo de la Universidad Central, Nos. 335–36, January-June, 1953, pp. 316–323 (Quito, Ecuador).
———. Entrevistas, Obras Completas. Madrid: Aguilar, 1955, pp. 1608–41.
———. Marie Laffranque: “Federico García Lorca. Encore trois textes oubliés,” Bulletin Hispanique, January-March, 1957, pp. 62–71 (Quito, Ecuador).
Geddes, Virgil. Beyond Tragedy: Footnotes on the Drama. Seattle: University of Washington Chapbooks, No. 42, 1930.
Ghelderode. Michel de. Les Entretiens d’Ostende. Paris, L’Arche, 1956.
———. “The Ostend Interviews,” translated by George Hauger, Tulane Drama Review, March 1959, pp. 3–23.
Gibson, William. The Seesaw Log: A Chronicle of the Stage Production, with the text of Two for the Seesaw. New York: Knopf, 1959.
Giraudoux, Jean. Littérature. Paris: Éditions Bernard Grasset, 1941.
———. Visitations. Neuchâtel: Ides et Calendes, 1947.
Gorky, Maxim. “Observations on the Theatre,” English Review, April 1924, pp. 494–98.
———. Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Andreyev. New York: The Viking Press, 1959.
Granville-Barker, Harley. On Dramatic Method. New York: A Dramabook, Hill and Wang, 1956.
———. On Poetry in Drama. London: Sidgwick, 1937.
Green, Paul. Drama and the Weather. New York: Samuel French, 1958.
———. Dramatic Heritage. New York: Samuel French, 1953.
Hebbel, Christian Friedrich. Foreword, Maria Magdalene. Hamburg, 1844.
Hellman, Lillian. Introduction, Four Plays. New York: The Modern Library, 1942.
Howard, Sidney. Preface, Lucky Sam McCarver. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1926.
Ibsen, Henrik. Letters, translated by John Nilsen Laurvik and Mary Morison. New York: Duffield and Co., 1908.
———. Nachgelassene Schriften, 4 vols. Berlin: J. Fischer Verlag, 1909.
———. Preface, Cataline, in Early Plays. New York: The American Scandinavian Foundation, 1921.
———. Speeches and New Letters, translated by Arne Kildal. Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1910.
———. The Works of Henrik Ibsen, Vol. XII: From Ibsen’s Workshop, translated by A.G. Chater. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1912.
Inge, William. Foreword, Four Plays. New York: Random House, 1958.
Ionesco, Eugene. “Discovering the Theatre,” translated by Leonard C. Pronko, Tulane Drama Review, September 1959, pp. 3–18.
———. “Essays,” translated by L.C. Pronko, Theatre Arts, June 1958, pp. 16–18.
———. “The Playwright’s role: A Reply to Kenneth Tynan,” The Observer, June 29, 1958, p. 14.
———. “Eugene Ionesco Opens Fire,” World Theatre, Vol. VIII, No. 3, Autumn 1959, pp. 171–202.
James, Henry. The Scenic Art, edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Allan Wade. New York: A Dramabook, Hill and Wang, 1957.
Jones, Henry Arthur. “Henry Arthur Jones, Dramatist Self-revealed; a Conversation on the Art of Writing Plays with Archibald Henderson,” Nation and the Athenaeum (London), December 5, and December 12, 1925.
Kaiser, Georg. “Man in the Tannel,” translated by Eric Bentley, The New Leader, August 9, 1947.
———. “Vision und Figur,” Das Junge Deutschland, No. 10, 1918, pp. 314–15.
Kanin, Garson. “The Bomb and the Parker 51,” Theatre Arts, October 1948, p. 43.
Kornfeld, Paul. “Der Beseelte und der Psychologische Mensch,” Das Junge Deutschland, No. 1, 1918, pp. 1–13.
Lawson, John Howard. Preface, Processional. New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1925.
———. Theory and Technique of Playwriting and Screenwriting. New York: Putnam, 1949.
Lindsay, Howard. “Notes on Playwriting,” Theatre Arts, May 1943, pp. 291–98.
McCullers, Carson. “The Vision Shared,” Theatre Arts, April 1950, pp. 28–30.
MacLeish, Archibald. “A Stage for Poetry,” Essay Annual, 1936. New York: Scott, Foresman & Co. 1936, pp. 169–175.
———. “The Staging of a Play: The Notebooks and Letters behind Elia Kazan’s Staging of J.B.,” Esquire, May 1959, pp. 144–158.
Maeterlinck, Maurice. Preface, Théâtre, Vol. 1. Brussels, 1901. (Extracts in English translated by Barrett H. Clark appear in European Theories of the Drama.)
———. The Treasure of the Humble, translated by Alfred Sutro. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1916.
Maugham, W. Somerset. The Summing Up. New York: Doubleday Doran, 1938.
Miller, Arthur. Introduction, Collected Plays. New York: The Viking Press, 1958, pp. 3–55.
———. “The Family in Modern Drama,” Atlantic Monthly, April 1956, pp. 35–41.
———. “The Shadows of the Gods,” Harper’s Magazine, August 1958, pp. 35–43.
———. “Tragedy and the Common Man,” Theatre Arts, March 1951, pp. 48–50.
Montherlant, Henry de. Notes sur mon théâtre. Paris: L’Arche, 1950.
Niggli, Josephina. Pointers on Playwriting. Boston: The Writer, 1945.
O’Casey, Sean. The Flying Wasp. London: Macmillan, 1937.
———. The Green Crow. New York: George Braziller, 1956.
———. See “The Play of Ideas.”
O’Neill, Eugene. Letters, in Eugene O’Neill: The Man and his Plays, by Barrett H. Clark. New York: Dover, 1947.
———. “Working Notes and Extracts from a Fragmentary Work Diary, Mourning Becomes Electra,” in European Theories of the Drama, edited by Barrett H. Clark. New York: Crown, 1947. pp. 530–36.
Papers on Playmaking, edited by Brander Matthews. New York: A Dramabook, Hill and Wang, 1957.
Pirandello, Luigi. Premise, Naked Masks, edited by Eric Bentley. New York: Dutton, 1958, pp. 209–210.
“The Play of Ideas,” The New Statesman and Nation, March 4, 1950 (Terence Rattigan); March 11, 1950 (James Bridie); April 1, 1950 (Peter Ustinov); April 8, 1950 (Sean O’Casey); May 9, 1950 (Bernard Shaw).
Priestley, J.B. The Art of the Dramatist. London: Heinemann, 1957.
Raphaelson, Samson. The Human Nature of Playwriting. New York: Macmillan, 1949.
Rattigan, Terence. “The Characters Make the Play,” Theatre Arts, April 1947, pp. 45–46.
———. See “The Play of Ideas.”
Rice, Elmer. Introduction, Two Plays. New York: Coward McCann, 1935, pp. v–xviii.
———. The Living Theatre. New York: Harper, 1959.
Saroyan, William. “Confessions of a Playwright,” World Review, April 1949, pp. 9–13; May 1949, pp. 33–35.
———. Preface, Don’t Go Away Mad and Two Other Plays. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1949, pp. 3–10.
———. “Coming Reality: Preface to The Time of Your Life,” Theatre Arts, December 1939, pp. 870–75.
Sartre, Jean Paul. “The Theatre: An Interview,” Evergreen Review, No. 11, 1960.
Schnitzler, Arthur. “Work and Echo: A Collection of Animadversions on the Artist, The Theory of Abstract Art and Dramatic Art,” Vanity Fair, November 1928, p. 78.
“Seventeen (British) Playwrights Self-Appraised,” Saturday Review of Literature, May 7, 1955, pp. 48–49.
Shaw, Bernard. Dramatic Opinions and Essays. New York: Brentano’s, 1910.
———. See “The Play of Ideas.”
———. Plays and Players; Essays on the Theatre, selected with an introduction by A.C. Ward. New York: Oxford University Press, 1952.
———. Preface to Three Plays by Brieux. New York: Brentano’s 1911, pp. vii–liv; xxii–xxvii.
———. Prefaces. London: Constable, 1934.
———. The Quintessence of Ibsenism. New York: A Dramabook, Hill and Wang, 1958.
———. “Self-Revealed: George Bernard Shaw,” an interview by Archibald Henderson, The Fortnightly Review, April 1, 1926, pp. 433–442; May 1, 1926, pp. 610–618.
———. Shaw on the Theatre, edited by E. J. West. New York: Hill and Wang, 1958.
———. Table Talk of G.B.S.: Conversations on Things in General between George Bernard Shaw and Archibald Henderson. New York: Harper, 1925.
Sternheim, Carl. “Two Statements,” in The Modern Theatre, No. 6, edited by Eric Bentley. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1959.
Strindberg, August. “Begreppet intim teater,” Öppna brev till intima teatern. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1921.
Toller, Ernst. Quer Durch: Reisebilder und reden. Berlin: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1930.
Ustinov, Peter. See “The Play of Ideas.”
Van Druten, John. Playwright at Work. New York: Harper, 1953.
Wilder, Thornton. “Our Town—from Stage to Screen; a Correspondence between Thornton Wilder and Sol Lesser,” Theatre Arts, November 1940, pp. 815–824.
———. Preface, Three Plays. New York: Harper, 1957, pp. vii–xiv.
Williams, Tennessee. “The History of a Play (with Parenthesis)” in Battle of Angels, Pharos, Nos. 1 and 2, Spring 1945.
———. “Person-to-Person,” Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, New York: New Directions, 1955, pp. vi–x.
———. Production Notes, The Glass Menagerie. New York: New Directions, 1949, pp. ix–xii.
———. “The Timeless World of a Play,” The Rose Tattoo. New York: New Directions, 1950, pp. vi–xi.
Yeats, William B. The Cutting of an Agate. New York: Macmillan, 1912.
———. Essays. New York: Macmillan, 1924.
———. Notes, Four Plays for Dancers. New York: Macmillan, 1926.
———. Ideas of Good and Evil. London: A.H. Bullen, 1913.
———. Plays and Controversies. London: Macmillan, 1923.
Zola, Émile. The Experimental Novel. New York: Cassell, 1894.
———. Nos auteurs dramatiques. Paris: Charpentier, 1881.
———. Preface to Thérèse Raquin, translated by K. Boutall, in From the Modern Repertoire, Series 3, edited by Eric Bentley. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1956.