Life as a Playwright

Jon Klein is the head of the MFA Playwriting Program at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and author of over 30 produced plays, performed Off-Broadway and at many prestigious regional theatres. He has also written several adaptations and his stage version of Stendhal’s classic novel The Red and the Black was produced at ACT Theatre, Seattle. He adapted T Bone N Weasel for a Turner Network film, starring Gregory Hines and Christopher Lloyd and for which received both the HBO Playwrights USA award and the Midwest Author’s award. His other plays include Losing It, Chance and Necessity and Dimly Perceived Threats to the System. He has been a Playwright-in-Residence at the American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, and the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta and he has taught playwriting and screenwriting at UCLA, the University of Texas, the University of Washington, Ohio University, and Hollins University.

1. What is a Playwright’s Life Like?
2. What Makes You Want to Do It?
3. When Do You Call Yourself a Playwright?
4. How Do You Earn a Living?
5. What Happens When Your Play’s a Hit?
6. What Happens When Your Play’s a Flop?
7. How Do You Bounce Back?
8. What’s Luck Got To Do With It?
9. Can a Playwright Make Bad Decisions?
10. Does Controversy Help or Hurt a Play?
11. How the #$%@! Can I Get Someone to Read My Play?
12. How Do I Find the Right Opportunities?
13. Anything Else?
Appendix: Other Playwrights Have Their Turn: Contributions by Allyson Currin, Steven Dietz, Robert Freedman, Gary Garrison, Keith Glover, Chad Henry, John Olive, John Pielmeier and Y York