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Building Your Play: Theory and Practice for the Beginning Playwright (review)

In the introduction to Building Your Play: Theory and Practice for the Beginning Playwright, David Rush details two underlying assumptions of his playwriting textbook, the first being an emphasis on the word “beginning”: “This book is primarily designed for the beginning playwright, somebody who has probably been in a few plays, has worked backstage once or twice, read plays, and in general loves theater” (1). Despite an emphasis on “very basic ideas,” Rush hopes to serve advanced writers as well, providing a “great refresher” and “a way to reconnect with some of those elementary steps that we often forget are extremely important” (1). “Think of it as baking a cake,” he analogizes. “The beginner needs to know the difference between, say, a tablespoon and a teaspoon. The advanced baker knows the difference, but when the cake goes flat, she needs to go back to the recipe to make sure she’s used the right measure” (1–2).