How to write a play: The Nguyen method
Don Nguyen - Written for PerformanceOmaha.com

When it comes to the theatre, the play is the thing. Local actor, director and playwright, Don Nguyen of the Shelterbelt Theatre offers some advice on how to get started.

HOW I GOT STARTED
I officially started playwrighting in college. In my beginning playwriting class, I started off writing mostly short comic pieces. They were fun and funny for the most part. Then we had to write a one-act play for our final project. I changed gears and adapted a bunch of stories that my father had told me of our family, growing up and eventually escaping from Vietnam. It was with this piece that my professor said I had truly found my voice. It didn't really make sense to me until years later when I got to work with other playwrights at the Shelterbelt Theatre. Giving them feedback on their plays really made me understand the importance of finding one's voice in playwrighting, or in all of writing for that matter. Your voice can come quickly or slowly. The only way to find it is to write.

HOW TO COME UP WITH IDEAS
Your mind is a powerful source of untapped ideas. The more you write, the more you drill into your head, and, at some point, just like tapping an underground oil well, your ideas will start springing out. Memories in your life will become an important source for ideas. Go out and experience life as much as possible. Watch movies, read books, and definitely go to plays. It is your job as a writer to take all those ideas and organize them, preferably, write them down somewhere and store them for later use.

THE ART OF CRAFTING YOUR PLAY
Samuel Johnson wrote, "What is written without effort is in general, read without pleasure." This is very true. Writing is hard. You must be willing to put the time and effort into it, so that when you present your play to the audience, they will know and appreciate it. Audiences are smart, and they can detect sloppy work.

A typical dramatic play follows a two-act structure. Not all plays follow this, however, if you're starting out as a writer, I suggest you follow the basic rules. Remember, you have to master the rules before you learn to break them. Your play should have a protagonist and an antagonist. Simply put: the good guy and the bad guy or something (or someone) resembling both. Usually your main character is the protagonist. In the story, the protagonist needs to accomplish something. Where does this need come from? It comes from an inciting incident. This is an event that occurs early in your story that takes your protagonist from his mediocre, boring world to one that is rich in conflict. Conflict is the heart of all great stories. Conflict is drama. Without it your story is boring. Where does the conflict come from? Your protagonist, in his quest to reach his goal, will come upon many obstacles along the way. The obstacles are provided by the antagonist of your story. This creates conflict, which creates drama.

Take The Wizard of Oz, for example. (Ok, so it's not a play, but almost everyone knows the story). The protagonist is Dorothy. The inciting incident is Dorothy rescuing Toto and getting stuck in the house as a tornado takes her away to the land of Oz. Dorothy's objective or goal becomes clear: To get back home. Along the way she is greeted by friend and foe: The Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. All of these are friends, of course. Her obstacles come from the Wicked Witch, who sends the group through the dark forest and drugs them with poppies. After that, she sends forth a bunch of flying monkeys. All of these are obstacles. As you know, in the end, everything is resolved. Films and novels are generally plot heavy, whereas plays are character heavy or character-centric, I should say. In a two-act play, you still have your basics: the protagonist, the antagonist, the inciting incident, the objectives and obstacles of the protagonist and the antagonist.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH YOUR PLAY
So you've made the journey, and you've finished your first draft. What do you do now? Simple. Rewrite. Yes, rewrite your script. No one writes a perfect script the first time around. William Faulkner said, "Kill your darlings" This means you must be objective. Start with all the things you think are wonderful and great in your play. Really examine it and ask yourself, "Does it really serve the story?" If there is doubt, throw it out. After you've rewritten, it's a good idea to have a public reading. This is where a public audience is invited to sit and listen as your play is being read out loud. You can either organize this yourself or find a theatre that is willing to do it for you. Check out different theatres and find out if they take submissions. If so, find out their guidelines and stick to it. Give them only what they ask for. No more, no less.

There's so much that goes into writing a play; this article is just the tip of the iceberg. Remember, if you're not writing, then you're not a writer. And also remember, no one asked you to be a writer. You chose to be one. So for god's sake, make it interesting for us, the audience.

Here are some recommended books that I think are helpful to all writers.

• The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri
  
• The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler
  
• The Dramatist's Toolkit by Jeffrey Sweet
  
• Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee