Jon the Playwright profile picture

Jon the Playwright

Plays, Monologues and Playwriting Help!

About Me

I'm always a bit behind on updating this space, but here are a few quick facts and links that may be of use to you. Be sure to read my notes under "I'd Like to Meet" before adding me.
I'm a playwright (and screenwriter) with more than two dozen plays available for production, and published by Playscripts, Eldridge, Original Works and Brooklyn Publishers. Many are ideal for schools and teen actors, and they've been seen in more than 40 states across the US, as well as in Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries. You'll find more information about me and my work at www.jondorf.com .
Among my more produced plays...
After Math. A student disappears in the middle of math class, and as those left behind come up with reasons for Emmett's absence, we gradually discover that it's only in his disappearance that he's attracted their attention.
Thank You for Flushing My Head in the Toilet and other rarely used expressions follows the daily struggles of a pair of bullied students, Achilles and Helen. When their “bully buddy” Glinda offers them a way out—to become bullies themselves—will they take it?
From Shakespeare With Love? Four of the Bard's characters wait for an overdue flight to London. When Romeo reveals that he plans to revenge himself upon Shakespeare by killing him in a duel, it's up to the others—Titania, Viola and Antipholus—to save Shakespeare by convincing Romeo that Shakespeare "does indeed love love."
I have many monologues for use by teen and adult actors (some of which appear in collections from Meriwether and Smith & Kraus). If you want to get permission to use one for a class or audition, just follow the directions on my monologue page. You can go visit it at www.jondorf.com/monologue.html .
Need help with playwriting? I created http://youngplaywrights101.com as a source of instruction for young playwrights and those who teach them. You'll find lots of free instructional materials, as well as information about Young Playwrights 101, my course-in-a-book that guides playwrights (and their teachers) through the process of writing a play, as well as rewriting, marketing and more.
I also wrote the content for Playwriting 101 , sponsored by The Writers Store and one of the net's most popular playwritng sites, and I'm Final Draft's resident playwriting expert (so if you own Final Draft 7 or later, you'll find me in your software!). I'm available to writers as a consultant, and you'll find more information about my services at http://thewriteconsultant.com .
I travel frequently as a guest artist, and have taught playwriting at schools across the country, as well as at the International Thespian Festival and the Tennessee Arts Academy. I've taught playwriting workshops at the state Thespian Festivals in California, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. I am currently Visiting Associate Professor of Theatre at Hollins University in the MFA playwriting program for summer 2008.
More to come soon, but for now, please explore some of my links!--Jon

My Interests

Theatre, film, travel, restaurants (I'm a serious foodie), tennis (strangely, now that I live in Los Angeles and can play year-round, I hardly play), chess, reading, photography (check out a few of my pics on the picture page!)

I'd like to meet:

Producers, actors, writers, directors, composers, designers and anyone with an interest in theatre and film. If you wish to add me as a friend, unless you know me already, please be involved in the arts in some way. Best to send me a note first, because if I can't figure out why you've tried to add me, I probably won't accept the add: I'm not simply looking to add another scalp to my Myspace collection.

I've had a few recent cases of people who tried to add me, but their profiles were set to private, and they didn't accept messages from people who weren't on their friends list. Since I couldn't contact them to find out who they were, I had to deny them. So please write me first!To contact me for business purposes, please visit my website (link above) and contact me via email rather than through MySpace. Thank you.

Music:

Elton John, Steely Dan, Jethro Tull, Todd Rundgren, REM, Collective Soul and many other bands...coming soon...

Movies:

Lord of the Rings (obviously), Bourne Identity/Supremacy, Mysterious Skin, Brick, Empire Strikes Back, Saved, About a Boy, Silence of the Lambs, Billy Elliot, Transamerica, An Inconvenient Truth, L.I.E., The Player, Sweet Sixteen, Little Miss Sunshine and many more to come...

Television:

The Wire, Boston Legal, Entourage, Weeds, Everwood (ah, the late and lamented...), ER...

Books:

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, of course. The Harry Potter series. Since there isn't a place for them, though, I'm going to list some of my favorite plays and musicals here as well: The Zoo Story, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Homecoming, Waiting for Godot, Angels in America, Falsettos, Lonely Planet...and more to come.

Heroes:

Al Gore, Melissa Etheridge...more to come...

My Blog

Barbados restaurant disaster

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently in Barbados as part of the United States Cultural Envoy program, teaching playwriting and meeting with various practitioners here.  So far, it's fu...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:40:00 PST

Obama, McCain

Obama was amazing last night.  Simply amazing.  He's an inspiring speaker, but he also provided some much-needed specifics.  I'm excited about his candidacy.Apparently, John McCain has ...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:53:00 PST

There They Go Again

There was a time when I used to respect John McCain.  He seemed to be independent enough to stand up to the increasingly right-wing Republican leadership and vote his own mind and his own conscie...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:34:00 PST

Microsoft Word, or what were they thinking?!

Why did the folks at Microsoft take a solid, reasonably user-friendly program in Microsoft Word (97-2003) and decide to make it completely different?  Nothing is where it used to be in Word 2007...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:17:00 PST

Hollins, John McCain and the Wesley Clark Flap, energy, etc.

Believe it or not, we're almost halfway done the summer here at Hollins University, where I'm teaching in the graduate playwriting program.  I have a hectic schedule, with two courses (one of whi...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:23:00 PST

R.I.P. George Carlin

It's late here, and I just found out that one of the great comedians of our time, George Carlin, passed away of heart failure at the age of 71.  He was my favorite comedian, and I had the privile...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:38:00 PST

Milk and Cookies, etc

We had a great show tonight.  Nearly packed house filled with a very receptive audience that was laughing constantly.  The cast was definitely "on."  It was the best show of the run, wi...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Sun, 11 May 2008 11:49:00 PST

going to your friends’ plays

Milk and Cookies opened last night--went well, with a few small tech glitches that should be solved for tonight--and runs on Fridays and Saturdays through May 24th.  Getting the show up is only h...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:26:00 PST

Explosions, High School (non) Musical, Infringers Pay Up and Milk and Cookies

Nothing Like a Good Explosion to Get Your Morning Started Off RightI was awakened by a "boom" at 5 A.M. today. At first, I thought I just dreamt it, but then I see some light seeming to dance against...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:13:00 PST

thoughts, ruminations and this and that...

Money from AfricaIf you spend any time on the internet at all, you’ve probably gotten one of the Nigerian 419 scam emails (so named for a section of the Nigerian penal code).  They’re...
Posted by Jon the Playwright on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:23:00 PST