“The Engine of Our Disruption” has won first place in the 2024 Scriptwriters & Co International Festival in Bath, UK. My AI comedy would make a fantastic film, as well.
Great reviews for “Engine/Disruption”
Check these out! “Local playwright Patricia Milton makes dialogue zesty: Each line, however economical, uncovers something cringey, zany or piquant about a fast-talking character.” SF Chronicle Datebook “an exceptional comedy that simultaneously entertains, educates, satirizes and surprises…with top-notch acting and Gary Graves’ skilled direction” E.Mendel, Berkeleyside “Come and see how the Bubble bursts…through a unique comedic lens” P. Morin, Theatrius …
“Engine” Opens This Week!
Central Works premieres my comedy “The Engine of Our Destruction” on Saturday, October 14, at the Berkeley City Club. Featuring Chelsea Bearce, Louel Señores, Michael Tuton, and Jan Zvaifler, it’s a comic look at attempts to enforce or regulate AI ethics. The play centers on Kamiri (Chelsea Bearce), new Chief Ethics Officer at Bubble, Inc., whose mother is named Chair …
Boost Creativity with Walking
I write all my plays by walking. I take notes in my NOTES app, or I may use the voice recorder to capture dialogue. It’s a healthy way to write – much easier on the body than sitting. Turns out there is science behind walking and creativity. Creative thinking improves while a person is walking and shortly thereafter, according to …
Mark Ravenhill 101
The celebrated playwright began posting playwriting tips in September on Twitter, much to the delight of playwrights and theatregoers. These helpful and provocative notes have been posted in their entirety on The Bruntwood Prize website. Here’s just one example: #3. Characters asking questions is often the engine of a play. When writing/ rewriting see if you can frame lines as …
The Emotional Journey
I watched a script reading recently that really illustrated the need for an emotional journey in a play. I believe you can make a satisfying film without one, but for a play, emotional arcs are required. Peter Craig, novelist and screenwriter, says this: “Per Aristotle, while we may still think of a story having three acts — Beginning, Middle, End …
Write With a Pen
The “Writing Down The Bones” author Natalie Goldberg likes to keep things simple. She writes: “A writing practice is simply picking up a pen — a fast-writing pen, preferably, since the mind is faster than the hand — and doing timed writing exercises. The idea is to keep your hand moving for, say, ten minutes, and don’t cross anything out, …
Don’t Villainize Your Villain
How many times have you watched a show and felt sad when the villain wasn’t onstage? That’s because a good villain is not only watchable, they’re somewhat relatable. Think Aaron Burr. Stanley Kowalski. Goneril and Regan. When writing a villain, make them the hero of their own story and they’ll shine. More than anything, audiences want characters (virtuous and not) …
Endings
I am constantly reminded that endings are hard. Just the other day, as I was walking, I thought of the ending of a play I’ve been kicking around in my head for a few years (yes, years). This makes me very happy. I feel like I can actually start writing the play now. Endings are hard because they must be …
On Coincidences
Coincidences in plays can be problematic. Audiences will only tolerate so much. Once when discussing coincidences in “Oedipus Rex,” an instructor said what I think is a nifty, concise rule: “There should be only one coincidence per play, and it should happen offstage, and in the past.” Scott Myers makes the distinction between Fate coincidences and Writer coincidences. (Fate coincidences …