For the playwright…
You must have some kinda conflict on every page of your script. Or at the very least, in every beat.
When you get to the end of your first draft, break the play down into beats. If any of them don’t have conflict, they gotta go. Excise immediately. Call it character backstory and move on.
No one wants to watch two people “hang out”/”get to know each other” on stage. Not for very long anyway. Even if it’s super-charged, very fun, highly vulnerable, and remarkably intimate, the powder in the beat keg will run dry. Fast.
Conflict. Conflict. Conflict…And more conflict.
P.S. – If you’re acting in a play that has “hang out” beats, beware. It’s a huge trap. You gotta find a way to inject conflict. Even if it’s internal, that’s great. And it could be riveting.
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