To an unusual degree among writers playwrights creations are not simply words on a page. Instead a wellwrought play is an intricate machine that will be used by directors actors designers and other creators to bring a fully staged realtime performance into the world. The construction and maintenance of that machine is the playwrights job and it requires an array of complex interconnected skills and techniques. Enter Justin Maxwell and The Playwrights Toolbox a stimulating and wideranging resource for both beginning and experienced dramatists. It brings together invigorating provocative and irreverent exercises contributed by nearly 60 leading Englishlanguage playwrights covering all stages of the writing process. It offers an accessible roadmap for those who have never written a play before while providing new angles and solutions for seasoned writers struggling with a particular challenge. Covered here is everything fromgenerating ideas and worldbuilding through dialogue and plotting to revision and the last steps before releasing a play into the world making this an endlessly useful guide to building better plays.