Understanding the Meaning of the Word Playwright: A Proud Title

"What?" says the person who only moments before was humbly seeking my advice. "What's wrong with it?"

"First of all," I say, "you've handed me an acting résumé and you've listed your directing and writing credits on it as well. You should only list your acting credits if you want to sell yourself as an actor - directors don't want an actor who will try to direct the show out from under them, and neither they nor writers want an actor who will try to punch up the script to make it better."

"But that just shows how well-rounded I am."

"Excellent. Make one for yourself that shows how well-rounded you are. Then make one to give to a casting director that shows what a good actor you are. And second, you've called yourself a 'playwrite.'"

"But I write plays."

"Yes, but the word doesn't exist."

At this moment, communication collapses as I try to explain that there is, in fact, a right way and a wrong way to spell the word "playwright." Even so, I encounter the same mistake cropping up more and more. Perhaps it is a simple matter of imitation - most writers today get familiar with screenwriters, whose title reflects with true simplicity what it is they do - they write for the screen. It may also, however, stem from a lack of knowledge of the true meaning of the word.

A Brief History Lesson

The origin of the term "playwright" can be tracked back to the pageant wagons. The art of drama - long banned by the early church - made a resurgence through the church itself. With the first performance of "Whom Seek Ye" in front of a Sabbath-morning congregation, the church revived a centuries-old art form that it had struggled for decades to kill. As the performances grew more and more popular, the church grew concerned that they would distract from the sermons, although they could not help but notice that their congregations seemed happier now that drama had been introduced to the ceremony. The decision was made not to ban the new dramas and not to remove them from the church grounds, but to keep them separate from the ceremonies.

They moved the dramas to the land just outside the church proper. Now drama could be performed, but only on the steps outside the church or on the outer grounds. The result quickly evolved into community theatre festivals. Local artisans would gather together and produced short dramas based on the stories of the Bible. What began as a gathering then developed into a competition as artisan guilds competed against each other to produce the best drama.

The shipwrights' guild would, naturally, produce the story of Noah and the Ark. The wheelwrights' guild would produce any story that required a chariot. Each guild would turn out to present a play that not only represented the stories of the Old Testament, but that also showcased their own handiwork. As the competition grew with each passing year, it became a point of pride to take home the highest honor. The guilds fell into bitter rivalry over the annual festivals, and many of them focused their energy on the competition year-round.

It was at the height of the competition that the skilled artisans of the guild began to see the play as an object, itself. Their scripts to this point had usually been written by one of the members of their guild. A shipwright who could write a decent sentence would be charged every year with the drafting of the story of Noah, for example. But the more this method was considered, the more the artisans found error in it.

A shipwright, they reasoned, could build a ship better than anybody else in the community because they built ships constantly. Similarly, wheelwrights were good at creating wheels because their livelihood depended on it. All artisans were good at what they did because it was what they focused on. Therefore, the logic went, if you wanted to have the best play at the competition, shouldn't you get your script from somebody whose job was to create scripts? It was only a few short years after this reasoning was put into play that the competitions saw the addition of a new guild. The Playwrights' Guild in most communities never competed in the festivals themselves, but their work was on stage. Every guild that could afford to hire one of its members went to these builders of plays to get their script.

Playwright

The word "wright" means one who builds. Used as a suffix, it indicates what someone builds. The word "playwright" has a different root from the word "screenwriter." It recalls an earlier time when playwrights were not just people who put words on the page, but skilled artisans on whom the other guilds relied. The word "playwright," it is plain to see, is not the writer of plays, but rather the builder of plays. Drama is not transient - it is not merely words on the paper. It is, at its highest, a construction. It is words placed together to build a chapel - a monument that stands for generations to come. The word "playwright" is a proud title. To call oneself a playwright is to be a builder of plays, and to understand the meaning of the word is to understand the power and responsibility that comes with it.