Dan Weatherer, The Dead Stage review

Reviewed by Paula Limbaugh

“The Dead Stage – the period of time between completing the working draft of a stage play and placing it with an interested party.” – Dan Weatherer

Dan Weatherer’s The Dead Stage: A Journey from Page to Stage is the latest one of Crystal Lake Publishing’s non-fiction offerings of writing tips/advice books. Now, it may not appeal to everyone if you aren’t interested in writing plays but if you enjoy reading plays there a few of those included as well. The plays are shown in the industry format so for those of you that are unsure of what’s acceptable you will have a guideline to refer to.

Weatherer opens with an essay filled with the dos and don’ts of getting one’s play to the stage and follows with a series of Q & A posed to different people in the industry. From award-winning playwright, Deborah McAndrew, to various actors, and even a theatre technician the advice given is solid information that will help guide you along in writing and (fingers crossed) getting that play from your initial concept to an audience.

Lastly, as mentioned above are several of Weatherer’s plays included. I like that he has the plays laid out in the industry format as it really gives you a sense of what is going on, how the scene is set, which makes reading them that more enjoyable.

So… why should you take any advice from Dan Weatherer? Well, he is an award-winning author who knows how to tell a story! When switching over to writing stage plays he found there was a difference in presenting the story to be told and had to learn through trial and error what worked and what wasn’t acceptable. Now with many of his plays on stage he hopes by sharing what he’s learned over the years can help others sidestep his mistakes. Of course, while following his advice is no guarantee of becoming a successful playwright it will at least give you a push in the right direction!

And, I can’t end this review without mentioning the cover art done by Luke Spooner! In fact, if you like it you can get it on a T-shirt from the Crystal Lake store here!

The Dead Stage will be released Friday, Oct. 19 you can pre-order it HERE!!

4/5