What Does a Playwright Do?

A playwright is a writer who specializes in the writing of dramatic literature. These works may be created for stage performances, or stage scripts that are impossible to perform, or purely literary creations based only on script dialogue. The earliest playwrights date back to the Greek period in the 5th century BC. At that time, most of the playwrights were mainly comedy writing.

[jù zuò ji]

China's earliest playwrights were scarcely available due to lack of information. It is known that

The word "playwright" in English first appeared in British playwrights

Xia Yan

Xia Yan (1900-1995), a famous Chinese writer of literature, film, drama, literary critic, literary artist, translator and social activist. Born in Kaifeng, Henan, he was born on October 30, 1900 in Yanjia Lane, Pengbu Town, Yuhang County, Zhejiang Province (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province). The original name was Shen Naixi. He was the first of its kind. He is one of the pioneers of the Chinese New Culture Movement and an outstanding revolutionary writer , Social activists and film artists. Died in Beijing on February 6, 1995, at the age of 95

Xia Yan

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Fan Cuiting

Fan Cuiting (1905 ~ 1966), formerly known as Fan Yu. People from Suiping, Henan. Famous Yu opera writer, reformer and educator, known as "the father of modern Yu opera". Former Vice Chairman of Shaanxi Branch of Chinese Dramatists Association, Vice Chairman of Xi'an Cultural Federation, Standing Committee Member of Xi'an Municipal Committee, and Representative of Xi'an People's Congress. He graduated from Henan University with a Master of Arts degree in 1929. Because of his passion for Peking opera, he formed the National Opera (Peking Opera) team while he was in school. He became the captain and made his debut [2]. He founded the Yusheng Theater in 1934, and has served as the dean, screenwriter and director, and reformed the performances, music, costumes and makeup of the Yu Opera with Master Chen Suzhen, the Queen of the Yu Opera. He began to write plays in 1935, and wrote and adapted 58 plays in more than 20 years. Most of his plays are rigorous in structure, twists and turns, novel in technique, healthy in thought, and progressive, and have certain practical significance.

Fan Cuiting

Cao Yu

Cao Yu (1910-1996), an outstanding modern Chinese dramatist, has authored famous works such as "Thunderstorm", "Sunrise", "The Wilderness", and "Beijing People". He has written 8 plays in his lifetime. Cao Yu was born in Qianjiang, Hubei. Born in Tianjin on August 21 (September 24, 1910) in the second year of the Qing Dynasty, the original name was Wanjiabao, and the word was small. When he was studying at Tsinghua University, he was nicknamed "little baby". "Cao Yu" was the pen name he used for the first time when he published his novel in 1926 (the traditional "Cao" prefix of the Chinese name "" is the homophone "Cao"). Cao Yu is an "audience of civilized drama, an amateur actor who loves American drama, and a playwright under the influence of left-wing drama" (Sun Qingsheng: Cao Yulun, Peking University Press, 1986). This sentence roughly summarizes Cao Yu's dramatic life. Cao Yu's wife, Li Yuru, is a famous actor in Beijing opera.

Cao Yong

Wu Zuguang

Wu Zuguang, also known as Wu Zhaoshi and Wu Shao, is a famous modern playwright and director. Born in Wujin, Jiangsu Province, he was born on April 21, 1917 in a large mansion house in Beijing's Dongcheng Xiaocao Factory. The family provided a literary environment for Wu Zuguang. His father Wu Zheng, who participated in the founding of the Palace Museum, is proficient in poetry, calligraphy, seal engraving, and appreciation of ancient cultural relics, and has a profound impact on Wu Zuguang's literary career. In the same year, Wu Zuguang graduated from the Beijing Kongde School. After studying for one year in the Department of Literature of the University of China and France, he should be employed as the secretary of the President's Office of Nanjing Drama Academy. The novel "Gong E Yuan" published in 1934 is her debut. After the July 7th Incident, he went to Hunan and Sichuan to teach language and Chinese drama history with the drama school. In 1936, he graduated in liberal arts at the University of China and France. In 1937, Wu Zuguang served as the secretary of the president's office of the Nanjing National Academy of Drama. In the same year, he created the anti-Japanese drama "Phoenix", which became a powerful weapon in the struggle between the theater industry and the Japanese invaders. In the following years, he wrote dramas such as "The Song of Righteousness", "The Return of the Snowy Night", "Lin Chong Ye Ben", "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl", and "Youth Tour". ". In 1945, the "Xinmin Evening News" supplement, which he edited, took the lead in publishing Mao Zedong's "Qinyuan Spring · Snow". In 1946, he founded the "Xinmin Evening News" "Luminous Cup" supplement and "Qingming" magazine in Shanghai. He also created "Ghostbusters" and the new drama "Chang'e Runs to the Moon", condemning the Kuomintang reactionary rule, and was persecuted by the Kuomintang reactionaries Runaway Hong Kong. In 1947, he directed films such as "National Soul", "No Lost Youth", "Mountains and Tears", "Spring Wind and Autumn Rain" and "Falling Snow and the Night Returns" in Hong Kong. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wu Zuguang successively created works such as the movie "Red Flag Song" and children's drama "Four Eliminations" which reflected the spinning women workers. After 1954, Wu Zuguang directed the films "Mei Lanfang Stage Art", "Luo Shen" and "Tear of the Barren Mountains", leaving extremely precious materials for Mei Lanfang and Cheng Yiqiu. In 1963, he collaborated with his wife Xin Fengxia to adapt the drama "Flower for the Media", which became a successful masterpiece on the stage. In addition, he has produced a large number of works such as "Wu Zetian", "Three Pottery and Three Springs", "Chuang Jianghu", "The Legend of New Phoenix Xia" and "Sanguan Banquet".

Wu Zuguang