Although many people enjoy plays, a good majority has never spent time pondering over the name ‘playwright’, as opposed to ‘playwriter’. In an easier an direct use of English words, one would expect that a person who composes plays be just referred to as a ‘playwriter’. However, this is not the case because, as brought out in the short videos, the playwrights are not just writers of plays, but they have to pend their time to come up with a creative piece.

In one of the short videos, the viewer appreciates the introduction to Suzan-Lori Park as she accepts the 2008 Kentucky governor’s award. As the introducer posits, Suzan is a thinker, an innovator, and a unique author who sees the world in her unique way. This introduction speaks volumes as to the difference between ‘playwriter’ and playwright. The ‘wright’ in the word ‘playwright’ has been a rarely used word meaning ‘to construct’. In the real life situation, a construction needs design, purpose, time, and other resources. In the same light, a playwright is not just a writer, but one who invests the needed time, creativity and innovation to come up with a piece that is creative for the audience. Indeed, while writing would involve just compiling together, playwrters compose well-thought pieces.

The interview by Charlie Rose to Arthur Miller also emphasizes the uniqueness of a playwright as opposed to a ‘playwriter’. According to Arthur, playwrights share a common ‘moral sensibility that is unquenchable,’ meaning that they spend much of their time ‘constructing’ creative pieces for their audience. Additionally, the interview about Conor McPherson reveals that a playwright does not just write; their work has a strong feature of creativity and is a huge investment in the scarce resource, time.

In sum, playwrights are not just writers. They are builders who employ creativity, innovativeness and a great investment in time. It is through such investment that their work becomes captivating to the audience.

Works cited

Interview with Conor McPherson.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48m3hsWdZbA

Interview with Suzan-Lozi.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMcRgPJBE_o

Interview with Arthur Miller.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BirqjuayQTA