All plays, even the most abstract, are autobiographical. Pre-plan the structure however tightly, make the approach as abstract as you can, distance yourself from the characters as analytically as possible—still, some part of your inner self will slide into the text to give you away. Even having a strong social agenda is no escape: When O'Neill wrote a play about an interracial couple, he called them Jim and Ella—his parents' names. Tapping the unconscious, as it must to have any strength at all, playwriting inevitably digs into all the personal matters that, in ordinary life, a playwright might happily leave buried. Some playwrights wear their autobiography boldly on their sleeves, while others use more devious means; every play is to some extent... More >>>