I've taken a couple of months off--well, truth be told, I've been super busy--and now that I'm back, I thought I'd show up with a new look. The new newsletter, modeled on my website, contains HTML, with live links, graphics and much more potential than plain text. In fact, it's almost like being on my website. Don't forget to read all the way to the end to get the Playwriting Tip of the Month! Enjoy, and if your email client doesn't support having fun, visit me on the web here: http://jondorf.com/news0808.html.

I'm hard at work on 4 A.M., a play about a series of teenagers awake at that time I like to call the magic hour--when most of the world is asleep. If you're a teen, I could use your help. Have you ever been awake at 4 A.M.? What kind of thoughts ran through your head? Nothing is too strange, too serious or too wacky. All replies will be kept in confidence. Either hit reply to this email or with your 4 A.M. stories!

I recently returned from a successful stint at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, where I was Visiting Associate Professor of Theatre in the MFA playwriting program. I taught both Narrative Theory and Dramatic Structure, a course for first-year MFA students, and Playwriting for Young Audiences, in which students from both the playwriting and children's literature programs developed new one-act plays for young actors and audiences.

While at Hollins, I had the opportunity to participate in Overnight Sensations, a 24-hour playwriting festival at Mill Mountain Theatre, Roanoke's professional theatre. On Friday, July 11th at 8 PM, I was given a director, a cast, a first and last line, a setting, a genre and a theme--and I then had to go off and create a brand-new 10-minute play that would go into rehearsal and be produced at 8 PM the next day! Keep an eye out for the play, a comedy called Vital Organs, on my website sometime this fall.

Also this summer, my "tips on writing your first play" article appeared in the July issue of The Writer magazine, available at major bookstores nationwide.

In addition to the newly published High School (non) Musical, available through Playscripts here, I'm also delighted to announce that Brooklyn Publishers will publish my new duet, Ten Minutes, in which a pair of students hide in a custodian's closet after a Columbine-style shooting at their school. After 10 minutes of silence from the other side of the door, is it safe to come out? It's not available yet, but click here for its page on the Brooklyn site.

HS(n)M at the Springfield Academy of Arts and Academics (Springfield, OR; photo by Stephen Speidel)

READ magazine, published by Weekly Reader and targeted at grades 6-10, will feature excerpts from Young Playwrights 101, my book for young playwrights and those who teach them, as well as a Q&A with me, in its November 2008 issue. Young Playwrights 101 is a complete course in a book, and ideal as a playwriting textbook for students from middle school through college. As a list member, you can purchase it at 20% off--just visit YoungPlaywrights101.com and enter the code JONSLIST. Want to purchase a classroom set? Ask me about volume discounts!

Want to study playwriting with me? Why not take Introduction to Playwriting, my online course at Writers University? The next session begins on October 6th. Enroll before September 15th to save 10%. Click here for more information.

Want to work with me in person? I'm available to visit schools and festivals to conduct playwriting workshops that can range from a few hours to a residency of a week or more. To learn more, click here, or . Of course, these visits are often done in conjunction with a production of one of my plays. Speaking of plays...

All of these titles have been successfully produced in schools or youth theatres multiple times. To learn more or to purchase a copy, click on the play title!

Thank You for Flushing My Head in the Toilet and other rarely used expressions takes aim at one of the worst problems affecting schools today: bullying.

In After Math, a student mysteriously disappears in the middle of math class. What happened? As those left behind try to find some answers, they slowly realize that no one noticed him until he was gone...

High School (non) Musical. Join Toy Boatin, Cryin, Shitzu, Gaberella and the rest of the gang in this outrageous parody of the Disney hit.

Dear Chuck captures the lives of its collection of teen characters in moments that range from the ridiculousness of taking over the kiddie pool at the local swim club to the wrenching aftermath of a friend's suicide--as they all search for their "Chuck," that elusive moment of knowing who you are.

Ideal for high schools, colleges, community or professional theatre...

In Beef Junkies, a beef addict searches for her fix, but there's only one cow left in the world.

Beef Junkies at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.

Supermodels in Jeopardy. When a convention center collapses and the world's supermodels are trapped in their dressing rooms beneath the rubble, will the less anatomically perfect people ride to their rescue?

A customer takes matters into his own hands when he discovers a used bookstore is removing the pages from classic books and replacing them with blank ones in The White Pages.

As Pino says in High School (non) Musical, "I'm looking for someone to be my friend." So be a friend and add all three of my pages!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So why not think about your new play that way? After you have your initial idea, come up with at least five images from the play that a photographer taking production photos might capture (you can describe them in writing, or if you like to draw...). Who is on stage in each photo? What are they doing? How did we get there from the previous image? Images can be a great tool for developing story and character, and with each new image, see how your play progresses. Give it a try!

4 A.M. What's it like to be awake when the rest of your world is asleep? Find out as a series of teen characters, through scenes and monologues, search for connection in the magic hour.

Vital Organs. A recovering transplant patient determined to stock up before he leaves the hospital. Doctors supplementing their salaries by selling an organ or two. A kleptomaniac kid on the loose. A soup-cooking candy striper right out of Sweeney Todd. Calling it a health care crisis would be an understatement...