Writing Better Dialogue

Make it Sparkle Video with Maria McConville
Writer, Actor and Director

(3:05) runtime

Director’s Notes

In this segment, Maria discusses

• Drawing dialogue from the everyday conversations you hear around you. Listen and jot down words, things your kids say, etc. You'll discover terms or phrases you never would have come up with on your own.

• Knowing your character as well as you can - what time period they're from, where they live, how old they are, where they went to school, etc. All these things will influence how they speak.

• Understanding that you change the way you speak, based on who you're talking to. If you know who your character is talking to, you will adjust the dialogue accordingly.

About Maria McConville

Maria McConville is an actor, teaching artist, and playwright. Now a resident of Connecticut, she was a NYC Public School teaching artist since 2005. She has worked with the Theatre Development Fund, LeAP! Onstage, Periwinkle Theater for Youth, and a Shakespeare and Playwriting teaching artist with Theatre For A New Audience. Maria has worked with 2nd grade through 12th grade, though, she has a special place in her heart for 6th-8th graders. Her students have performed and adapted the work of Shakespeare, written their own plays, devised ensemble performance pieces, sang and danced in musical productions, and performed their peers work on a Broadway stage. Growing up in New York, Maria attended LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts for Drama, and recently adjudicated the auditions for incoming students. Maria has performed with/at NYTW, EST, CSC, Woodshed Collective, SoHo Rep, HERE Arts Center, undergroundzerofestival, The Kirk @Theater Row, Fordham Alumni Company, 78th Street Theater Lab, aMios, BAX, and Shakespeare in the Park-ing Lot. Her published plays include To Date or Not to Date (Playscripts), #VIRAL and #Censored (Stage Partners).