One task I give my amateur Playwriting students is to have them write a 60-second play in Two Acts using the Three Act structure. That means you have around 30 seconds to set up the plot conflict points, 20 seconds to explode the conflict and 10 seconds to bring around a catharsis and denouement.
A Playwright is a “Play Builder” — and that means you are a craftsman and not an artist. Your job is to create structure and a frame first as you plot your drama.
Students always balk at the time limit. They want the freedom to explore and write as they wish without any conditions or boundaries.
I teach them that the discipline of writing a 60-second play — and then performing it! — will make them better writers because they will have to be economical, smart, and to trust their gut.
It can be just as hard to write a 60-second play as a 90-minute play because the terms and conditions are absolutely the same: Drama is Conflict.
Learning how to sustain the conflict over arcs of crisscrossing time is what measures the mature playwright’s rite against the amateur wrong.