A playwright is a person who writes plays for the theater.

Playwrights create the scripts that actors perform on stage. They write the dialogue characters speak, describe the settings and actions, and build the story that unfolds in front of a live audience. William Shakespeare is probably the most famous playwright in history, but every school play, Broadway musical, and community theater production starts with a playwright's script.

Writing plays differs from writing novels or screenplays. A playwright must imagine how everything will work in a theater, with live actors, real sets, and an audience watching just a few feet away. They can't use camera tricks or special effects the way movies do. Everything must happen through what the audience can see and hear right there in the room.

Some playwrights, like Lin-Manuel Miranda (who wrote Hamilton), also compose music for their plays. Others, like August Wilson or Lorraine Hansberry, focus on powerful stories and memorable characters. When a playwright's work succeeds, audiences leave the theater thinking about what they just experienced, sometimes for days or years afterward.