The fifth printing of this Directory which is constantly being revised and enlarged began in THE WRITER for January, 1928. The information for it, showing the manuscript requirements of the various publications listed, is gathered directly from the editors of the periodicals. An asterisk preceding the name of a periodical indicates that the information has had the editor's "O.K." Items not so marked are as accurate as they can be made, but editorial "O.K." on proof submitted was not received before printing.

Before submitting manuscripts to any publication it is advisable to secure a sample copy.

(Continued from October WRITER)

*CALGARY EYE-OPENER (M), Box 218, Minneapolis, Minn. $2.50; 25c. Harvey Fawcett, editor.

Uses short, humorous sketches, epigrams, jokes, nutty poems, rhymes, and jingles, but no fiction, and no general articles. Sets length limit at 200 words. Pays $2 to $10 each for jokes and epigrams, $1 to $5 a verse, and $2 to $10 for cartoons.

CALL OF THE NORTH, Phoenix Building, Minneapolis, Minn.

Mail returned unclaimed. *CAMERA-THE

OF

PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNAL AMERICA (M), 636 So. Franklin Square, Philadelphia, Penn. $2.00; 20c. Frank V. Chambers, editor.

A magazine for the technical, amateur, and ciné photographer. Uses practical articles on photography, setting length limit at from 1,000 to 1,500 words. Prints neither fiction nor poetry, and buys no photographs. Pays on acceptance.

*CANADIAN COUNTRY MAN (W), 198 Richmond St., Toronto, Ont., Canada. $1.50; 5c. Daniel McKeee, editor.

Uses short stories and serials of rural life, adventure, love, preferably with the scene laid in Canada any good story for farmers, their wives, and families. Sets length limit at 2,000 to 6,000 words, buys photographs, and pays on publication.

*CANADIAN MAGAZINE (M), 349 West Adelaide St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada. $1.50; 15c. Joseph Lister Rutledge, editor.

Uses short stories and general articles relating to Canada - historical, business, and personal, but no poetry, jokes, plays, or juvenile matter. Prefers clean fiction with unusual love and business interest. Sets length limit at 5,000 words, does not buy photographs, and pays a minimum of a cent a word on accep

tance.

*CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW (Q), 371 Bloor St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada. $2.00; 50c. W. S. Wallace, librarian of the Univ. of Toronto, editor.

An authoritative quarterly review of matters pertinent to Canadian history. Publishes

original articles on Canadian history, economics, geography, and allied subjects, important documents hitherto unpublished, and reviews. Payment is made at a purely nominal rate.

*CANADIAN INSURANCE (W), 7 Jordan St. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. $3.00; 10c. H. M. Jackson, editor.

Requires articles dealing with both the technical and salesmanship angles of life, fire, and casualty insurance, and with new insurance ideas for agents, agency managers, and head office executives. Pays space rates after publication.

*CANNING AGE (M), 101 West 31st St., New York. $4.00; 35c. Nelson H. Budd, editor.

A technical journal for packers of food in tin and glass. Uses features or news articles emphasizing factory activity, production of machinery for canning purposes, packaging of preserved foods in tin or glass, new methods of food processing, etc. Stories should run from 600 to 2,000 words, and should be accompanied by photographs. Rates are arranged with the writer, payments being made immediately following the monthly issue.

*CAPPER'S FARMER (M), Topeka, Kan. 25c; 5c. Ray Yarnell, editor.

Uses a few general articles, short stories, and jokes, but no juvenile matter, poetry, or humorous verse. Rarely buys photographs, and pays on acceptance. Has sources already that supply most needs.

Volume 40

Number 11

HOUGH plays consisting of a single act

THO

were written before 1900, the one-act play as a recognized dramatic form, with a technique of its own, is distinctly a product of the twentieth century. During its brief existence it has become, because of its brevity and the vividness of its narrative method, a rival of the short story with both writers and readers. The publication of one-act plays in many magazines and the yearly additions to the hundreds of volumes of collected oneact plays indicate the activity of playwrights and show the increasing interest of the reading public in this newest type of legitimate drama.

ence of the Little Theatre is more easily interested in the one-act play than is the larger varied audience of the commercial theatre. The greater intimacy of the Little Theatre is distinctly favorable to the success of the oneact play. Likewise, since the settings and costumes employed by most amateur com panies are usually less elaborate than those used by professional producers, the play itself has a better chance to make its own appeal to the audience.

The Little Theatre is the real developer of the one-act play. Collaboration of audience, producing staff, actors, and playwrights renders it, under competent direction and intelligent coöperation, a school of dramatic expression as well as a means of pleasurable entertainment for the community. To the person interested in writing plays it furnishes an invaluable opportunity to observe and to participate in the production and criticism of plays by professional and amateur playwrights. More important still, if he writes a play that merits production and patiently observes it through all the rehearsals, he may

On the professional stage the one-act play has not thus far become a serious competitor of the longer play. Within the past fifteen years, however, the establishment of several hundred Little Theatres in schools and colleges and in cities, towns, and rural communities throughout the United States has provided a very satisfactory avenue of production for one-act plays. The comparatively small and relatively homogeneous audi

learn much from the stage test of his play about the relation of the playwright to the audience, the producing staff, and the actors. Thereafter he should be able to improve his craftsmanship in this rather highly specialized form of writing.

Briefly defined, a one-act play is a short story told in dramatic form. That is, it is related by means of action and dialogue supplemented by stage setting, costumes, and suggestion. To be successful, it must be so devised that it instantly gets the attention of the audience, increases their interest as it proceeds, and produces in them the right emotional response when it is adequately presented before them by actors on a stage. It deals with but one situation, or dominant incident, and depends for its effectiveness on singleness of impression. It is the concise elaboration of a single theme, or dominant idea.

Though length is a relative matter, the one-act play, like the short story, should be as brief as the successful telling of the story and the production of the intended single effect will permit. As a rule, the one-act play is somewhat shorter than the short story, for in the former the writer is spared the necessity of describing his setting and his characters. It is important to understand that the playwright must tell his story by means of action and dialogue. Stage setting, costumes, and the skilful use of suggestion in devising his play aid him in achieving brevity.

In the majority of one-act plays, as in the greater number of short stories, the number of characters ranges between two and six. In both there must be a preeminent character, who dominates, and is usually responsible for, the action of the play or the story.

means of a logical plot he is able to secure suspense, lead up to an interesting climax, and achieve a satisfactory ending for his play.

In the one-act play, as in the short story, economy of means is of the highest importance. "It makes a virtue of economy of means," as Mr. Clayton Hamilton has said in his "Studies in Stagecraft." "It aims to produce a single dramatic effect with the greatest economy of means that is consistent with the greatest emphasis. The method of the one-act play at its best is similar to the method employed by Browning in his dramatic monologues. The author must suggest the entire history of a soul by seizing it at some crisis of its career and forcing the spectator to look upon it from an unexpected and suggestive point of view. A one-act play in exhibiting the present should imply the past and intimate the future. The author has no leisure for laborious exposition; but his projection of a single situation should sum up in itself the accumulated results of many antecedent causes." The ideal of the writer of the one-act play is to tell concisely and dramatically, by means of a few characters and within a brief period of time, one story with one place and time setting. In this ideal the short-story writer shares also, though he is not quite so strictly limited.

Though the writer of the one-act play must keep his setting vividly in mind, his description of it at the beginning of his play is intended primarily for the guidance of the producer in arranging a suitable stage. For the audience, the setting is physically presented and suggested by objects, lights, and shadows properly inclosed within a background. The short-story writer often finds it necessary to include two or more different place settings, or scenes, in his story. This the writer of the one-act play cannot do. He is strictly limited to one place, or scene. Usually, too, he adheres to a single brief time setting; that is, he begins his play so near the climax and the outcome that the action of the play will be continuous from beginning

The plot of the one-act play, like that of the short story, must be simple and well defined. By choosing a definite theme, which he generally states or clearly implies early in his play, the playwright can devise a simple plot that will help him to produce the single impression that he desires. By