The basis of How Not to Write a Play was an article Kerr wrote for Harper's Magazine.

[1] How Not to Write a Play examines negative trends that Kerr perceived in playwriting.

Kerr offers insights both into the practice and finances of contemporary theatre, blaming the declining audience on the poor and un-entertaining fare being put before the public by both commercial and institutional producers.

[1] Elizabeth McSherry, reviewing for the Hartford Courant, noted that the number of theatrical productions in New York had fallen from 224 in 1929 to 70 in 1955, which How Not to Write a Play blames on modern playwrights, and declared that the book was "stimulating and provocative".

[3] In his diary, Noël Coward wrote of the book, "Quite a lot of it is intelligent and well-written but the net result is sterile.