You could have a look at yaml, a terse yet powerful non-markup language. There is even a YAML module.
You example would look like:
stage-direction :Enter Fred, stage right speech : character: Fred text: > Hey everyone, what's up?
In reply to Re: Poor Man's XML?
by mirod
in thread Poor Man's XML?
by Cody Pendant
| For: | Use: | ||
| & | & | ||
| < | < | ||
| > | > | ||
| [ | [ | ||
| ] | ] |