Historical Comedy Project - Part II

Building on the first scene of your historical comedy project, write a second scene that either goes BEFORE or AFTER the events in your first scene. Feel free to either change the time period to show a connection between two distinct time periods, or feel free to write a previous or later scene building off of what you have already written.

Your second scene should develop main characters, increase dramatic tension by defining a theme or idea, and increase conflict. By the end of your second scene, a downfall or dark moment for your protagonist will help. Having an antagonist be responsible for this is a good idea. Remember the Empire Strikes Back! the best movies and plays have a dark moment or crisis that a major character (or all of the major characters) has to face. This is the character's lowest end and it is necessary to build a story up to its final climax.

In Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, for example, the dark moment comes in the form of gossip columnist Oatsie Carew, secretly Salizar the vampire hunter. The dark moment continues for the Succubus into the third scene, where we find out she has been reduced from stardom to charwoman.

Your second scene should also be the length of a 10-minute play. Try to build to 5-10 pages, script formatting. By the end of today's lesson, you should have scene 2 (and 1) completed.

For those of you who reach this goal, feel free to continue on to a 3rd scene (at least 5-10 pages in script formatting) where your protagonist and antagonist meet and their fates are decided.

Homework: Please finish reading either Red Scare on Sunset or The Lady in Question. You may, of course, also read The Tale of the Allergist's Wife. Perhaps there will be a quiz on one of these plays? Hint, hint.