Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Review for Final Exam

The Final Exam for Playwriting may cover the following items, please review:

The plays:

Nzotake Shange: For Colored Girls...Rainbow is Enuf
Dael Orlandersmith: Monster
Jane Martin: Talking With
Peter Shaffer: Amadeus
Anthony Shaffer & Harold Pinter: Sleuth
Charles Ludlam: Mystery of Irma Vep
Harold Pinter: The Dumbwaiter
Mitch Albom: Tuesdays with Morrie
Charles Busch: Psycho Beach Party; Vampire Lesbians of Sodom; Lady in Question; Red Scare on Sunset
Christopher Durang: (particularly: Desire, Desire, Desire; For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, Death Comes to Us All Mary Agnes, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You, The Actor's Nightmare, Titanic, 'dentity Crisis, The Life and Purpose of the Universe)
August Wilson: Fences; The Piano Lesson

Proper script format

Play Vocabulary:
Premise: a deeply held belief by the playwright which shapes a script.

From handout: chp. 3 'Structure, Part One: story and plot':
Aristotle's six elements of plays: plot, character, diction (dialogue), thought (theme), spectacle, song/music
Conflict
Structural Unity: all parts of the plot (exposition, rising action, turning point, climax, resolution, etc.) should work and fit together.
Inciting Incident: the point of attack, the inciting incident forces the protagonist into the action of the play's plot.
Major Dramatic Question (MDQ): the hook that keeps an audience interested in a play; a dramatic question that a reader/viewer wants answered.
Major decision: A decision a character makes in the plot that creates the turning point for their character.
The three C's: Conflict, crisis, complication: obstacles characters must face for an interesting and dramatic plot.
Rising Action
The dark moment/crisis: the lowest moment of a character's struggle--when all the world seems lost, the fight unbeatable, the "darkest hour before dawn" -- a stunning reversal of fortune and sense of failure.
Deus ex machina: a contrived ending. Often one in which the characters did not have a hand in solving. (It is more interesting to see a character deal with their own problems rather than an outside force solving it for them.) literally, a "god from a machine"
Enlightenment: When the protagonist understands how to defeat the antagonist. A revelation that begins the movement toward a climax.
Climax
Catharsis
Ten minute play format
One act plays
Full length plays (2, 3, 4, or 5 act)
Monologues/Soliloquies
Cross-dressing and theatrical tradition (blog)
Generating ideas for plays (from handout & blog)
Absurdism (blog)
Commedia dell'Arte (blog)
Farce
From Handout: 'Structure, Part two: creativity, scenario, & writing'
The Event: a uniquely significant moment in the character's lives
Time lock: setting up a time limit or specific deadline characters have to meet in order to spur them into action (for example having a script project due...)
French scenes
Place & setting
Theme
Scenario: an outline for a writer to identify major/minor characters, plot, and setting used BEFORE writing a script
Catalyst: the event in the play that causes a character to take action
Positive Motivation
Character flaw
need vs. desire
Creating credible characters
Protagonist
Antagonist
Subtext: what is not said in a character's line. The subtext are the subtle details or clues used by the actor to develop their character.
Beat: a short exchange of dialogue
Backstory
A Confidant: a character the protagonist or antagonist can talk with to reveal necessary backstory
Verisimilitude: the semblance of truth in characters and setting. "a king should act like a king, not a foul-mouthed beggar."

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