More Advice

Remember:

1. Dramatic action occurs when a character decides to do something either because of circumstances or in spite of consequences. Characters must ACT (since it's part of their name).

2. Remember imagery. Remember to use interesting, specific diction. Use your literary devices that you have learned about. Use them.

3. Effective dramatic action is character initiated that goes beyond simply reacting.

4. A character's motivation is an attempt to turn a negative situation or event into a positive one.

5. Motivations for characters are driven by human needs/desires: revenge, injustice, ambition, haunting memories, sick relatives, economic issues, etc.--these are obvious choices. Make sure your characters are motivated.

6. There is often a catalyst that causes a problem for the characters. The catalyst should be a major event or situation in your play's premise.

7. Characters should have a function in the story and/or for the proper staging of your play.

8. Supporting characters reflect on, contrast, or "support" your main characters.

9. Remember the time lock; the events in your play need to happen in a limited time frame.

10. Conceal exposition through conflict. Turn exposition into "ammunition" (Robert McKee says).

Cherry Orchard: Acts 1 & 2; Lab: Play Draft Due!

After viewing Acts I & II of The Cherry Orchard, we will return to the lab to work on completing our play drafts. Check the rubric below for details about grading. Your One-Act play draft should be longer in general than a 10-minute play (you should already know how to write these), but do not worry too much about length in and of itself. It is better that your writing is well done and that you've written a compelling script with interesting characters, an intriguing plot, and a well crafted play structure. I am looking for your understanding of the principles of script writing that I have been teaching you for the past two years.

With that in mind, your script is due Friday by end of day. I will not see you tomorrow, so if you do not turn in your work during class, please make sure you turn in the draft. Drafts should have a title page with your name on it and the cast list and character descriptions as is usual for the playwriting format. Please proofread your work.

NOTE: Do not delay. Our printer has been acting up lately. Please make sure you can deliver a hard-copy of your script to me by Friday by 3:00. I do not want electronic submissions unless I okay this for you in person. Attachments always seem to get "lost" or files end up being "corrupted"...

HOMEWORK: Draft due. Also: please post on our forum for either Uncle Vanya or The Three Sisters. Forum posts are due by 11:59 Friday. SOTA's production of Peter Pan is occurring this week. If you watch the play and write about it on the forum, you will gain extra credit for this marking period's participation grade. Any missing work must be turned in by next week!

Play Script Due & The Cherry Orchard

We have been working most days in the lab since November 1 on a scenario and script draft for a one-act or even full length play. Your draft work should reflect the amount of time we have spent in the lab. While we have read a few plays (Charles Busch & Anton Chekhov, for example) over seven classes have been spent in the lab working partially or full time on your drafts.

Use the first period today to continue writing your scripts. See homework section and rubric for your draft below.

4 = Exemplary (A/A+): Play is written in correct (standard) playwriting format for actors/directors. Title is intriguing, symbolic, and/or original. Plot structure adheres to and enhances Aristotelian elements; Cause and effect is well done, logical and creative; conflict is intriguing and creative; the playwrights' message is universal and comments thoughtfully on the human condition; play has intriguing, original characters; setting is original and interesting, but also practical for theatrical space; stage directions are specific, producible, enhance the action of the play and do not get in the actor/reader's way; dialogue is original, compelling, appropriate for characters; characters have clear and appropriate motivation; there is a clear progression of conflict/events, leading to a dark moment (crisis), enlightenment, and climax for the protagonist; dialogue sounds natural; play follows the three unities of time, place, action (when appropriate); scenes are well developed, each ending with a climactic moment, constantly moving the plot forward; staging is creative, appropriate and play is clever and producible. Few or very minor grammar errors.

3 = Accomplished (B/B+): Play is written in standard publishing playwriting format, or format for actors/directors has a few mistakes. Title is appropriate, but may not be as clever or creative as 4 above. Plot is appropriate and uses several Aristotelian elements, but not to the same level as 4. Cause and effect is more or less appropriate for the situation; playwright has a message, but may not be as original or creative as 4. Setting is appropriate and practical, but not as clever or interesting as 4. Stage directions are used appropriately; dialogue is appropriate for verisimilitude of characters and setting; dialogue mostly sounds natural; play mostly follows unities, but may rely on one more than another; main characters have appropriate motivation, with some errors or lack of development; scenes are developed, but may not always progress the plot; staging is appropriate and producible, but not as clever as 4. Some grammar errors.

2 = Promising (C/C+): Play attempts standard playwriting format, but may have several errors. Title is present, but does not necessarily support theme, tone, or symbol. Plot borders on cliche or sentimentality; plot may lack some Aristotelian elements. Cause occurs without effect or there are errors in plotting; playwrights' message may be trite or melodramatic or over done; characters may be unoriginal, lacking motivation or development; setting is standard and largely uninteresting; dialogue sounds stilted or melodramatic, unreal; play does not always follow the unities; characters may lack motivation or play includes too many minor characters; scenes are sketchy or undeveloped, conflict is too easily resolved; scenes may not advance the plot; staging is awkward or expensive or cinematic; grammar errors distract the reader/actor.

1 = Beginning (D): Play is not in playwriting format. Title is absent or untitled. Play may be incomplete, plot and characters flat or undeveloped, or as a "2" but may also be late. Dialogue is awkward, unnatural, or non-specific. Work is not up to 11th grade level or standards. Grammar mistakes and writing errors make reading difficult.

During 2nd period we will begin screening The Cherry Orchard. Please complete the handout while viewing.

HOMEWORK: Please select one Chekhov play: either Uncle Vanya or The Three Sisters and read it. Please respond to the play and its question on the forum by Nov. 30. Your play script draft is due next class. Please take steps to complete this assignment by next class. Your play should be at least one-act in length and illustrate your understanding of key playwriting format and concepts.

The Seagull: Acts III & IV

Set design for The Seagull

Act III: We have moved into an interior setting, a dining room.

A quick note about interior and exterior sets:

Interior settings often symbolize personal issues (private affairs, family secrets, etc.) whereas exterior settings often symbolize the community or public issues (society, etc.) Read this way, the first two acts of The Seagull were the events focused in the community, the public face of these characters. In Acts III & IV, we go inside to air their sordid laundry in a more private manner.

Masha announces her decision to marry Medvedenko, the poor school master. Sorin, still in bad health, worries about Constantine, who has tried to kill himself. Sorin’s fainting spells have become common. He pleads with his mother to show generosity and loan Sorin money so that he could move into town. She refuses and changes her son's bandages. For the first time in the play, Constantine speaks kindly to his mother. When the subject of Trigorin enters the conversation, mother and son begin to fight again. At his mother’s urging, he agrees to call off the duel. He leaves as Trigorin enters. The writer is enraptured by Nina, and Irina is aware of this fascination. Trigorin wants Irina to set him free from their stale relationship so that he can pursue Nina. Irina is insulted but begs him not to leave. She is so desperately pathetic that he agrees to maintain their passionless relationship. However, as they prepare to leave the estate, Nina informs Trigorin that she is running away to Moscow to become an actress. Trigorin gives her the name of his hotel. Act Three ends as Trigorin and Nina share a passionate kiss.

We will read Act IV during class. After the play please respond to the questions in our discussion.

With time remaining, please continue to work on your one-act/full-length play projects. This project will be due after break, so please save or send yourself files to work on if you are not far in the project.

HOMEWORK: Please select one Chekhov play: either Uncle Vanya or The Three Sisters (we will be viewing The Cherry Orchard in class) and read it. Please respond to the play and its question on the forum by Nov. 30.

The Seagull: Act Two

After our quiz on Act One, we will read Act Two of the Seagull. Please read Act III and any part of Act II that we do not complete today in class for Wednesday.

During period two, please use the time in the lab to complete homework or continue writing the draft of your play. A completed draft of your script will be due after Thanksgiving break.

HOMEWORK: Please read Acts II & III of The Seagull. Note how Chekhov builds the tension, develops character, and presents us with a human issues and themes dealing with love, life, nature, and/or death.

Chekhov & Subtext

Russian Playwright and short story writer, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be his four major plays (The Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard are the others). The Seagull was written in 1895 and produced in 1896. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the fading leading actress Irina Arkadina, her son the experimental playwright Constantine Treplieff, the ingénue Nina, and the author Trigorin.

Similar to Chekhov's other full-length plays, The Seagull relies upon an ensemble cast of fully-developed (and quirky) characters. In contrast to the melodrama of the mainstream theatre of the 19th century, actions (example: Constantin's suicide attempts) are not always shown onstage. Characters tend to speak in ways that skirt around issues rather than addressing them directly, a dramatic practice known as subtext. In fact, it is this failure to communicate that creates much of the conflict in Chekhov’s work.

The play alludes to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Arkadina and Treplieff quote lines from it before the play-within-a-play (and even the play-within-a-play is a device used in Hamlet!) Treplieff seeks to win his mother’s favor back from Trigorin, much as Hamlet tries to win Gertrude back from his uncle Claudius.

The opening night of the first production was a failure. “Vera Komissarzhevskaya, playing Nina, was so intimidated by the hostility of the audience that she lost her voice. Chekhov left the audience and spent the last two acts behind the scenes. When supporters wrote to him that the production later became a success, he assumed they were just trying to be kind.” When Constantin Stanislavski (a famous director and acting teacher) directed the Seagull in 1898 for the Moscow Art Theatre, the play was successful and well regarded. Stanislavski's production of The Seagull became "one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre and one of the greatest new developments in the history of world drama."

Here are a few clips:
Uncle Vanya (the entire production)
The Cherry Orchard

The Seagull (the play scene - Ballet)
The Seagull (action figure theatre)

IMPORTANT VOCABULARY CONCEPT:
Subtext: what is not said in a character's line. The subtext are the subtle details or clues used by the actor to develop his/her character.

HOMEWORK: Please complete Act I of the Seagull. 

Writing Advice

Writing (whether scripts, poems, non-fiction, or fiction) is all about making choices. We can run into trouble if we are too unfocused, unwilling to make a definite choice, or are too critical--freezing us in our writing tracks because we are too worried about the outcome (the choice we could make). That is why writing or planning a scenario can be helpful to some writers.

Writing a little at a time without a filter may be the best "choice" a writer who cannot seem to move ahead can make. If you are spinning your creative wheels or have not decided on the WHO, WHAT, and WHERE of your scene, go back to the brainstorming process and decide WHO, WHAT, or WHERE.

Some tips based on your concerns (in no particular order):
Being specific: diction is an important element to good writing. A writer who has not made choices cannot be specific. Abstraction can be harmful to a play's theme, plot, characters, setting, etc. Without specifics characterization and theme cannot occur. Write about specifics by choosing a specific character with a specific problem. Avoid characters that are general or non-specific in this case: the waitress, man #1 or woman #2. Instead of the setting taking place at a house, choose a specific room. During a first draft abstraction can be written in if you don't know what you want yet. During a second or third revision our focus should be clearer. For a first draft, don't worry too much about being non-specific.

Characters: If you planned for a certain character and then realize that you don't need that character, you can change your mind and remove the character. Do not be a slave to your scenario. If you feel the need to change something that doesn't fit or use a character that is not essential to the plot, you may remove them.

Tone & Comedy: When trying to be funny, witty, clever, or what-have-you, try not to force the issue. Some writers are funny and use excellent comic tone, seeing the potential for comedy in the serious or the ordinary. People who are trying to be funny rarely are. Comedy is based on clever wit & word choice, understatement/hyperbole, irony, sequencing, farce, and a host of other subtle elements. There are different types of comedy and you should decide the kind of comedy style you want to use in a play. Sentimental comedy, for example, is not the same as farce or absurdist comedy. Also, an actor can also provide much of the comic timing and skill needed to be funny. As a writer, focus on telling a good and compelling story. This is largely developing your characters so that they are round, dynamic people.

Writing Yourself into a Corner & Getting Stuck: if you are happy with a scene or two, but then continue to write a section that traps you or where you want to go back, there are two things to consider: 1. are you trying to be too controlling, forcing the story into a predetermined box? or 2. can you keep on and allow your story to grow organically? It is important for writers to listen to your instincts. In any case, as a first draft, anything can be changed, cut, or developed in the next draft. If you answered #1, and wish to proceed, go back to the offending decision or moment where you realized you went off track and start again from that point. Careful not to constantly reboot your work or you will get nowhere.

Stage Directions: if you don't like stage directions or find they are getting in the way of the flow of your writing, don't use them. Limit stage directions only to absolutely essential information or action. It is customary to provide a basic description of the set or setting, characters' entrances or exits, and indicate transitions between scenes or acts. Nothing else is needed.

The Building Blocks of Dialogue

Dialogue isn't just talking. Dialogue HAPPENS. It happens when your characters' need to speak. It is also how they listen (or not listen), and the connotation, nuance, color and subtext of what they say, how they say it, and why they say it. Good dialogue is the result of well-defined characters in a well-structured plot. They may be compelled to speak (or not), but they should have a REASON for speaking.

Here are some tips to consider:

1. We usually talk because we want to communicate some need. If we want nothing, we say nothing, usually. We also speak when we want to: threaten, teach, explain, cajole, joke, murmur, pontificate, defend ourselves, apologize, seduce evade, pout, challenge, yell, scold, cry, etc.

2. Dialogue is action. It is an action taken to satisfy a want or desire. What a character wants or desires moves them to speak and act. This is part of characterization--and the best way to build your character.

3. When we don't get what we want (often immediately), humans tend to become shy, aggressive, or hide our agendas in our words. This is often our subtext (the meaning hidden in a line of dialogue; or saying one thing, but meaning another) and is very important to actors. It is often this subtext that a good actor will uncover in a performance.

4. Characters have to hear each other. Characters often do not listen the same way. Characters interpret what is being said, ask questions, ignore speech, get confused, miss a meaning and even read special meaning into something that has no meaning. Listening, therefore, will often help build the conflict and drama in your scene. A response reveals something important about the listener. How a character hears, then, is an important point to consider.

More on subtext next class.

TODAY IN THE LAB: Please continue writing your plays with the dialogue advice in mind.

HOMEWORK: None. Unless you are far behind in your writing and need to catch up.

Play Project: a note about length

Remember that plays come in many sizes and not all plots and characters fit into these spaces easily.

If your play is short consider the following information/advice:

You will need a premise: the organizing theme or idea that defines everything in the play. A good premise will indicate an interesting inciting incident to help you start off your drama with some effective action or conflict, and will carry you through to the end of your play. The things to remember about 10-minute or one act plays is that they are similar to short stories:

• They have a premise
• They have a dramatic situation (setting, characters in action, & a complication)
• They have a beginning, middle, and end
• They have a tight structure (most never change scene or setting)
• They are at most 10 pages long (10-minute plays) or about 15-30 (one-acts).
• There are usually fewer than five characters. Often two or three. But longer one acts can have more.
• The beginning of the play starts at a very early POINT OF ATTACK.
• By the end of the first page or the second the argument or conflict has been presented.
• The play usually has only one conflict and one plot line.
• There is not much exposition. By the first page, exposition has been stated.
• The end of the play falls very close to the climax. Only a few lines are devoted to resolution.
• Most plays deal with the exceptionally brief, but powerful moment in a character's life.

Take ideas from your journal, reading, or handouts, or your own memory & imagination; check the 38 dramatic situations for help (see link page to the side) if you can't think of anything. As you are working from a scenario, use the scenario to plan and plot your play. Remember to include your theme. What's the play about?: love, nature, life, death are the typical themes. There is usually a message about the theme: i.e., what do you want to say about love, nature, life, or death?

Longer plays have more time for character development. They often include more scenes or moments in a character's life. While these are still important scenes (they should be) each scene builds on the previous one to create an effective plot. Usually there is a dark moment just before the end of the first act. Full-length plays are usually about 50 or more pages in length.

Writing the First Draft: Writing Tips

Before you write today, please watch these videos, particularly if you have trouble with these areas when writing. On an index card, indicate ONE tip or useful idea from each video. #6 below is optional and for those of you who still are having trouble with your play script format.

Video #1: Top Tips
Video #2: Status Quo
Video #3: Building a Plot 
Video #4: Tips About Writing Dialogue
Video #5: How to Create Characters
Video #6: Formatting a play script (optional viewing, for those who don't understand the form)

After watching, use the time in lab to write your play draft using your scenario. Please remember to post your response to one of Busch's plays to the forum by tomorrow. At 9:30 some of us are going to Geva. Anyone left behind, please join Ms. Perez in the 3rd floor lab and continue working on your assignment.

HOMEWORK: Forum post. Catch up if you are behind. A list of late homework and assignments is posted below.

Missing Homework

Just a reminder that many of you have been missing homework assignments. Check blog posts regularly (even if you are absent!)

Homework (so far): '
1. Please read the article on Play Development. Identify ONE thing that you think is important for you to learn from this article about workshopping a play. Write this one thing on paper and hand in. Post assigned Oct. 12; due Oct. 19.
2. Please read the chapter handout and answer the questions about scenarios. In your JOURNAL or notebook, begin a "titles" page as illustrated in the chapter. You will be able to use this "titles" page for both Contemporary Writers and Playwriting. (Oct 21 post assigned; due Oct. 23)
3. Please read and watch John Guare's "The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year." Compare the reading to the performance. Would John Guare be pleased with the production? Why or why not?(Oct 23 post assigned; due Oct 25)
4. Use the time in lab today to rewrite your play (or plays). Create a second draft. (Oct 23 post assigned; due Oct. 25/Oct. 26/Nov. 1)
5. Read and write a one-sentence summary of each article and 1 important fact or detail you think is essential or interesting): An article about cross-dressing and theatre,  and pantomime, commedia dell'arte, Charles Busch's Introduction (ix-xix) 
6. Please read any ONE play by Charles Busch in the collection you have. Forum post due Nov. 8.

Coffee House: November 15

November 15, we will be holding a Coffee House reading performance at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater. Please attend and read. Extra credit available for participants.

Theatrical Genres

Plays are often divided between two major types: comedy and tragedy. Both forms have been recognized for thousands of years, dating back to ancient Greek times. Together they represent the scope of human life.

The following, though, are theatrical styles that can be applied to either the comedy or tragic form.

• Realism
• Romanticism
• Expressionism
• Aburdism
• Epic

Comedy as a genre can be divided into:

sentimental comedy: comedy of ordinary people, centering around ordinary problems, fears, and troubles...but all ends happily in the end. You Can't Take it With You and most of Neil Simon's comedies are sentimental.
Farce: characters are caught in a fast-paced, improbable, often satirical situation or circumstance. Farce is by-and-large physical, having a lot of mistaken identity, exits and entrances that cause confusion, and silly prat-falls or schtick. Moliere's comedies were farces, as is the early work of Alan Aykborn. Vampire Lesbians of Sodom might likely fit this category.
Dark Comedy/Black Comedy: Comedies that poke fun at serious issues. Characters are often grotesque or over-the-top, and situations usually end badly for one or more characters in the play. It's gallows humor. Examples include much of Christopher Durang's work.
Situational Comedies: probably best left to television, this is comedy that revolves around a situation or "plot" more so than focusing on character. It's a humorous situation with stock characters placed in funny or odd situations. Its subject matter usually revolves around safe and commonplace themes.
Satire or Parody: These poke fun. In satire, the object is to poke fun at something serious to show its folly. In parody, the object is to poke fun at a form, fashion, expression, or style.

Tragedy can be divided into:

Drama: plays that are concerned with the search for the meaning of life, or designed to help an audience deal with factors in human life that cause suffering and/or conflict. The general drama is not as "tragic" as the typical tragedy, as it is not always life-threatening. 

 Please note and know these forms. Put them in your notes/journal.

Scenario

Try one of these exercises. Create a scenario for one of these options:

1.  Use the charts you and your group created last class: choose a setting, time period, a secret, a name or two. Create a message to send to the world through this play. Then create!

2. Choose a historical figure and one of the types of comedy. Mash the two things together. Perhaps King Tut is going out on his first date with his sister? or Shakespeare finds himself trapped in an absurdist situation. Pick a historical character, choose a genre and think about the possibilities!

3. Create characters based on old Commedia Dell'Arte or pantomime plays (see below, Oct. 26 post), but update them for today's contemporary audience.

4. Play around with the idea of cross-dressing. Consider the types of comedy. Come up with situations and reasons why a girl dresses like a guy or a guy dresses like a girl.

A scenario, might I remind you, has the following information:

1. A working title (check your titles file)
2. Character list (with names and 1-2 sentence description)
3. Divide your play into breaks. Will this be a full length (2-act play)? Or will it be a long one act? Will it have more than one scene?
4. Write a SUMMARY description of each scene or act. Remember to consider premise, major dramatic questions (MDQ), plot structure: exposition, inciting action, rising action, crisis, dark moment, climax, enlightenment, denouement, resolution, etc., theme, and genre (comedy, tragedy, drama, absurdist, etc.)

Turn in your scenario by end of class today.

HOMEWORK: Please read any ONE play by Charles Busch in the collection you have.You will post a response to the forum by Friday.

Scenario & Vampire Lesbians of Sodom

Please turn in your homework. See previous post for details.

During period 1, we will complete our reading of Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.

In the lab: 

Try one of these exercises. Create a scenario for one of these options:

1.  Use the charts you and your group created last class: choose a setting, time period, a secret, a name or two. Create a message to send to the world through this play. Then create!

2. Choose a historical figure and one of the types of comedy. Mash the two things together. Perhaps King Tut is going out on his first date with his sister? or Shakespeare finds himself trapped in an absurdist situation. Pick a historical character, choose a genre and think about the possibilities!

3. Create characters based on old Commedia Dell'Arte or pantomime plays (see below), but update them for today's contemporary audience.

4. Play around with the idea of cross-dressing. Consider the types of comedy. Come up with situations and reasons why a girl dresses like a guy or a guy dresses like a girl.

A scenario, might I remind you, has the following information:

1. A working title (check your titles file)
2. Character list (with names and 1-2 sentence description)
3. Divide your play into breaks. Will this be a full length (2-act play)? Or will it be a long one act? Will it have more than one scene?
4. Write a SUMMARY description of each scene or act. Remember to consider premise, major dramatic questions (MDQ), plot structure: exposition, inciting action, rising action, crisis, dark moment, climax, enlightenment, denouement, resolution, etc., theme, and genre (comedy, tragedy, drama, absurdist, etc.)

Turn in your scenario by end of class today.

HOMEWORK: Please read any ONE play by Charles Busch in the collection you have.