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.