Realistic 10-Minute Play Project

Today, during period 1, please brainstorm and begin an idea for a realistic short 10-minute script. Your cast of characters should be small (2-5) and the play should be about some realistic social ISSUE. For a few suggestions, please check here. Before you leave today, you should have an idea for a short, realistic style play script. You may use your time in the lab this morning to research and make some choices concerning character, setting, plot events, and social issues/themes. Play scripts will be due by Tuesday of next week. Play scripts are first drafts and should be anywhere from 3-10 pages in play script format. Please note that very little lab time will be given to you to complete this assignment, as we will be using our time in class reading. You will have to complete this script on your own time at home. 

During period 2, we will begin our reading of Shakespeare. He is NOT realistic and is antithesis to the realistic style. We're reading him because you should know him very well, not only for your own literacy, but because his writing is an excellent example of stagecraft. Please take a moment this morning to respond to the Shakespeare survey. Then, before you begin the writing task, read about REALISM.

Realism

Realism is probably the most typical play script form. Not exactly tragedies, realism often relies on verisimilitude, the faithful representation of reality. As Ibsen used it, the form can be very helpful in raising societal issues (issues that are important to us as a society: such as divorce, economic problems, dating/marriage, equality, bullying, inappropriate social behavior, psychological issues, religious crises, parental issues, racial issues, social problems, etc.)  It often represents middle class issues, so characters and setting are often those familiar to the middle class, as opposed to "naturalism" which seeks to represent the lower classes (or the poor). At its heart, realism is a direct reaction against romanticism (and aburdism). This is not life as we WANT it to be, but life as it IS.

In American literature, "realism" starts around the Civil War (1860) through the 20th century, with the writings of William Dean Howells, Henry James, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Hemingway, Steinbeck, and others. In playwriting, the works of George Bernard Shaw, Eugene O'Neill, George Kaufman, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, August Wilson, David Mamet, Neil Simon, Sam Shepherd, Marsha Norman, Alfred Uhry, Wendy Wasserstein, Harold Pinter, Alan Aykbourn, Robert Harling, Beth Henley, etc. all have elements of realism in one aspect or another, although playwrights use symbol, subjectivity, and various techniques and styles to create their own unique voice or theatrical "flavor".

Realism:

follows reality closely, and in detail. Stories/plots include the selective presentation of reality with an emphasis on verisimilitude (the appearance of reality/truth), even at the expense of a well-made plot. That means plots do not always resolve, problems are not always "fixed" by the end of a story, etc. Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject. Characters in realism must make a CHOICE, even if it's the wrong one. In realistic plays, this is often what the play is about. Class is important; realism is the choice for "middle class" writers/audiences. Events are plausible and "realistic". Realistic plays/novels avoid sensationalist and dramatic elements of naturalistic novels and romances (for example Shakespeare). Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact, but overall should sound realistic, as if it could be heard or spoken by the character saying the line. Objectivity becomes important. Think journalism. We want to see all sides of an issue. Characters often represent or portray one side or another of an issue. Interior is used more often than exterior settings. This also includes getting into the minds of the characters, usually through monologue rather than soliloquy (which is not realistic). The basic difference between realism and sentimentalism is that in realism, "the redemption of the individual character lay within the social world," but in sentimental fiction, "the redemption of the social world lay with the individual". A character needs society (friends, family, etc.), as opposed to the individual character being able to change society him/herself.   Dialogue is written, as we have mentioned before, with fragments, interruptions, digressions, and realistic statements. Characters interrupt each other, trail off, talk "around" a subject they are not comfortable with, and express themselves through dialogue. HOWEVER, remember that an occasional metaphor or the use of imagery and poetic devices can still make your dialogue more interesting (particularly in a monologue!) Avoid the over use of "hmms, and wells, and Ums" (they do not move the dialogue forward and can be added by an actor) and long, complex sentences (difficult to act) in favor of short declarative sentences and fragments. HOMEWORK: Please continue to work on your realistic 10-minute play script. This project is due next Tuesday, Jan. 15.