2 Character Scene Exercise

This morning it's raining. You might as well write.

Using the basic scene starter (read handout) please create a scene with a beginning, middle, and end for two characters. Like 'Night Mother or Freud's Last Stand characters in two-person plays require a central conflict. See the conflict info from last post (see below) for details.

You may work alone or with one partner. If you are working with a partner, both writers should create their own character. Briefly discuss what you are planning and then write (Google Docs works well for this since you don't need to be sitting next to one another!)

Use the proper play format for your scripts. I would suggest left justifying your text at first--keep the spacing correct--and then move things into alignment by the end of class (around 9:20-9:25).

Please turn in your work (wherever you are with the assignment) at the end of class. You will be graded on your progress and writing--so hop to it! This is, of course, just a draft. Relax. Write. Repeat.

HOMEWORK: None. Geva trip tomorrow at 9:30.

'Night Mother: Quiz & Analysis; Geva Workshop: Spamalot

During period 1, please take the short quiz on 'Night Mother. When you have completed this quiz, please drop off your test and pick up the analysis worksheet. You may use your books for the analysis worksheet.

In pairs, identify the following moments/points in the play. Each answer should also indicate page # or use textual support to defend your answers. You may work with 1 other student on this and you may use your scripts.

• Conflict: What traditional type of conflict is best represented here by this play? What other conflicts arise and how are these dealt with in the play? Choose at least 3 conflicts of various types and explain how Marsha Norman, the playwright, uses conflict to create a gripping, effective play script.
• Structural Unity: all parts of the plot (exposition, rising action, turning point, climax, resolution, etc.) should work and fit together. Explain how the playwright has achieved structural unity in this play. How does exposition turn to rising action? How does the turning point (the play's crisis or a character's dark moment) lead to our climax? How does the playwright resolve the action of the play? How effectively do you feel this was done? 
• Inciting Incident: the point of attack, the inciting incident forces the protagonist into the action of the play's plot. What inciting incident occurs in the early scenes of the play? Identify when and what page this occurs on.
• Major Dramatic Question (MDQ): the hook that keeps an audience interested in a play; a dramatic question that a reader/viewer wants answered. What is the MDQ for this play?
• Major decision: A decision a character makes in the plot that creates the turning point for their character. Choose either Jessie or Mama. What is the major decision for this character?
• 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. Examining Mama's character, what moment would you say is her dark moment or crisis? Defend your answer with an explanation.
• Enlightenment: When the protagonist understands how to defeat the antagonist. A revelation that begins the movement toward a climax. Does this play have an enlightenment? Which character(s) are involved in this enlightenment if it exists? If it does NOT exist, who might the author intend to have the "enlightenment"? Defend your answer.
• Catharsis: Discuss the ending of this play with your partner. How did it effect you? If it did not effect you, why not? 
• Discuss other aspects of this play with your partner while we have time in class. Hand in your answers to the first 7 questions as participation credit.

During period 2 Geva will be here to conduct a workshop for the musical Spamalot!--our field trip Thursday from periods 3-7. Please hand in your permission slips and medical forms today!

HOMEWORK: Please read Act One of Spamalot! Complete your reading of 'Night Mother, if you did not complete it.

Monologue Play Draft Due; 'Night Mother

This morning, please take the first 30 minutes (until 8:30) to prepare and revise your monologue plays. These play drafts are due at 8:30.

If you finish early, please do any of the following tasks:

• Create a list of characters; or sketch out a character from that list
• Draw portraits of potential characters
• Gather ideas for new premises: write these ideas down
• Make a list of historical characters; check out their bios and research one of them for a potential play
• Take a gander at these videos:

Video #1: Top Tips
Video #2: Status Quo
Video #3: Building a Plot
Video #4: Formatting a play script (optional viewing, for those who don't understand the form)
Video #5: Tips from Dennis Kelly about Playwriting

At 8:30, we will move to the library to pick up our next play 'Night Mother. We will finish our discussion on Freud's Last Session and begin reading 'Night Mother in class.

Some notes:

• 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

Play Structure & Length
Plays come in only a few flavors structurally:
1. The Five-Act Play (popular with Shakespeare and the Elizabethan stage)
2. The Four-Act Play (popular with Chekhov and Russian Modern theater)
3. The Three-Act Play (popular in the early part of the 20th century)
4. The Two-Act Play (popular now; and the preferred length of a full-length play)
5. Full length One Act Play (ex. Freud's Last Session; Night Mother, etc.) There is no intermission, the play is about the length of a film.
6. Short One Act. (Usually 15 minutes to an hour)
7. 10-minute Play (short, short plays anywhere from 3 minutes to 15). You should be familiar with these by now.

HOMEWORK: Please finish the play 'Night Mother for next class. Bring your books back with you to our next session to examine the play in more depth.

Monologue Play Project; Freud's Last Session

This morning, please use period 1 to work on your monologue projects. Drafts of this play are due Thursday, September 24.

During period 2 (9:00), we will venture next door to take our quiz and discuss the play Freud's Last Session.

Highlights from Freud's Last Session

HOMEWORK: None. If you did not yet finish your play script draft or you will not be able to finish in 20-30 minutes next class in the lab, please work towards that goal.

Monologue Play Project; Spic-o-Rama

This morning, please follow the directions to flesh out one of your characters in the play you are working on. Take 5 minutes to explore ideas/pre-write.

EQ: Why write a one-actor show? What do mono-dramas (1 person plays) or monologue plays offer an audience? How are they similar or different from other plays, other genres of writing (slam poetry, fiction, novels, audio-books, films, etc.)?

This morning let's take a few minutes to watch these videos from the play Spic-O-Rama by John Leguizamo. As you watch the video, consider the script and its characters and themes. After viewing, please gather in groups of 2-3 and take 5-10 minutes to discuss this question:

"One person plays showcase an actor's range and ability while often addressing issues that are sometimes overlooked by mainstream audiences." In regard to Spic-o-Rama, explain:

• How does the play showcase John Leguizamo's talent as an actor and writer? Be specific, using specific examples from the text. 
• Why might Leguizamo have chosen the characters he did to portray in the play? What might be missing or what would you have liked to see more of or less of? 
• How does Leguizamo structurally put the play together to create an effective theatrical experience? Examine how the play is thematically connected or how it "moves" from story line to story line. How effective is this in your opinion?
• Discuss the importance of minority voices in theater. In your opinion do we need more minority voices--or is Leguizamo's portrayal of "spics" degrading or stereotypical? 
• How is this play (or The Vagina Monologues) similar or different from performance poetry, films, short stories, novels, or non-fiction essays? What strengths or weaknesses can you detect in each genre?
• Discuss your own project with your partner(s). What is going well for you? What advice/support can you give each other? What problems have you run into so far?

Please use specific examples to support your answers. What have we decided?

After your discussion, please return to the lab to continue working on your monologue projects. Aim to complete a draft of your play script by next week.

HOMEWORK: Please get field trip forms completed and turned in. Please read the two-person play: Freud's Last Session.

The Vagina Monologues; The Monologue Play Project

Please turn in your homework (see post below for details!)

Take a few minutes to prepare the monologue exercise we started last class. I will ask that at least 2 groups share with the class the way they cut the monologue by doing a staged reading.

After viewing and discussing, let's see the original: Eve Ensler: My Angry Vagina

Use your time in the lab to begin your monologue play project. You may also read "Spic-o-Rama" (which you should complete for homework--see below).

LAB TASK: Choose a premise for a monologue play. Once you have a premise, conduct any of the following tasks:

• Interview a person who has experience with your subject matter. Take notes and listen to the way the interviewee tells the story. Try basing a character on this person or this personality.
• After conducting interviews, use your notes to write a monologue. You may have combine the ideas of more than one interviewee. The idea is to have a coherent through line for your monologues. 
• After choosing a premise, conduct research and take notes. Monologues can use factual information or be informative for the audience. If your topic is "lions" for example (probably unlikely) knowing more about lions might be appropriate for your monologue. Research biologists, for example, who might write about their work with lions or search out stories about lions to help you create a monologue about them.
• Remember that monologues help develop character. It is helpful to have characters who want something (to achieve a specific goal)--so give your character a goal to try to achieve.
• Better yet: make sure your character's goal has a dramatic risk involved: what is at stake for this character? Why might this character NEED to tell us this story? What does the monologue reveal about the character's personality or history or beliefs or goals?
• Research historical time period or delve into the past of a character. Take notes. Use your notes to flesh out your character and provide backstory and development.
• Connect your monologues by theme or idea. A play about lions might be told from a zookeeper, a child at the zoo, a villager who has suffered from a lion attack, a cartoonist inspired by the lion king, or a lion tamer. Each character will be different but could be played by the same actor or a group of actors.
• Use the plays we've read as samples or models: Talking With, The Vagina Monologues, or Spic-o-Rama.

The nitty-gritty: you will need to write at least 3 monologues for your "play". When you have the play written, give it a title. Review format for plays:

Sample Script Format (PDF)

How to Format a Play (video)

Tips about writing plays (video)

Your play should have a title page (with your name on it--no need for the full address just yet) and a list of characters (names of your characters & perhaps a short description of them) and an indication of the time and place. These things can be put on the same page if you like, or on separate pages (your choice) but they do not count as # of pages for this assignment. 

See the handout for more information.

HOMEWORK: Please complete Spic-O-Rama by John Leguizamo for Friday's class. Please bring your scripts with you to class for a discussion.

Eve Ensler: The Vagina Monologues

This morning, write 3 premises in your journal. "This play is about..." or "I am writing a play about..."

Take a moment to refresh your memory on the chapter article "What on Earth Gave You That Idea". What key ideas or advice did you find helpful in this chapter? Let's take a moment to discuss.

Then:

"My Vagina was my Village". (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQPVuGtRbrI) and a clip of three actresses doing the same monologue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4sKk-r169w)

• Please complete the handout notes as you watch the videos. We will collect this at the end of class as participation credit.
• Reflection time & think, pair, share

Group work!: Divide "My Angry Vagina" into 3 parts. Volunteer groups will perform this monologue for us as a reading after 15 minutes.

• Make careful choices about how you divide the monologue--we'll be discussing why you did what you did and why you made the decisions you did, etc.

LAB: Choose a premise for a play where you will ask at least 3 other people about a specific topic. This can be modeled on "The Vagina Monologues" or any other idea. For example, examine the issue of bullying, sexual orientation, poverty, religion, body image, the arts, technology (internet/cell-phone use, etc.)

HOMEWORK: Read about Eve Ensler. She is a contemporary playwright, actor, and writer. Find 3 things about Eve Ensler that you find interesting or important as regards contemporary writers, playwriting, or just about her life. Prepare to hand in you 3 things on Wednesday, September 16. Begin reading Spic-o-Rama.

 

Character Exercise; Talking With (Day 3); Monologue Exercise

Complete the following character exercise this morning in the lab.

Looking at pictures and watching people can be a goldmine for character building. As a playwright, one of the most important tasks you will have to accomplish is creating interesting characters. Boring characters make for boring plays, so it's helpful to have a few ideas about character design before jumping into the pool of monologues, scenes, and plays.

Task #1: Brainstorming Characters:

IN YOUR JOURNAL or NOTEBOOK please complete the following exercise. DO NOT TURN THIS IN. Instead, you may use it for a writing assignment.

Please take a look at the photos of people below. For each photo, give the person a name, age or age range, and 1-sentence physical description. Follow this up with a 1-sentence goal or urgent desire.

For example:

GEORGETTE MINSKY, female, age 25-30. Georgette always wears a baseball glove (even to church) and too much lipstick. She wants to witness a miracle first hand or at least win her minor-league softball team's championship trophy in memory of her dead grandma.

Create a character for any 3 of these pictures (you may do all of them, if you'd like):

Lab Task 2: Watch the following pairs of performances. Compare/contrast the quality or effectiveness of the performer and write your analysis or critique of the monologue in a paragraph response (to be turned in today by the end of class). There are 3 pairings.

To assist your answers: As you watch these scenes from Talking With, pay attention to how the playwright engages the audience and tells an interesting story that develops the single speaking character. Notice how the actor portrays this character. Are the author's words more effective or is the performance more compelling to you as an audience? What does this suggest about the nature of performance? Which performance was stronger than the other? Why? What might be some things you want to remember about writing plays for performers?

Clear Glass Marbles (monologue, page 19-22)
Clear Glass Marbles (monologue, page 19-22) 

Audition. (monologue, page 25-27)
Audition 

French Fries (monologue, page 61-63)
French Fries

Please turn in your answers for participation credit by the end of class.

Lab Task 3: Using your character exercise from last class or this morning, write a monologue from the perspective of your created character.

Please turn in your monologue draft for participation credit by the end of class.

If you missed it, read about Jane Martin here.

Please turn in Lab tasks 2 & 3 before you leave today. These assignments are due by the end of class. If you finish early (before the bell rings), please work on your homework assignments (reading).

HOMEWORK: If you did not complete your reading of Talking With, please do so. If you are done reading the play, please hand it in. Please read the monologue play The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler for Monday and read the handout on play ideas and the standard types of plays (two-act, one-act, 10-minute plays, etc.) Identify the writing advice in this article and take notes on key ideas from the article in your journal. Please bring The Vagina Monologues and the article to class on Monday.

NOTE: if you were absent on the first day of classes and did not write a scene for your baseline, please make sure you do. The instructions are posted below in the post for 8/31. 

Character Exercise; Theater Vocabulary; Jane Martin's Talking With

This morning, let's start off with a little character writing exercise. Use your journal/notebook for these morning exercises.

Throughout this course, I will be using specific language related to the field of playwriting and/or writing in general. These terms are important for you to know/learn. They look nice on quizzes and tests. Always take notes on key information in this class. Practicing note-taking is also important for any student or writer.

Theatre vocabulary to know:

• Monologue: an extended speech delivered by one person/character.
• Dramatic Monologue: a long or extended speech delivered by one character addressing another character or group of characters.
• Interior Monologue: In fiction or prose, the description or speech (in 1st person POV, for example) where a character exhibits (shows/tells) the thoughts, feelings, and associations passing through a character's mind.
• Soliloquy: an extended speech by one person/character addressed directly to the audience. Usually the character is alone on stage.
• Monologue Play (one-person show; monodrama): A solo performance, featuring an actor, comedian, or entertainer.
• Premise: the basic concept or idea of the play. Usually the premise can be stated clearly in 1 sentence. This is a play about...

TALKING WITH:

Please read the handout about Jane Martin this morning. Follow up your reading with a 10 minute period of reading. Select one of the monologues in the collection and read it closely. Analyze how:

• the character hooks her audience, 
• how the character communicates meaning (what's the purpose/point of speaking?)
• how details and background description and details are presented to the audience, 
• how story and plot are interwoven into the monologue, 
• how language or diction is used to create visual imagery (metaphor, allusion, personification, symbol, simile, etc.), sound imagery (onomatopoeia, rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, consonance, etc.), and
• how props or costumes are used (if any) help establish setting or character.

TASK: After reading silently (alone) for 10 minutes, let's take a look at a few performances from the play. As you watch, consider how PERFORMANCE (the ability of the performer) changes or affects your experience or understanding of the play/scene:

Fifteen Minutes (monologue, page 7-10)
Rodeo (monologue, page 31-34)
Twirler (part; not complete monologue; page 37-40)
Marks (monologue, page 67-69)

TASK: After viewing, let's conduct a class discussion. Your response can include answers to any or all of these questions:

• What did you think about the play as a whole? Did it surprise you or please you or frustrate you? Explain why you reacted to the play in this way.
• What is the premise of "Talking With"? In a sentence or two, explain what you think is the premise or main idea/theme of the play. Is this premise interesting? Do you think people would pay to see this play?
• The "audience" for each character changes as the play continues. How does the author help a viewer or reader understand who the character in question is "talking with..."? Overall, by the end of the play, who do you think the playwright Jane Martin is "Talking with...?" Support your opinion.
• What challenges and stage requirements are necessary to produce this play? How has Jane Martin anticipated a low-budget, black box theater being able to produce her play? What did you learn about staging from the monologues you read and watched?
• Why are the monologues in the order that Martin puts them? What is the reason to start and end the play with the monologues she does?
• After reading about Jane Martin, what amuses or interests you in her as a writer? How might the idea of "Theatricality" (artificial life involving conflict) infuse the script and the whole experience of seeing this play on stage?

After our discussion, let's move to the lab to conduct the following activities. Both activities will also be homework if you do not complete them in the lab:

Lab Task 1: Watch the following pairs of performances. Compare/contrast the quality or effectiveness of the performer and write your analysis or critique of the monologue in a paragraph response (to be turned in as homework participation Thursday, September 10). There are 3 pairings.

To assist your answers: As you watch these scenes from Talking With, pay attention to how the playwright engages the audience and tells an interesting story that develops the single speaking character. Notice how the actor portrays this character. Are the author's words more effective or is the performance more compelling to you as an audience? What does this suggest about the nature of performance? Which performance was stronger than the other? Why? What might be some things you want to remember about writing plays for performers?

Clear Glass Marbles (monologue, page 19-22)
Clear Glass Marbles (monologue, page 19-22) 

Audition. (monologue, page 25-27)
Audition 

French Fries (monologue, page 61-63)
French Fries

Lab Task 2: Using your character exercise from this morning, write a monologue from the perspective of your created character.

Next class we will begin in the lab and continue working on monologues and monologue writing.

If you missed it, read about Jane Martin here.

HOMEWORK: If you did not complete your reading of Talking With, please do so. Complete the lab assignments (1 & 2) for homework if you did not complete them during class. For advanced students who are ready for the next reading assignment, please begin reading the monologue play The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.