Final Exam Prep

FINAL REVIEW

At their core, plays examine conflict through the verbal interaction of characters in a specific setting for a specific purpose (both that of the fictional character as well as the playwright’s IDEA (theme, premise, or message). Writers would be well served to:

• ·         Write about issues that are important to the human race (either through parody, humor, drama, or tragedy, for example)
• ·         Write with the actor and audience in mind. Plays are live performances. What is exciting or interesting about the setting, characters, or actions in the plot that draw us (the audience) in?
• ·         Write with skill. Lines of dialogue must be clear, concise, specific, and, above all, artistic. Plays all started out as songs and poetry. Remember that.
• ·         Write uniquely and creatively. Audiences want to be treated to new visions and new ways of thinking. Write plays that invite curiosity, debate, or insight. Write plays that intrigue or compel us to watch. That’s the job of a playwright.

Look through these vocabulary notes/concepts we have discussed during Playwriting. You should be able to write and discuss how these elements are found in texts we read for this course. I'll provide a list of the plays and playwrights we read next class. Look over your returned homework assignments for help in studying for the exam.

• Premise: a deeply held belief by the playwright which shapes a script.
• Conflict
• Structural Unity: all parts of the plot (exposition, rising action, turning point, climax, resolution, etc.) should work and fit together.
• The classical unities: the unity of time, place, and action. A well-written play should encompass only a short amount of time, use one main setting, and have only one main plot (subplots can occur, but only one plot should be the main plot). 
• Inciting Incident: the point of attack, the inciting incident forces the protagonist into the action of the play's plot.
• Events
• 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
• Structure: (Ten minute play format, One act plays, Full length plays (2, 3, 4, or 5 act); Monologues/Soliloquies
• Acts, scenes
• Commedia d'ell Arte 
• Masks, Cross-dressing; pantomime
• Absurdist Theater 
• Constantin Stanislavski & the Moscow Art Theatre
• Farce
• 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
• Character flaw
• 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
• Different types of beats: physical, behavioral, inner-life
• Time lock: a deadline for a character to achieve his/her goal in a scene or play
• Sign post/Pointer: foreshadowing or hints that something will happen in a play
• 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."
• Peripety
• Hamartia
• Agnorisis
• Dialogue (tips and advice)
• Aristotle's 6 Parts of a Play (Plot, Character, Idea (theme), Language (dialogue/diction), Music, and Spectacle) 
• Theatrical/literary periods: realism, modernism, absurdism, symbolism, comedy, naturalism, romanticism, Elizabethan, tragedy, comedy, etc. 
• Contributions of various playwrights: Ibsen, Shakespeare, Chekhov, etc.
• Play development & workshopping a play 
• Writing and rewriting a script (advice)