Monologue #2 Draft; Monster & The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year

Lab:

Task/Exercise:

Using the character questionnaire answers in your journal from last class, write a monologue that tells a revealing story about your speaker. The story should reveal your speaker's personality through the diction & dialogue you write. Use the details you wrote down in your journal to give you some ideas. Overall, be creative. A monologue should be interesting.

Think about who your character is speaking to and where this person might be when speaking. Indicate your setting through diction and details in the dialogue (not stage directions).

• Remember that monologues help develop character. It is helpful to have characters who want something (to achieve a specific goal)--so giving your character a goal to try to achieve is a good idea.
• 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?
• Monologues can provide exposition, communicate the theme of the play or explain a character's thinking process. Monologues can describe a setting, comment about other characters or describe past events or future possibilities. They are used to develop characters and can move a plot forward. 
• Just like a good story, use specific details, imagery, and poetic devices like you would in a good short story. 

Write a draft of your monologue during our lab time today. If you finish, please print and turn in. You may begin reading the play Monster by Dael Orlandersmith--a monologue play. See homework below.

REMINDER: Please turn in any homework or late work from previous classes (see previous posts for details).

Period 2: Classroom:

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..."
• Conflict: a struggle, clash, or fight between opposing forces; a battle; an active disagreement resulting from incompatible ideas, goals, or needs.

At its core, all plays are about characters in conflict. The five common types of literary conflict include:

1. Person v. Person
2. Person v. Self
3. Person v. Nature (also human nature)
4. Person v. Society
5. Person v. Fate, the Supernatural, or God

Please get into groups of 2-3. Read "The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year."

As you read the short one-act play "The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year" by John Guare, identify different ways in which the playwright uses conflict as a dramatic centerpiece for the comedy. Take note of the kinds of conflict that occur in the play and write down the type (see above) and a brief description as to what the conflict is. Turn in this analysis by the end of class today for participation credit.

HOMEWORK: Complete your monologue draft. Your draft will be due at the end of Friday's lab time. Read the play Monster by Dael Orlandersmith. Answer these questions (also due at the end of your lab Friday):

1. According to Orlandersmith, what are some reasons she wrote this play?
2. List and briefly describe the characters and their role(s) in this play.
3. Identify the premise of this play.
4. Choose one monologue in the play and explain how the monologue develops a character. Use examples from the text as support.
5. Identify a major conflict for characters in this play. How does the playwright use this conflict to create an effective dramatic situation? Support your answer with textual evidence.