Ridiculous Play Scene; Mystery of Irma Vep: Day 3

Lab:

Watch the short interview with Katori Hall on Playwriting.

Please continue writing your play scripts (see previous posts for details & ideas on how to develop your plots/characters and scenes.

Whether friend or foe, characters in plays tend to be similar in some ways, and different in others. In a two-person scene, the audience needs to see that these two characters are contrasting. The contrast also points out what qualities their adversary or antagonist has that they do not.

For each of your characters in the scene you are writing answer the following in your notebook:

• Inherited physical traits: Traits like gender, age, ethnicity, body type, and identifiable facial features (glasses, beards, glass eyes or an eye-patch, etc.) ex. in Topdog/Underdog, both characters are African American males in their thirties and are biological brothers (similarities), but their personalities and outlook on life are contrasting.
• Acquired physical trait: traits that are a result of environment, lifestyle, or experience such as economics, occupation, or personal experiences that may result in physical changes (scars, disabilities, cosmetic surgery, clothing, etc.)
• Psychological/moral traits: mental and psychological differences or outlooks on life or personal philosophy or morality.
• Social trait: how the characters differ in the way they deal with society and/or friends, family members, neighbors, other adults or children, etc.  
• Talent: some skill that one possesses that another doesn't--juggling, first aid, swimming, etc.

How do your characters compare/contrast with each other on stage or in the story?

Period 2:

Let's continue reading The Mystery of Irma Vep.

HOMEWORK: Please read the play Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks. As you read, please answer the following questions:

1. Who are the 2 characters in this play? How are they similar or different from the historical figures they are drawn from? How are they similar/different from each other? (see our writing exercise above for details....)
2. Identify the inciting incident in this play.
3. Identify the Major Dramatic Question in this play. 
4. Identify the dark moment or crisis for both Lincoln & Booth.
5. Identify the enlightenment for both Lincoln & Booth.
6. Choose one type of conflict in the play and explain how this conflict contributes or effectively adds to the plot or theme of this play.
7. Choose a beat in the play. Identify the page # and section of the beat. For this beat, identify the beat's objective for each character Booth & Lincoln.
8. Suzan-Lori Parks is an unconventional playwright. Read about her background and her author's notes. How does she use theatrical elements in a unique or effective way throughout the play? 
9. Compare Topdog/Underdog to other 2-person plays we have read ('Night Mother, Mystery of Irma Vep, The Dumb Waiter, Oleanna, "The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year", "The Red Coat", or "Slaughter in the Lake")--how does this play measure up in your opinion? What might you have learned about playwriting from reading it? Which play is strongest or best in your opinion? Why?
10. Topdog/Underdog was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for drama. Why do you think this might have been a good choice for a contemporary audience or a good example of contemporary writing? (you might examine the importance of the play's theme, or its characters, or its style, for example...)

Please read the play and answer these 10 questions by Friday, Oct. 20.