Death of a Salesman: Part Two & the Premise

Writers usually start out with an idea: often from their own experience or knowledge. We can experience life either directly or indirectly. Directly from our own experiences. Indirectly from viewing life from someone else's eyes. We get ideas for plays from our own life, from reading or watching other plays, watching people in conflictual situations, talking to people about problems, listening to or reading the daily news, learning about conflict and issues that cause conflict in school, from books or articles we read, or conversations we have or overhear. In other words, writers get ideas from everywhere. It is helpful to pay attention to the world in order to get an idea for a scene or play.

An idea is not enough on its own though. It must serve a theme or a writer's deeply held belief. The starting point and core of DRAMA is what is called THE PREMISE: an organizing principle that defines everything in a play. It is the central idea of your story. The moral or punchline to its joke.

Some questions to ask to help you form a premise as you are writing:

• What's the point of my play?
• What am I trying to say about the human condition?
• What am I trying to make the audience see or feel?

A premise should be a clear sentence or statement reflecting your belief(s) about life or the subject. It is effectively the WHAT of a story. Why are you telling this story? What are you trying to communicate?

LAB WORK: In the lab today, please continue to develop and write the scene you started last class as an exercise. If you can, or wish to, you may also find a place to insert your monologue. Edit and revise your idea to make any of the components you have started in your notebook or from exercises into your scene.

Write to create a 10-minute play or scene (somewhere between 3-10 pages). Try to give your play a clear PREMISE. Work on your play in the lab. It will likely be due next class unless the class is not working to complete the assignment or everyone has finished. When complete, please print out and turn in as DRAFT ONE.

Forum Post: Please post a response to the forum by Monday, September 17.

Death of a Salesman is often seen as an American Tragedy. Some of the characteristics of a tragedy include: a). a bad end for our protagonist, often brought upon by fate or a bad decision, b). the arousing of pity and fear (catharsis) in an audience, c). a protagonist who is virtuous or relatively good or well meaning, and d). a conflict that overwhelms the protagonist or tragic figure.

Please respond to the play. Choose a character in Death of a Salesman and explain how this character is involved in this tragedy (what the character's role or purpose is in causing the tragedy) or shows him/herself to be a tragic figure. Try to think critically. Willy Loman, for example, is usually considered the tragic hero in this play, but what of Linda or Biff or Happy? These characters suffer through the end of the play, whereas Willy is gone and dead. Make an argument using relevant textual support. Try to avoid repeating the same ideas of your classmates. I am looking for original and critical thought.

HOMEWORK: Please complete your reading (Death of a Salesman/Talking With), and respond to Death of a Salesman on our forum by next class.

Scene Exercise: Using Who, What, Where & Death of a Salesman

This morning, let's take a few minutes to complete a writing exercise. After the exercise, we will take a look at Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Read about Arthur Miller here. Along with playwrights like Tennessee Williams, Miller is an American treasure, well regarded for his creative voice. His influence is seen in many contemporary theatrical productions.

Take a moment to read the stage directions description, then look at these production stills of the set for Death of a Salesman.

Some guy's review of a recent production of Death of a Salesman by director Mike Nichols.

After viewing these things, we'll go next door and begin screening Death of a Saleman. While this was made for CBS in 1985, starring Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich, Kate Reid, and Charles Durning, winning a Drama Desk Award for excellence, note how action seems a little more cramped than a film setting would be. Remember the stage set pictures you viewed earlier. It is safe to say that theater productions are a little more intimate than films or t.v. movies. There is something lost between the audience and actor when watching a film or movie. In a theater there is almost an imperceptible electricity between actor and audience.

As you watch ACT ONE of Death of a Salesman, take note of the characters you meet and the major issues or problems they are having (the WHO & the WHAT). Make a list of characters' names and goals in your notes as you watch.

HOMEWORK: Please READ Act Two for Thursday. It is important that you see the words on the page in the script. We will see a little more of this film production, but not all of Act Two. You will be required to write about this play on our forum, but not just yet.  

Who, Where, What in Playwriting

The essential building blocks of a scene (even in fiction or poetry):
A. Who: the characters
B. Where: the setting
C. What: the dominant image you hold in your mind (like a theme or main idea)

Writing Activity:
1. Write 3 WHO's in your journal/notebook
2. Write 3 WHERE's in your journal/notebook
3. Write 3 WHAT's in your journal/notebook

FAQ: Do I have to turn this brainstorming in? No. Keep it in your journal. You will use it sometime somewhere in this course or future courses.

Jane Martin & Talking With

Read about Jane Martin here.

Please view the following clips and refer to the script Talking With.

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.

Clear Glass Marbles (monologue, page 19-22)

Audition. (monologue, page 25-27)
Notice how this one uses nice camera work, although cuts part of the monologue text.

Rodeo (monologue, page 31-34)

French Fries (monologue, page 61-63)

Marks (monologue, page 67-69).

After viewing and reading this play, please post a response to it on our Creative Writing Forum. Posts to our forum should be completed by the end of class.

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.

WRITING/HOMEWORK: Please choose a WHO from the lists and exercises we have been doing in class, and a WHERE, and a WHAT. Use your WHO WHAT and WHERE to create a monologue. The length of your monologue is completely up to you, but it should reveal the character, perhaps tell a story, or involve a plot or goal for that character. It should have a beginning, middle, and end just like a good short story written in 1st person should.

Begin your brainstorming and pre-writing first, then use the rest of the time in the lab to complete the assignment. Whatever you don't finish, please complete as homework. The monologue DRAFT is due Tuesday, September 11.

Character Brainstorming: Part 2

Plays are written for actors to perform. A playwright must always remember this important distinction. Try to make all your characters different and interesting in some way.

Look at the following actors. Create a character for each actor to play. Include a name, occupation, age-range, and short background for each character. Think about your actor. How will the actor enjoy playing this role? Is the character interesting or challenging enough? Will it be a juicy enough part to entice a well-known actor to play the role? Will the role be worth the time (and money) for the actor?

Please complete your four characters in your journal or notebook during class.

Character Brainstorm & Talking With

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, NOTEBOOK, or on PAPER, please complete the following exercise. DO NOT TURN THIS IN. Instead, you will use it for our first 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):

Once you have completed this exercise, please begin reading Talking With by Jane Martin. As you read, pay close attention to how the playwright uses conflict, language, and a character's desire or goal(s) to move the action of the story forward. Choose one of these monologues (there are several in the play) and write out your answers to your observations. Hand this in as homework participation next class (as well as finish reading and thinking about the play).

You may read alone, or with 1-2 partners. Read until the end of the period please.

See post below for homework details.

Welcome, Class of 2014

Welcome back, class of 2014. I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable summer. But here we are again. This year is partly devoted to writing scripts (both theatrical and for the screen). What you learn here can help you improve your fiction "dialogue" skills, examine the use of conflict in your plots, play with language and poetry, as well as make you a better psychologist (dealing with people in crisis), all the while honing your writer's craft and developing your writer's voice.

Today, after reviewing the course criteria and updating your computer passwords, we will get started on a couple assignments to begin this course.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Check this blog each class period for agendas, deadlines, educational information, advice, and a whole lot of links to enhance your education. All you have to do is read and click. You are responsible for reading and interacting with the material I post on the blog.

If you're absent or missed something in class, please check the blog to get caught up. As indicated above, each new class period usually includes a new post. If you have a question about an assignment and are too embarrassed to speak to me in public (or you have a question that you think you will forget to ask), feel free to use the comment section.

On our link page you will also find some useful tools for this course. The foremost is a link to our Creative Writing Forum. You will be expected to use the forum to discuss the major reading and thematic topics in this course. Electronic forums save paper. You are keeping the world green by posting responses and reflections there.

The links also include a variety of things, but for now, you do not need to worry about them. During the course I will direct your attention to these tools for your use in this class and for use in Contemporary Writers.

Today, let's begin playwriting with a character building exercise. You will need a notebook, paper, or computer file to jot down some character notes. See post above this one for further details.

When you have completed your writing, please get together with a friend (or two) and begin reading our first play: Talking With by Jane Martin. More about this play will be detailed next class. Please complete your reading of the play script by Friday, September 7.

HOMEWORK: Read Talking With by Jane Martin and the article by Jean Claude Van Italie. Complete character brainstorm exercise in class.