10-minute Play Exercise #2; The One-Act; Vampire Lesbians of Sodom: Day 1

Please turn in your test/open book analysis of The Dutchman by Amiri Baraka. 

Period 1: (until 8:00)

Continue writing the play script you were working on from our writing exercise last class. Add to your story by doing some of the following:

• Add tension or conflict to your scene. Person v. person; person v. self; person v. nature; person v. society; person v. god/fate, etc. Rachet up the tension/conflict by having characters NEED something from the other characters. 
• Trap your characters in a place by giving them a time limit or TIME LOCK. Ex. We only have 10 minutes to save the world--or I must get this done and written now before the deadline in 10 minutes. I have to ask Jenny to the prom today or Jason will take her before I have the courage to do so...
• Give your characters some reason to care. What's at stake for each character you bring on stage? Each character in your play/scene should have some reason to get involved in the action of the play/scene.
• Develop your theme. Love. Life. Death. Nature. What do you want to say about these things? Ex. Love defines who we are. Life is a bowl of olive pits. Death is nothing to fear. Nature doesn't like being ignored. Whatever your message is--find ways for your characters to examine this theme. 
• The most common theme in plays is the fact that as humans, we don't communicate well with each other. Sometimes we don't even know what WE want as individuals. Consider the dramatic potential of a person who cannot communicate what it is they NEED. Start there. 
• Add beats to your scenes that help complicate your plot.
• Add beats to your scenes that provide helpful characterization. 
• Add beats to your scenes that help define and illustrate the sort of people your characters are so that your audience learns more about them.
• Add a monologue that helps define or explain the actions of a character. 
• Like the Dutchman, add a legend or well-known story for characters to discuss. Famous movies, tv shows, literary characters, plays, books, historical events, well-known current events, cultural events or traditions or holidays or politics or religious beliefs...have your characters talk about it (Taco Tuesday...); what we talk about tells the world about who we are....
• Use your setting or a prop like in The Dumb Waiter. Characters can talk about (taco tuesday) where they are, what is in their space or on "stage" with them. If your dialogue is boring, get those characters ACTING....
• Remember:
• The Dramatic Triangle
• The Main Event
• The Major Decision
• The Roots of Action
• Dialogue drives a scene's plot/character

Aim to complete your play scene draft by Thursday.

At 8:00, we'll pick up the collection of plays by Charles Busch: The Tale of the Allergist's Wife & Other Plays from the library. 

Just in time for Halloween: our last contemporary one-act. A one-act play might be a 10-minute play, but it is generally shorter than a full-length play (which usually lasts over an hour). It deals with one main action or dramatic question (main event).  

Let's just delve right into this one-act play, The Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. As we read, we'll stop and discuss how the playwright Charles Busch grabs our attention, writes fine (and funny) dialogue, creates a plot out of character's actions, develops a theme, introduces us to an interesting setting, and communicates a message that is pertinent to any contemporary audience. 

Bring your books back with you next class!

HOMEWORK: Complete your play draft.

Advice About Dialogue; The Dutchman

Please submit your analysis for The Dumb Waiter this morning in Google classroom (or hand in your physical copy to the inbox). 

Writing Exercise: Put 2 characters in a specific setting. Then follow directions as I give them.

DIALOGUE TIPS

The Art & Craft of Dialogue Writing (short video)
How to NOT write Bad dialogue (short video)
How Character and Story Are Hidden in Dialogue (short video)

Dialogue isn't just talking. Dialogue HAPPENS. It happens when your characters' need to speak. It is also how they listen (or not listen), and the connotation, nuance, color and subtext of what they say, how they say it, and why they say it. Good dialogue is the result of well-defined characters in a well-structured plot. They may be compelled to speak (or not), but they should have a REASON for speaking.

Here are some tips to consider:

1. We usually talk because we want to communicate some need. If we want nothing, we say nothing, usually. We also speak when we want to: threaten, teach, explain, cajole, joke, murmur, pontificate, defend ourselves, apologize, seduce evade, pout, challenge, yell, scold, cry, etc.

2. Dialogue is action. It is an action taken to satisfy a want or desire. What a character wants or desires moves them to speak and act. This is part of characterization--and the best way to build your character.

3. When we don't get what we want (often immediately), humans tend to become shy, aggressive, or hide our agendas in our words. This is often our subtext (the meaning hidden in a line of dialogue; or saying one thing, but meaning another) and is very important to actors. It is often this subtext that a good actor will uncover in a performance.

4. Actors have to hear each other. But characters often do not listen the same way we do. Characters interpret what is being said, ask questions, ignore speech, get confused, miss a meaning and even read special meaning into something that has no meaning. Listening, therefore, will often help build the conflict and drama in your scene. A response reveals something important about the listener. How a character hears, then, is an important point to consider.

Please watch and take notes on key ideas from the following writing advice about dialogue and removing the overuse of filler words--or punctuating interjections correctly.

Help With Interjection Punctuation
How to eliminate filler words

In the COMMENT section below, write 5 lines of dialogue starting each line with a filler word or interjection. The dialogue should concern the advice you learned from dialogue writing and the videos above. But punctuate each line correctly. Then, revise your 10-minute play drafts by correcting your dialogue punctuation mistakes.

Period 2:

Read Amiri Baraka's play Dutchman. Answer the 6 discussion questions using textual evidence to support your answers. You will likely need more room than what is provided to adequately answer the questions. Write your answers SEPARATELY from the question handout sheet. Answers will count as a quiz grade for this play.

Please feel free to view "Dutchman" by Amiri Baraka (55 min). Please turn in your answers to the previous homework for this play by end of the lab period.

You will likely need more room than what is provided to adequately answer the questions. Write your answers SEPARATELY from the question handout sheet. Answers will count as a quiz grade for this play.

Amiri Baraka was also a poet! Read a few of Amiri Baraka's poems here. Maybe one will inspire a scene.

HOMEWORK: Complete the one-act play The Dutchman. Complete the handout quiz by next class (Tuesday). 

Spic-o-Rama Quiz & Film

This morning, please take the quiz on your homework reading & the play Spic-o-Rama by John Leguizamo.

After 20 minutes, we'll take a look at the actual performance of the play.

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.)?

In regard to Spic-o-Rama:

1. How does the play showcase John Leguizamo's talent as an actor and writer? 
2. Why might Leguizamo have chosen the characters he did to portray in the play? Are some characters more vivid and interesting than others? What might be missing or what would you have liked to see more of or less of? How does the language of each monologue help characterize the speaker? 
3. 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? What strategies does Leguizamo use to keep a coherent whole for his play?
4. 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?

With any time remaining, please use your time in class to begin your homework.

HOMEWORK: Complete "The Dumbwaiter" and submit your analysis of the play for Friday's class.

10-minute Play Project Due; 10-Minute Play Readings; Spic-o-Rama

Please use period 1 to work on your 10-minute play projects. See the handout and rubric on our Google classroom regarding play scripts. Submit your completed 10-minute play draft by the end of period 1.

Period 2:

Let's continue reading the 10-minute plays in our last handout. With time remaining, let's begin looking at our next play--a mono-drama from John Leguizamo: Spic-o-Rama.

HOMEWORK: Complete Spic-o-Rama.

10-Minute Play Project; 10-Minute Play Readings

Period 1:

Respond to this blog post regarding your homework. Consider how David Ives (the playwright) uses the roots of action and the dramatic triangle in his plays. Make sure that you respond using specific examples from all three plays. Grades for your response are based on the homework rubric shared with you.

Then please use period 1 to work on your 10-minute play projects.

Period 2:

Let's begin reading some of the 10-minute plays in our handout. The first play is by comedian, musician, writer and brilliant crazy guy Steve Martin. Click on the link to find out more about him. Wendy Wasserstein was also an important contemporary playwright. Check out her bio too!

HOMEWORK: Complete your 10-minute play projects & complete any short plays we did not finish in class.

Come join us for the opening night of the Creative Writing Department's production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore tonight, Thursday or Friday at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater. Creative writing students attend free, but we'd like to challenge you to bring a friend or family member. Tickets are $5 and available at the door. This is a fundraiser for the department. Extra credit for those who attend.

Conflict; The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year; 10-Minute Play example & writing

Recall the dramatic triangle & roots of action. Now, let's look a little closer at conflict.

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 2-4. Read "The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year" by John Guare (see below). 

As you read the short 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. Additionally, discuss how the playwright uses the dramatic triangle as a device (ex. consider the role of the character "Maud"); What "roots of action" does Guare use in his play. Discuss these ideas with your group.

When your group finishes, please look over the 10-minute play project listed in the post below this one, and work on your script. Write. Avoid unnecessary conversation. That's just going to slow you down and delay the inevitable--a draft of your 10-minute play.

HOMEWORK: Read the 10-minute plays. Continue working on your 10-minute play script draft.

Oleanna (Conclusion); The Dramatic Triangle & the 10 Minute Play Project

During the first five minutes of class, please complete the following:

Glance over the handouts: "The Dramatic Triangle" and "The Roots of Action." You will be reading and working with these two articles, during 2nd period.

We will conclude our reading of Oleanna by David Mamet. Please submit your play analysis notes. For the rest of class, let's begin our first substantial writing project: The 10-minute Play

Writing the 10-Minute Play Project

The 10 minute play has gained quite a bit of respect over the last few decades. Starting as a theater gimmick and festival curtain risers, the 10 minute play can usually be produced with little or no budget, a theater can produce several new playwrights in an evening, and the plays are short (lacking the attention span one needs when seeing Shakespeare)--which appeals to a contemporary audience.

You will need a premise: the organizing theme or idea that defines everything in the play. A good premise will indicate an interesting inciting incident to help you start off your drama with some effective action or conflict, and will carry you through to the end of your play. The things to remember about 10-minute plays is that they are similar to short stories:

• They have a premise
• They have a dramatic situation (setting, characters in action, & a complication)
• They have a beginning, middle, and end
• They have a tight structure (most never change scene or setting)
• They are at most 10 pages long.
• There are usually fewer than five characters. Often two or three at most.
• The beginning of the play starts at a very early POINT OF ATTACK (inciting incident).
• By the end of the first page or the top of the second the argument or conflict has been presented.
• The play usually has only one conflict and one plot line.
• There is not much exposition. By the middle of the first page, exposition has been stated.
• The end of the play falls very close to the climax. Only a few lines are devoted to resolution.
• Most plays deal with the exceptionally brief, but powerful moment in a character's life.

Take ideas from your journal, reading, class exercises, or handouts, or your own memory & imagination; check the 38 dramatic situations for help (see link page to the side) if you can't think of anything. Use the graphic organizers, if you need them, and read the handouts "The Dramatic Triangle" & "The Roots of Action" given to you this morning on plot and use the "Exercises" to help you create a play.

Then write. Just you brainstorming, drafting, writing. Try to avoid unnecessary fooling around or talking.

HOMEWORK: Use the exercises we completed last class and the articles "The Roots of Action" and "The Dramatic Triangle" to continue working on your plays. The deadline for this play draft is not due yet.