Projects

Please continue to work on and complete your monologue projects (due next class, Oct. 1). If you complete your project, please follow the directions below to begin your 10-minute play project. Today, please work on these two projects.

A reminder that tomorrow we will attend the production of Amadeus. Please make sure you have read the handout before you attend. Dress appropriately and bring a bagged lunch. We will gather in the Commons at 9:30. Please remind your teachers today that you will be missing 3-8 period.

ALL PERMISSION SLIPS MUST BE TURNED IN TODAY IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON ATTENDING THE FIELD TRIP. WITHOUT THE PAPERWORK, I CANNOT TAKE YOU OUT OF THE BUILDING DUE TO DISTRICT POLICY.

Monologue Project/10 Minute Play Project/Amadeus

Our class is preparing to attend Geva's production of Amadeus on September 30 at 9:30-1:30. I have provided you with information about the play. Please read it by Thursday so you are prepared to see the show. Field trip forms MUST be completed by Wednesday or I cannot take you out of the building. Please turn in field trip forms as soon as possible. Let your teachers know (periods 2-8) that you will be attending a play Thursday.

Before you use the lab time writing, let's read two 10-minute plays and examine them. We should be able to find the play's premise. As we read, please look for it.

After reading today, please continue to write your monologue project (draft due Friday, Oct. 1) or if you have completed that, begin working on the 10-minute play project (due Oct. 12).

All instructions for these projects are posted below. Please read or review the guidelines and directions carefully.

HOMEWORK: Complete field trip forms; Read Amadeus info packet. Monologue project due Oct. 1.

10-minute plays (a review) & the monologue project

After reviewing the elements that comprise a 10-minute play, please complete the 10 minute plays in the handout I gave you with your group (posted below).

When you have completed the reading, please continue to work on your monologue projects (due Oct. 1) or you may move on to the next assignment:

The 10-Minute Play.

Before you begin the 10 minute play, 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, help you start off your drama with some effective action or conflict, and will carry you through to the end of your play.

Take the advice from the handouts I've given you about where to find ideas. Search through these, check the 38 dramatic situations for help, write about what you believe and what you know to be true. Brainstorm.

Then begin writing a 10-minute play.

The Ten Minute Play

Please take 30 minutes (and only thirty minutes) today to work on your monologue projects. These should be starting to form and will be due October 1. If you are filming, you better start doing that so that you have time to edit.

After 30 minutes, please stop writing & prepare to meet with the following groups:

A. Addie, Monica, Zach, Brianna, Aubrey

B. Alex, Justice, Nautica, Valerie, Whitney

C. Jerry, Ledibel, Jenee, Shayla, Kennethea

D. Khari, Wade, Tashae, Victoria, Alaina

Read the six 10-minute plays out loud with each other. Each group member should take turns reading the roles and stage directions. Please read the entire packet (perhaps there will be a test on these...)

The form you are examining is the 10-minute play. We did a little of this during the last two years. 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 four characters. Often two or three at most.
The beginning of the play starts at a very early POINT OF ATTACK.
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.

Ntozake Shange, quiz, & What on Earth Gave You That Idea?

"Drama requires characters who want things they don't have yet, who need things they don't recognize yet, who are in conflict with people and forces arrayed against them."

Before we take our quiz on "For Colored Girls...," let's discuss this play as a class. After our quiz, please complete the following:

1. Please read the article: "What on Earth Gave You That Idea?" Answer the following questions to turn in by the end of class:

A. Where do writers get their ideas?
B. When evaluating an idea what must a writer consider?
C. What is a 'Premise'?
D. What are two ways to experience life?
E. What is at the core of a good dramatic idea?

The article makes a point about the 36 dramatic situations by Georges Polti. Please link to this page on our link page to your right. Read a few of the 36 dramatic situations (you must click the hyperlink). Which ones interest you? Which ones can you relate to? Which ones have you seen in literature or film? Discuss these 36 dramatic situations with a neighbor today.

After all that, please use this time in lab to work on your monologue projects.

Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls...

For 2nd Period:

Today we are going to read Ntozake Shange's choreo-poem and masterpiece For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.

Please watch this short interview with the playwright.

We have been reading a series of plays where monologues play an important and powerful role in the storyline of the play. In fact, way, way, way back during the ancient Greek period (about the 5th century BCE), theatre performances began as long "choral" odes--essentially monologues where the chorus sang in what is called a dithyramb.

After a while, the first actor: Thespis (actors are now called thespians) separated himself from the "chorus" and began to play various roles--and dialogue began!

Please take an index card with a specific role. Play that part today.

Getting Into Character, Monologue Project, For Colored Girls

The first 15 minutes of class today, please read the article: "Getting Into Character" and answer the following questions to hand in at the end of 15 minutes.

1. What's in a character? What should a playwright include in his/her character building to make a "good character"?

2. According to the article, most characters come from what primary source?

3. What basic traits should a playwright include when creating a character?

4. Why should a playwright avoid stereotypical characters?

After this time, please spend some time considering this advice about creating characters. Then use the next 10-15 minutes in class working on your monologue projects. If you have finished writing a monologue, create a second one or go back and add details, revise, and edit the first draft.

Remember: This is an on-going project. Doing a little at a time will complete the project by the deadline.

Period 2: At the end of period 1, we will be going to the textbook room to get the Choreopoem: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. When we return to this clas, we will begin reading it together.

HOMEWORK: Please complete the play For Colored Girls. Expect a test on the play for Friday.