Driving Miss Daisy & 'Night Mother

Please check out and read Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry. Complete your reading of this play in class. As you read with your small group, please complete the worksheet (one per group). Turn this worksheet in by the end of class.

HOMEWORK: Please complete Driving Miss Daisy & 'Night Mother if you have not done so. Please post a required forum response to the play 'Night Mother on our forum before Monday, Oct. 3. Your forum post counts as a quiz grade.

The Colored Museum & 'Night Mother

Plays, plays, plays. Plays can take the shape of many different types and styles. Sometimes the play is political, other times it is "a slice of life," with little more meaning than allowing people to look at their lives. Still others are highly tense dramas that stuff you into a blender then turn it on full speed. Aristotle explained the process by which plays purge viewers of their emotions. These plays make us laugh or cry--but they don't just pass by unnoticed.

Just as it is impolite to discuss politics and religion at a dinner party, some plays have an axe to grind, take a specific position on an issue, and explore controversy or important societal issues quite nicely. Some plays try to shock and move an audience into action, or help change a person's mind. Afterall, it takes quite a bit of persuasion to make a change in the world. And that is what playwrights' want -- change!

So:

Here's two plays. Both controversial and powerful in their own style. Each "shocking" in their exploration of "truth." Both very different.

Please read and complete The Colored Museum in class. Please read Night Mother as homework. Be prepared to write about these plays on our forum.

As always, look for the major dramatic question: the question that the audience wants answered by the end of the play. In shorthand this is the MDQ. As you read Night Mother, pay close attention to the use of the two characters (and thier goals), the theme, the use of the unities (consolidation of time, place, and action), and the social message.

For Colored Girls...Forum Post

Today, please finish your draft of your monologue play. Respond to the play For Colored Girls on our forum with this question:

How does Shange structure her play. What is the significance of the order of the play and its plot points? How does she create an inciting incident; how does she raise the action; how does she build a theme? how does she reach a climax or turning point?; how does she create a resolution? You may also discuss the six elements of a play: character, plot, theme (mind), spectacle, music, and language or diction.

HOMEWORK: None, unless you do not complete your play or post in class today. Play drafts are due at the end of class. Please proofread, print and turn in.

Play Structure & the Monologue Play

Done with your monologue plays? Please do the following to prepare to turn in the first draft script:

1. Review your writing and the overarching development of your scenes and speeches.

2. Identify your beginning (inciting incident) and climax (point of highest tension in your play). If you don't have one, build these into the script or rearrange the most climactic moment to be near the end of the play, if not the end.

3. The 10-minute monologue script is due Friday by the end of class.

Play Structure (intro):

Ever wonder about the spelling of playwright? Why not playwrite? Well, it's because a "wright" is someone who builds. The idea is that a playWRIGHT carefully constructs and builds a play. We craft plays, not just write them.

Way back in antiquity, Aristotle (that famous Greek philosopher) wrote a book called the poetics about how to write a play. He said that every play needs the following elements:

1. Plot
2. Character
3. Thought (by which he meant theme)
4. Spectacle (special effects, props, costumes, scenery, etc.)
5. Diction (effective dialogue)
6. Song (music)

Apart from #6, all plays usually include these things. Musicals, film, and opera incorporate all of the elements rather effectively. Most contemporary plays include non diegetic sound between scenes or before an act to set a tone. Dialogue can be beautifully written (and with enough imagery and detail) can come close to song.

We know that a play needs conflict because all plays involve human struggle. That's what they are written to examine. A playwright is like a philosopher in that all effective plays (even the funny ones) deal with human struggle and use human themes to communicate the human condition. Plays are an attempt to understand some truth about humans and our world. Make sure your play speaks to this tradition.

For Colored Girls

During period one, please continue to work on your monologue play draft. During the break in periods, please move to room 238 to complete our reading of For Colored Girls...Enuf. If we do not complete the play by the end of class, please complete for homework.

The monologue play draft is due Friday.

HOMEWORK: Please complete For Colored Girls...Enuf and the chapter reading on plot and structure.

Monologue Play & For Colored Girls

Period 1: Please continue writing your monologue play scripts (see previous post for details). Make sure you give yourself enough time at the end of the period to read about Ntozake Shange and Greek Theater. Take notes of important details. Generally, you should know WHO and WHAT and WHY is it important.

Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf

Recent film trailer by Tyler Perry

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.

Forum & Monologue 10 Minute Play

Today, if you didn't read "1,000 Airplanes on the Roof", please do so and check out the additional materials about Hwang in the post below. Post a response to the play: what did you notice about the effective writing and/or the theme, subject, and plot of the play? How does Hwang keep us interested in the character and premise of the play?

Your forum post is due by Sunday, Sept. 18 at 11:59 p.m. If you cannot get online at home, please make sure you complete your commentary/response today or tomorrow in lab.

You are going to write a 10-minute character centered monologue play. Parameters are:

• 4-8 pages, proper script formatting
• 1 to 3 characters (each character must have a long soliloquy and/or monologue; i.e. no long section of dialogue, or short exchange of lines). It is traditional that ONE actor plays more than one part in the case you want more than ONE character.
• A short character description
• Stage directions where appropriate and a description of set
• Theme, genre, & subject matter is up to you

Use the time in lab to complete this assignment.

HOMEWORK: Keep writing and/or posting to the forum if you have not completed these tasks in the lab today.