Adaptation Project

Brainstorming: take a minute or two to think about short stories you have read and enjoyed. Write down at least one title or author whose work you liked. Share with the class. You have five minutes to ask other students what their favorite stories are. If you also like that story, note it in your journal/notebook with the name of the person who also liked that story, then return to your seat.

Many playwrights (and filmmakers) rely on short fiction for their material. Short fiction can make excellent stage or film material, as there is not as much to cut as in novel length text. Audiences are more willing to watch a well-known story, as opposed to the new work of an unknown writer. Either way, a writer can learn a lot about story structure and writing by adapting a published or polished piece of writing. Adapting our own short stories or poem cycles can be an excellent and empowering task as well.

1. Adapt a favorite short story (or poem) into a one-act play. Length is determined by the story you pick but should be at least 5 pages and no more than 20.
2. You may use one of your own short stories, or you may pick any famous or published short story.
3. You are free to change location, consolidate settings, events, and characters to fit the limitations and structure of plays. When adapting, it is customary to cut and edit various details that wouldn't work on stage. Try using plot techniques like the time lock, the trap, Sarcey's Principle of Offstage Action, and the Unities to narrow your focus (otherwise you'll end up with a thousand scenes and a hundred pages of script).
4. You may also dip into film studies and write a film script for your preference. Please check the film script format here and make sure you are writing in proper film script format.
5. Please give credit to the original author. If you are the original author, attach a copy of the original story with the play script.
6. You may work with up to one other writer for this project. You can, of course, work alone as well.

Here are a few websites with short stories to consider for brainstorming ideas.

The Short Story Library: American Literature
Edgar Allan Poe stories
Short Stories

Example: The Tell Tale Heart (Edgar Allen Poe, starring Vincent Price) (monologue play)
Santaland Diaries (David Sedaris, from the stage production)
The Lottery (Shirley Jackson, part one)
Thank You, Mam (Langston Hughes, clip) 
A Perfect Day for Bananafish (J.D. Salinger)
Lamb To the Slaughter (Roald Dahl, from Alfred Hitchcock Presents) 

By the end of class today, you should have 1. picked a story and 2. begun to work on the adaptation.

HOMEWORK: Continue working on your play script. Plan on completing by the end of the week.

Playwriting Rubric

4 = Exemplary (A/A+): Play is written in correct (standard) playwriting format for actors/directors. Title is intriguing, symbolic, and/or original. Plot structure adheres to and enhances Aristotelian elements; Cause and effect is well done, logical and creative; conflict is intriguing and creative; the playwrights' message is universal and comments thoughtfully on the human condition; play has intriguing, original characters; setting is original and interesting, but also practical for theatrical space; stage directions are specific, producible, enhance the action of the play and do not get in the actor/reader's way; dialogue is original, compelling, appropriate for characters; characters have clear and appropriate motivation; there is a clear progression of conflict/events, leading to a dark moment (crisis), enlightenment, and climax for the protagonist; dialogue sounds natural; play follows the three unities of time, place, action (when appropriate); scenes are well developed, each ending with a climactic moment, constantly moving the plot forward; staging is creative, appropriate and play is clever and producible. Few minor grammar errors.

3 = Accomplished (B/B+): Play is written in standard publishing playwriting format, or format for actors/directors has a few mistakes. Title is appropriate, but may not be as clever or creative as 4 above. Plot is appropriate and uses several Aristotelian elements, but not to the same level as 4. Cause and effect is more or less appropriate for the situation; playwright has a message, but may not be as original or creative as 4. Setting is appropriate and practical, but not as clever or interesting as 4. Stage directions are used appropriately; dialogue is appropriate for verisimilitude of characters and setting; dialogue mostly sounds natural; play mostly follows unities, but may rely on one more than another; main characters have appropriate motivation, with some errors or lack of development; scenes are developed, but may not always progress the plot; staging is appropriate and producible, but not as clever as 4. Some minor grammar errors.

2 = Promising (C/C+): Play attempts standard playwriting format, but may have several errors. Title is present, but does not necessarily support theme, tone, or symbol. Plot borders on cliche or sentimentality; plot may lack some Aristotelian elements. Cause occurs without effect or there are errors in plotting; playwrights' message may be trite or melodramatic or over done; characters may be unoriginal, lacking motivation or development; setting is standard and largely uninteresting; dialogue sounds stilted or melodramatic, unreal; play does not always follow the unities; characters may lack motivation or play includes too many minor characters; scenes are sketchy or undeveloped, conflict is too easily resolved; scenes may not advance the plot; staging is awkward or expensive or cinematic; grammar errors distract the reader/actor.

1 = Beginning (D): Play is not in playwriting format. Title is absent or untitled. Play may be incomplete, plot and characters flat or undeveloped, or as a "2" but may also be late. Work is not up to 11th grade level or standards. Grammar mistakes and writing errors make reading difficult.

10 Minute Script Due

Today, please complete your 10-minute play script. Before you turn in your work, please make sure your format is correct and remove any non-essential dialogue (particularly ums, and wells, and so on). Reduce your sentence structure to avoid overusing compound and complex sentences. Simple sentences are more direct. Proofread and correct mistakes in grammar and punctuation.

Finished early? Get started on our next assignment:
1. Adapt a favorite short story (or poem) into a one-act play. Length is determined by the story you pick but should be at least 5 pages and no more than 20.
2. You may use one of your own short stories, or you may pick any famous or published short story.
3. You are free to change location, consolidate settings, events, and characters to fit the limitations and structure of plays. When adapting, it is customary to cut and edit various details that wouldn't work on stage. Try using plot techniques like the time lock, the trap, Sarcey's Principle of Offstage Action, and the Unities to narrow your focus (otherwise you'll end up with a thousand scenes and a hundred pages of script).

Here are a few websites with short stories to consider for brainstorming ideas.

The Short Story Library: American Literature
Edgar Allan Poe stories
Short Stories

HOMEWORK: Please read The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs for Halloween. Here's a preview.

10 Minute Play (writing) & Formula

After our quiz today, please continue working on your 10-minute play draft. This is due Friday. Please use the time in lab for what it is designed for: writing. If I see the majority of you off task, I assume your work is done and I'll slide deadlines earlier.

If you have finished already, feel free to write a second play draft for extra credit. The more plays you write, the more experience you receive and the more options you have when sending work to contests and submitting plays to theaters.

HOMEWORK: Please read the article on Structure: Story & Plot and answer the 10 questions for Friday.

George S. Kaufman Play/Musical Scenes

For those of you who are curious, here are a few scenes from various Kaufman films and plays.

Marx Brothers: A Night At the Opera - Cabin Scene. 1935
Marx Brothers: A Night At the Opera - Opera, 1935
Marx Brothers: Animal Crackers, Bridge Scene, 1930
Marx Brothers: Animal Crackers, Hooray for Captain Spaulding, 1930
Marx Brothers: Scene from Cocoanuts, 1929.

You Can't Take It With You
You Can't Take it With You (again)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) film trailer
The Man Who Came to Dinner (starring Bette Davis)

George S. Kaufman & some 10-Minute Play Advice

Please read about George S. Kaufman. Please look at his biographical information and read about the Algonquin Round Table, the 1920's, The Marx Brothers, The Gershwins, and Moss Hart. Answer the questions to be handed in by the end of class.

George S. Kaufman is best known for his Marx Brothers comedies, but also the famous You Can't Take it With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner. Here's one of his 10-minute plays: "If Men Played Cards As Women Do." It can be found on page 423. Please read it alone or with a group of 4. Then get ready to write today.

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 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.

Take ideas from your journal, reading, 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.

If you are focused, you should be able to write a 10-minute play in 80 minutes or less.

Forum response for Trifles is due today. Please complete.

HOMEWORK: Complete forum post. Read "Here We Are" and "The Still Alarm." Expect a quiz on the two Kaufman plays and Parker's play next class.

10-Minute Play Draft & Sample Plays

A - Task ONE. Today, please get into groups of 3-4 to read "Einstein & the Angels", "Esla & Frinz Go Partying", and "Deer Play", three 10-minute plays. Each play has a beginning, middle, end--just like Aristotle said they should, and the characters and situations are creative. This is not the same old, same old blabbing with tired and typical characters. As you read, note how the playwrights use character, situation, and build plot--all within a few pages.

After reading each of these plays, discuss with your group 1. 3 things you noticed, observed, or had questions about the play, 2 things you learned about playwriting, and 1 thing you would have changed had you written the script. Write your comments on the sheet provided to hand in for participation credit.

B - Task TWO. Alone, go back to your seats and prepare to write your 10 minute play draft. Review play script format, if you need to (see links and previous assignments). Use any of the brainstorming activities of the past few classes, along with your character designs from September (your journal) and look for interesting choices. Create a play that is imaginative, but takes into consideration the form of stage writing and the constraints. Your play is short (5-8 pages) and should focus on one main conflict or idea.

If you get stuck or need a break from writing, watch these videos for advice on playwriting. Watch them, even if you finish your play. They have some good advice that will help you succeed.

Video #1: Top Tips
Video #2: Status Quo
Video #3: Building a Plot
Video #4: Formatting a play script (optional viewing, for those who don't understand the form)

HOMEWORK: Please read Trifles by Susan Glaspell. Post a response to the forum by next class (Monday, Oct. 24) in which you examine the status quo; identify the major dramatic question and whether or not you felt the playwright kept your attention. If she did, how did she do it? If she didn't, why not--what would you have changed? and finally, pick one of the characters and discuss how this character is utilized by the playwright in the play. What is the author's purpose for this character? How does the character help develop plot, conflict, or theme?

If you get lost or need assistance understanding anything in the script or its characters, look here.