Plot Structure: Key Terms

Most plays begin with an EVENT: a unique and significant moment in a character's life (or characters lives). In plays all scenes should be thought of as "events".

Events can be almost anything: an unusual incident, a special occasion, a sudden visit, or any kind of crisis.

An event that starts off the play is called the inciting incident: the point of attack, the turning point in the life of one or more of your characters. Some playwrights call this moment the "disturbance". Whatever term you choose, you want to start off your story with a strong reason for the events in the play to occur. As the play continues (particularly in plays with more than one scene) more events may occur in a story. The inciting incident is the first one.

A protagonist usually confronts the inciting incident from a position of weaker power or disadvantage. Starting with a protagonist who has all his stuff together, who can easily defeat or solve a problem, makes for a boring play.

The beginning of a play ends when the protagonist(s) make(s) a major decision. This major decision should set him or her or them on a collision course with forces that will oppose and perhaps destroy him/her (aka: antagonist). This should be a decision. A decision to act, a decision that causes the antagonist to confront the protagonist, etc. A major decision makes a protagonist active in the plot.

The inciting incident and the major decision help to create the MAJOR DRAMATIC QUESTION: MDQ. The MDQ is, as stated earlier, the question that keeps an audience interested in the plot of your play. The MDQ is also attached to your overall theme. For example: MDQ: will action (and therefore revenge) be possible for Hamlet? Will Brick disclose his true feelings for Skipper & will Maggie find a man to truly love her? Will Willy Loman go mad or succeed in committing suicide? Will Blanche DuBois depend on the kindness of strangers? Will Romeo & Juliet be able to be together despite their families' feuding?

The middle of a play is fraught with a series of obstacles (rising action). During the middle, you need to pay attention to the 3 C's: conflict, crisis, and complication. These 3 C's will lead to the dark moment of your play (more on that later).

Conflict can be person vs. person (often true in plays), person vs. self (also common), person vs. society (common as well if done correctly), and person vs. nature (God, etc.) (not as great, but some plays do this one perfectly.) The more interesting the conflict the more interesting the play. Crises and complications cause the conflict to be more interesting. The crisis is a critical moment--a place in time for the protagonist to act, make a decision--that usually has consequences. Complications are problems (usually unforeseen) that arise to thwart or challenge the protagonist.

Writing: Today in the lab, please work on your plotting. Add scenes to your original draft, try to include an inciting incident, various events, a major decision for your protagonist, and consider your major dramatic question. Introduce conflict, crisis, and, of course, complications. No one likes to guess the ending at the beginning of a story.

If you rebooted your scene or 10-minute play (you are working on a new idea) keep writing, but also keep the same concepts in mind as you build your play. Please turn in your plot chart(s) or graphic organizer(s) as participation credit.

HOMEWORK: None.

Play Scene/Project #2

Take a few minutes today to respond to The Nerd on the forum. Please answer the question there. Some of you have not yet completed your analysis of Talking With or Death of a Salesman. These assignments are past due and should be done asap for minimal credit. Don't forget to complete your forum homework! It's important that you analyze and work with concepts we cover in class.

While you are completing your write-up on The Nerd, I will be passing back your first scripts. These are not written up and workshopped yet. As we talk about the construction of a play, we need to consider the major elements of effective drama. They are:

Plot and Character.

While we have begun a variety of character exercises, we haven't really talked much about plot during this course. So: today let's talk a little about plot.

What to do?
1. Using your previous scripts, consider whether your story is completely told, or whether you can flesh out the story by adding scenes before or after the action you originally wrote.
2. Consider the placement of potential scenes.
3. Use one (or more) of the graphic organizers to plan a larger story than the one you originally wrote in draft one. Complete the graphic organizer with your play's plot in mind.
4. You may use additional character graphic organizers, if you wish for other characters.
5. Use your graphic organizers to continue your scene. If you decide to start from scratch again (you have a better idea or want to work on a different story), complete steps 2-5.

Use the remaining time in class to write. If you are continuing your story, change the draft # to draft #2, but keep a separate file for your draft one. If it's a new play, then it's draft one.

HOMEWORK: Please read the article and take notes on key concepts. You should note and identify: the event, the inciting incident, plot elements, the major decision, the major dramatic question, the point of attack, and the 3 C's: conflict, crisis, and complication.

Larry Shue: Part Two!

Today we will read quite a bit (if not all) of Shue's play: The Nerd. As you read, please consider Aristotle's basic elements of a play. Let's critique poor Larry Shue's play with ancient Aristotelian criticism! (Getting you ready for AP Lit).

Does Shue's play have:

1. An effective plot?
2. Interesting or compelling characters who are risking something?
3. A message or theme about the human condition (love, life, nature, death, etc.)?
4. Diction (dialogue) or effective language use?
5. Spectacle?
6. Music or melody?

Does it also adhere to the unity of:
Time?
Place?
Action?

Let's read and find out!

HOMEWORK: If we do not finish the play today in class, please complete reading for homework.

Play Structure

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.

Not that Aristotle said this directly, but somewhere along the line, particularly in the Renaissance and Neoclassical periods, critics began to update Aristotle. They came up with the concept of the 3 Unities: 1). The Unity of Time, 2). The Unity of Place, and 3). The Unity of Action.

Unities:
TIME: plays should only cover a small amount of time (usually within 24 hours)
PLACE: plays should be set in locations that could easily be reached within a short amount of time (no traveling halfway around the world!); usually one setting was preferred
ACTION: Thou shalt not mingle comedy with tragedy. Also, only one plot line. KISS (keep it simple, stupid!)

Add to this the concept of verisimilitude (the semblance or appearance of truth), and characters should act according to their economic station, i.e., a prince should act like a prince, not like a pauper.

Without structural unity, a play falls apart when performed for an audience.

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.

Today, make a mind-map or web of human struggles or themes.

Larry Shue's The Nerd

Please turn in your homework notes: Structure: Part One: Story & Plot 

This morning, let's start with a little character design exercise.

Afterward, please read a little about the playwright Larry Shue. We will be going down to the library to pick up the play The Nerd.

Here is the first few pages of the Nerd in a high school performance. Note the staging and acting in the play as you read along with your scripts. What changes or what details does the producer/director/actors keep true to the script. What details do they change? Why do you think there is a change?

After viewing and discussing we will gather in small groups to continue reading the play.

HOMEWORK: Please complete your reading of The Nerd.

BOA Editions: Poetry Reading Opportunity!

We have been given 10-15 tickets to attend BOA's annual fundraiser Dine & Rhyme. Featured poets are Dorianne Laux and Nin Andrews. They will also be reading from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, a recent BOA publication.

The event takes place this Sunday (September 23) at 3:00 at the auditorium of the Memorial Art Gallery (right next door to us).

If you are interested in joining us, please let me or Ms. Gamzon know ASAP so we can reserve you a ticket. If you go, you will get extra credit.

Structure: Story & Plot (part one) & Aristotle

Please read the article handed out to you in class today: Structure: Part One: Story & Plot (part one) and answer the notes from your reading. Please read the article, don't just hunt and search for answers. You will need to know WHY these things are true and if you skip about, you will miss much of the reasoning (and thus will not learn what I need you to learn). There is no short cut for excellence!

But first: Let's get to know an old friend and his advice about playwriting.

Aristotle’s Poetics (circa 330 B.C.E.)

Aristotle Introduction

Here's a 20 point summary of the first established literary critic's masterpiece "The Poetics" by Aristotle.

1. People like to imitate and learn.
2. Arts (Epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry, flute-playing, lyre playing) are all modes of imitation. Just as color and form are used by artists, the voice, language, and harmony are used singularly or in combination. IE. Theatrical arts are REPRESENTATIVE of reality, not reality in and of themselves.
3. Objects of imitation should be above our common ilk; characters in a play/subject matter should be of high quality (and scope).
4. Poetry soon broke into two parts: tragedy/comedy. Serious poets would write about serious subjects; Humorous poets would write about frivolous and happy subjects.
5. Tragedy originated out of the dithyramb (choral ode); Comedy out of phallic songs.
6. Aeschylus limited his chorus, introduced the “second” actor, and made the dialogue take the leading part of the play.
7. Sophocles introduced the third actor.
8. As tragedy deals with noble subjects, comedy imitates men worse than average.
9. Tragedy is different from epic (although both are serious) in length, in one kind of verse (narrative form); epic includes tragedy, but tragedy does not necessarily include epic.
10. Aristotle’s six parts of a play:

a. Plot
b. Character
c. Theme (Idea)
d. Spectacle
e. Melody
f. Language (diction)

11. Plays should have a beginning, middle, end
12. Plays should not include so much as to bore, or too little
13. It is better in a tragedy for a good person to come to ruin, rather than a bad person
14. It is better to create catharsis from language and plot, rather than spectacle
15. Characters should have a discovery (peripety) (plural peripeties)
16. The chorus should act together as a “character” and integral to the whole
17. Characters should act according to verisimilitude (semblance of reality).
18. Diction should be clear, correct, poetic, but not inessential.
19. Plot should be made up of probable events
20. The poet, being an imitator (like a painter) must represent things either as they are, or as they are said to be, or as they ought to be – which is accomplished by skillful use of language to create a catharsis in the viewer of a play.

HOMEWORK: Please read the article and answer the questions for next class. You will turn in your notes sheet for participation credit.