The Elements of Drama

The Elements of Drama 6th Grade Language Arts Interactive Journal 3rd 9 weeks

Essential Question • How does drama provide the reader a different experience than prose (short stories, novels) or poetry? • How is drama different from television?

Drama • Comes from the Greek Word, “Dran” • Means “To do” or “To Act” • The Doing/Acting Makes Drama

Drama Elements • Plot • Setting • Theme • Resolution

Drama….. Play • …is a story told in front of an audience

Elements of Drama • Playwright-the author of a play • Script- Written form of the play • Actors-the people who perform

Acts and Scenes • An Act is a group of two or more scenes that form a major division of a play. • A Scene is one part of the action, usually happening in a particular time and place.

Cast of Characters • A Cast of Characters is a list of who is in a play, and/or a short description of these characters.

Dramatic Speech • Dialogue-conversation between or among characters • Monologue-long speech by one single character (private thoughts)

Narrator • A play may also include a Narrator. A narrator speaks from the side and gives important information and insights, but is not part of the action.

Monologue/Soliloquy • A Monologue or Soliloquy is a speech by one character who is alone on the stage or who speaks as if he is alone. • These are given by a character in the story. • (A narrator gives insights and information from the side, but is not one of the characters in the action.)

Conflict • The internal or external struggle between opposing forces, ideas, or interests that create dramatic tension.

Stage Directions • Found in brackets [ ] • Describe scenery and how characters speak • C, Center Stage • L, Stage Left • R, Stage Right • U, Upstage or Rear • D, Downstage or Front

Theatre • Where a play takes place

Set or Setting • Construction on the stage that shows time/place • Could be called Scenery

Props • Small movable items that the actors use to make actions look real

Characterization • Is the playwright’s technique for creating believable characters. • Indirect • Direct

Characterization: Direct Characterization The two types of characterization are direct characterization and indirect characterization. If a writer tells you that a character is mean-tempered or friendly, that is direct characterization. When a writer uses direct characterization, you don’t have to do any detective work to figure out the character.

Indirect Characterization • Indirect characterization is the process by which the writer shows the character's personality through his/her speech, actions and appearance. • When you watch a movie or television show, you can usually gather what type of person the main character is based on how he/she acts and reacts in different situations

Types of Drama • Drama is used to describe plays that address a serious subject.

Types of Drama • Comedy is a form of drama that has a happy ending. Humor comes from the dialogue and situations.

Types of Drama • Tragedy is a form of drama in which events lead to the downfall of the main character, often a person of great significance, like a king or hero.

Melodrama • a play in which the characters are types rather than individuals, the story and situations exaggerated to the point of improbability or sensationalism and the language and emotion over-emphasized

Farce • a comedy in which story, character, and especially situations are exaggerated to the point of improbability; the situation begins with a highly impossible, but when that is accepted everything that follows is completely logical. Fast moving; uses such theatrical devices as duplications, reversals, repetitions, surprises, disguises, chance encounters, often many doors and closets.

Tragic Comedy • a play with the sincerity and earnestness of tragedy but without its inevitability of impending disaster, attitude of comedy but without its underlying spirit of humor; uses tense situations and moments of extreme conflict, but the tragedy is averted and transcended.

The Elements of Drama