DON’T save the drama for your mama!

1. DON’T save the drama for your mama! What you need to know to know about drama….

2. What are writers of plays called? • Dramatists or playwrights • NOT PLAYWRITES • Why, you ask? • “wright” is a word that means “worker or builder” • Thus, one who builds plays….

3. How is it put together? The text of the play includes: • – the words spoken by the characters Dialogue

4. How is it put together? Cont.. • – a single character, usually alone on stage, speaks Monologue

5. How’s it put together? Cont.. • – the playwright’s instructions to the actors and directors. Set off in italics. Stage directions LUCAS: (after thinking for a moment) Daddy, can you buy me a fish? DADDY: (looking at Lucas and then ruffling Lucas’s hair) Yes, Lucas, we’ll get a fish. But first you need a haircut.

6. How is a play like a short story or novel? • All are driven by the --the chain of events that tie the story together plot • All feature – the struggles that the characters face. These conflicts may be physical, psychological, social, or all three. Conflict is what makes us concerned for the character. conflict

7. How is a play different from the other types of fiction? • “Most of what we learn about characters, relationships, and conflict in a drama is conveyed through language, thus language must …fit the time, the place, and the characters” (1014) • Decorum – the sense of appropriateness of the language

8. Drama Vocabulary

9. Act – segments of a performance usually separated by an interval; Act 1, Act 2

10. Scene – structural units into which the acts of the play are divided

11. Stage directions – a playwright’s descriptive or interpretive comments that provide readers and actors with information about the dialogue, setting, and action of the play

12. Upstage – the part of the stage furthest away from the audience; at or toward the back of the stage away from the front

13. Downstage – the part of the stage closest to the audience; the front of the stage toward the audience

14. Aside – A line spoken to and only heard by the audience in the midst of other characters who do not hear what is said; often used to reveal inner feelings to the audience, also for melodramatic and comic effect. Asides are assumed to be truthful, like soliloquies.

15. Monologue – A significant portion of text spoken by one character; what makes a “monologue” different than “soliloquy” is that a monologue has an audience in another character or other characters.

16. Soliloquy – A speech by one character that is delivered alone on stage, intended to deliver the character’s thoughts to the audience. What is said during a soliloquy is assumed to be true, even if only to the character’s emotions.

17. Absurdism-centers on the behavior of absurd (ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous) characters, situations or subjects. Absurdist fiction posits little judgment about characters or their actions; that task is left to the reader. Absurdism grew out of the modernist literature of the late 19th and early 20th century as a direct opposition to the Victorian literature (realism) which was prominent just prior to this period.

18. Realism in literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation

19. Drama is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena

20. Expressionism was a cultural movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the start of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world under an utterly subjective perspective, violently distorting it to obtain an emotional effect and vividly transmit personal moods and ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of "being alive“ and emotional experience rather than physical reality.

21. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors. They may also be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance.

22. A producer is someone who creates the conditions for making plays and movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as finding plays to produce, fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors. They take on the risk of the production.

23. A director is a person who visualizes the play, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision. • In some cases, film directors do not have absolute creative control. The director can also be selected by the producer. The producer in this case very likely has veto power over everything from the script itself to the final editing of the film, often in anything from slight to extreme opposition to the director's vision.

24. Agent – a representative who acts on behalf of the writer to submit a play to various producers and to negotiate payment.

25. A rehearsal is a preparatory event in music and theatre (and in other contexts) that is performed before the official public performance, as a form of practice, and to ensure that all details of the performance are adequately prepared and coordinated for professional presentation.

26. A Musical is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called simply, "musicals".

27. ANALYZING A PLAY

28. It is true that analyzing a scene or a play has some similarities to analyzing poetry, short stories, and novels but, as you'll soon see, analyzing plays has some characteristics all of its own. Remember, plays were meant to be performed for an audience, not simply read. Try to see a live or recorded version to bring your play to life before you begin your analysis.

29. Theme: Howhas the playwright emphasized the play's theme? Through images? characters? action? and/or direct statements? Is the theme negative? How negative? Where is the theme first introduced? By whom? How does the central action of the play reveal the theme? Does the play's ending reinforce the principle theme? How? Are sub-themes important?

30. 2. Characters Playwrights often try to convey many of their messages through the way they depict characters. Consider points such as whether the character has a major or minor role in the central action of the play, how other characters react to him/her, what happens to the character throughout the play, what changes does he/she undergo, what his/her fate is, his/her place in society, as well as any strengths or weaknesses. What does a character reveal about him/herself through speech and action? How fully developed is the character? Are we led to like or dislike a character?

31. 3. Actions Are the actions physical, emotional, or mental? Do they seem forced or do they appear to occur naturally? Are they coincidental or are they the result of much planning and scheming? How many people and which characters are involved in, or suffer from, the actions of the play? What are the results of the action?

32. 4. Plot How does the plot evolve from act to act and from scene to scene (do not simply retell what happens)? Is suspense used? How effectively? How do conflicts help develop the plot? What is the significance of any subplots? How unified is the plot? Where is the climax? How is the action resolved in the conclusion? Is the play a tragedy, a comedy? How can you tell?

33. 5. Soliloquies/Monologues At what point in the action do they occur? What do they reveal about the speaker? What is their tone? What is the speaker's mood? Does the speaker talk of taking action or is he/she giving you his/her philosophy of life? Is the speaker's train of thought rational? Treat the soliloquies to the same close reading as you would a poem; for example, consider imagery, symbolism, etc.

34. 6. Conflict Where do the conflicts lie? Are they between two characters or within a character or between a character and his/her surroundings? How are they developed? How are they resolved? Is the central conflict reinforced by other conflicts – between minor characters or in the setting (a storm, perhaps.)

35. 7. Time Does the play take place over a short or a long period of time? Does a lot of time elapse between the scenes or in between the important actions? Are the characters preoccupied with time? Is the play set in actual time, where the stage time is the same as real-life time?

36. 8. Symbolism and Imagery Playwrights often use symbolism and imagery. Characters are often representations of something else. Actions, objects, and props may also be symbolic. What images are used? How powerful are they? Does the imagery extend through the entire play, an entire scene, or is it only used once? How does the imagery help bring out the theme?

37. 9. Key Lines Often an entire theme of a play can rest on a single line. Respond to the emotions lying beneath the written lines. They may be vital to the meaning of the play.

38. 10. Setting Does the setting have a particular significance? Does it add to the mood of the play? Does the setting change and, consequently, the mood or the symbolism involved?

39. These points should not simply be applied to each and every play. Instead, think about each play and the separate actions that take place in it. Remember, the closer you read and study a play, the more you will experience its power and beauty.