Chapter 6 Playwrighting X enters looks at y

Chapter 6 Playwrighting

• • X enters, looks at y, looks at watch, X: Sorry I am late. I had to…. Y: Thanks for the check, the children have not. . X: I know (beat) Have you painted? . . . Sorry. X sits for a moment, stands and leaves At door X: I’ll give the next one on time exits

How does a playwright create a play? • Note your creative process – How do YOU write a play? – What helped? What got in the way? – How was the producer’s pitch different from writing an original work? • Playwrights work in different ways – Some swear by paper and pencil, others by the word processor and some just swear at the white sheet until they think of something to fill it.

If you can talk, you can write • Joel Saltzman, Available in library • If you can listen you can read- his book is in audio format • Try saying the lines. • What are things you wish you said in the past?

Start with action • Avoid excess exposition, don’t start up with the build up to the accident, start with the accident. • Don’t spend time with small talk, go for the meat – “Darling, I’m seeing someone else” – “I’m pregnant” – You have five months to live – I hit your dog, its dead – Jane slaps Jack – Jack slaps Jane • Start with a big event.

You don’t have to explain EVERYTHING • Its okay for the audience to NOT know what is happening all the time • Audiences don’t need to be told “why”, but should be given the chance to see why • Show don’t tell • Actors like to fill in the adverbs, let them if you can • Don’t write screen plays for the stage but you can give actors and directors problems – This scene takes place while building a human pyramid – - Two rats eating cheese… – These two scenes happen at the same time

Images • I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action. --Blanche Du. Bois in A Streetcar Named Desire. • Williams started with the image of a woman under a light bulb in a slip • Use internet to find images • Music • Sound bites

Prompts and Provocations • http: //www. writeanygenre. com/creativewriting-prompts. html • Make it worse • ABC • Limitations – Character A can only say two words per line

Plot Structure • Linear – Continuous Linear – Oedipus – Episodic Linear – Glass Menagerie – Simple Plot – Oedipus – Complex plots - Midsummer Night's Dream • Subplots - Midsummer Night's Dream • Cinematic- no chronological – Pulp Fiction, Momento, Traffic • Contextual – Fear and Misery in the Third Reich – Meaning of Life

PW Tools • Dialogue • Stage Directions – Explicit – Implicit • Characters • Actions

Dialogue • What characters say • What they don’t say

Stage Directions • How they say it – Diction – Pace, timing etc. • https: //www. msu. edu/~sullivan/Beckett. Krapp. html

Stage Directions Explicit Jack sits down and reads a book Implicit JB: Mr. Johnson? Welcome to IBM. Pleasure meet you. We will be doing the interview here in my office. Did you bring a copy of your resume? • MJ – Yes, here. • JB: Ah yes. Cisco, great company. You were there a long time, why the change now? • •

Characters – What characters say about themselves – What other characters say – What the character does – Stage Directions

Actions • Action can mean several things – An event that changes the status quo – Something the character does to achieve an objective and overcome an obstacle (Stanislavski style action) • All three can be useful for the playwright

Themes and Meaning • Themes is term used to describe an abstract idea that exists outside the play and within it • Meaning is the idea the writer is keenest to communicate to the audience which is expressed through the play’s plot.

Scenes are the building blocks to construct a plot • Introduction – Status quo • Inciting incident – Dramatic Question • Rising Action • Crisis, Turning Point Or Climax Falling action Resolution and Conclusion