Thinking Like a Playwright
A person who writes a play.
What is a playwright?
Some examples are being overly polite, shouting, begging, insulting, whining, bragging, or threatening.
What are tactics?
Some examples are sad, scared, outraged, excited, bored, grateful, triumphant.
What are feelings?
or
What are emotions?
It's where the action of the play takes place.
What is the setting?
It's what the characters say or words spoken aloud by actors. It makes up most of a play.
What is dialogue?
Theatre professionals who perform a play
What are actors?
Something a character does to try and get what they want.
What are tactics?
Some examples are timid, serious, romantic, hot-headed, talkative, ambitious.
What are personality traits?
It's what's on the stage (not including actors)
What is the set?
Instructions in the script that are not spoken aloud by the actors. They might describe actions or how a line is said.
What are stage directions?
This theatre professional guides actors through the rehearsal process and works with designers to ensure that everything comes together for a successful production.
What is a director?
This is what makes the play move and makes characters tick. All characters do this. Always. No exceptions.
Characters want something.
The only character in this play by Elaine Jarvik is Syd, an anxious teen who is afraid of heights.
What is MY EYES ARE CLOSED SO PLEASE DON'T TEXT ME?
Individual items on stage that help indicate the setting e.g. chairs, tables, a bookcase, a palm tree.
What are set pieces?
A passage of text in a play that is spoken by only one character. FULL COLOR is eight of these, each by a different playwright.
What is a monologue?
An artist who creates any of the visual or audio elements of a production e.g. the costumes, set, lighting, or sound.
What is a designer?
Something that gets in the way of what a character wants.
What is an obstacle?
These three things affect how characters speak, act, and view the world. For example, a teenaged cashier in rural Utah would speak and act differently from a middle-aged lawyer from New York City.
Hint: a_ _, b_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, and o_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
What are age, background, and occupation?
In general, playwrights try not to use more than one _ _ _ because changing it can be difficult, time-consuming, expensive, not to mention boring for the audience.
What is a set?
A list at the beginning of a script which includes every role in the play.
What are character descriptions?
or
What is the cast of characters?
This three-letter word completes this quotation:
"Writing a play usually means that characters go to fewer places than in a film. But in exchange, they get to _ _ _ a whole lot more."
-Julie Jensen
What is say?
This word (with four letters) means what the character wants, what obstacles they encounter, and what tactics they use in a play.
What is plot?
This five-letter word completes this quotation:
"I also try to make each character _ _ _ _ _ differently. If I'm writing well, a reader can tell which character is _ _ _ _ _ing, without seeing their name."
-Julie Jensen
What is speak?
The setting of BOMBASTIC BLUE by Olivia Custodio.
What is an underground bomb shelter?
This word (with seven letters) completes this phrase:
"Plays are not _ _ _ _ _ _ _; they are re_ _ _ _ _ _ _."
-Julie Jensen
What is written?