Drama

 A form of literature known as a play.

 A serious type of play that concerns the character versus society.
 Drama is a type of literary work intended to be performed for an audience.
3 Important Elements in Drama
 1. Story - there has to be one
 2. Performance - must be acted out.
 3. Audience - people who experience the story
Basic Drama
DRAMA: Greek origin meaning “to do” or “to act”
All DRAMA springs from life:
People - Problems - Particular Time & Place

Aristotle’s “Parts of a Play”

1.Theme: The ability to say what the circumstances allow and what is appropriate to them
(the central idea that emerges from the dramatic action of the play)
THEME IS NEVER A MESSAGE OR A STATEMENT IMPOSED UPON THE ACTION BY THE
PLAYWRIGHT
2.Plot: The arrangement (structure) of the incidents in a story
WHO IS DOING WHAT TO WHOM WHERE, WHEN AND WHY?
ELEMENTS OF PLOT
A. Point of Attack: The point of time in the play when the dramatic action begins
B. Exposition: Incidents or events from the past or happenings outside of the play of which the
audience must be aware of in order to comprehend characters and plot
C. Preparation: The earlier “planting” of certain information, so that a particular character or scene
will be believable
D. Conflict: An internal struggle within one person or between two or more characters; THE
HEART OF THE PLOT
E. Complications: The introduction of a fact or character already in the play that grows out of the
conflict and delays the climax
F. Crisis: The protagonist has to make a major decision that is also a key turning point in the
dramatic action.
G. Dramatic Question or Problem: The suspense question related to the fate of the central
character’s major goal.
H. Climax: The highest emotional peak in a play.
I. Resolution: The point after the climax, during which any remaining questions are answered
3. Characters: The agents of the incidents
A. Central Characters: These are characters around whom the dramatic action revolves or who
have the dominant objective in the play
B. Opposing Characters: These are characters who provide the basic obstacles by blocking
the central character’s objective
C. Contributing Characters: These are characters who line up with other characters
4. Music: Any music that may appear in the play
5. Dialogue: The diction of the play. Simply, it is what the character says and how he or she says it, be
it street language, poetry or slang
6. Spectacle: The embellishments of a play. All the visual elements: scenery, costumes, lighting,
movement, gestures, and other elements.

TYPES OF PLAYS

A. Tragedy: Themes are serious in depth and worthiness; the central character (hero) struggles to
overcome overpowering obstacles but instead is overcome by them, resulting in death
B. Drama: Themes are serious in nature; but unlike tragedy, the central character in overcoming
obstacles does not die at the end of the play
C. Melodrama: Themes are exaggerated in their seriousness; the central characters overcome villains
in sensational plots usually crowded with action and conflict
D. Comedy: A humorous play with light or serious themes whose central characters succeed in
overcoming all obstacles (High Comedy, Serious Comedy, Satire, Farce, Situation Comedy & Low
Comedy)
E. Fantasy: A serious or humorous play in which “unreal” characters with human traits overcome
obstacles in a land of make-believe
F. Allegory: A play serious or humorous, often written in a poetic or fairy-tale style feature abstract
characters
G. One-Act: One Sitting - One Setting - One Sighting
• Should impress upon its audience one basic idea or theme explored as fully as possible within
a short time span
• Should have only ONE single dramatic action
• Should have only a FEW characters
• Should NOT contain long “talky” speeches
• Should use only ONE set
HOW TO WRITE A ONE-ACT

SHOW VS. TELL

The essential difference is that a story TELLS what took place, while a play SHOWS what is actually
taking place (The stage shows what we see in our minds on the page)
DRAMATIC CLOCK
On the stage there is a built in urgency, a “dramatic clock” of sorts, which helps to coalesce elements
of conflict, crisis, and suspense to heighten the emotional response of the audience
PAST VS. PRESENT TENSE
The action of the play takes place in a “perpetual present time.” On the stage it is always “now.”
UNITY OF ACTION, TIME AND PLACE
The incidents of the play occur in a unifying way that will make sense to an audience member
COMMON MISTAKES
1. DON’T OVERLOAD THE INCIDENTS IN A PLOT
2. DON’T USE A NARRATOR OR CENTRAL CHARACTER TO TELL EVENTS - WHEN THE
EVENTS CAN BE DRAMATIZED
3. DO NOT CRAM AN IDEA DOWN THE AUDIENCE’S THROAT - YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A
PHILOSOPHER OR SAINT YOUR ONLY REQUIREMENT IS ART

Types of Plays
Plays come in all shapes and sizes. Here are the most common ones:

Ten-Minute Plays
Ten-minute plays have become very popular in recent years with the advent of The Actors Theatre of
Louisville contest. A good ten-minute play is not a sketch or an extended gag, but rather a complete,
compact play, with a beginning, middle and end. It typically takes place in one scene and runs no more
than ten pages. In fact, because many contests disqualify entries with more than ten pages, it's a good
idea to adhere to that page limit religiously.

One-Act Plays
One-acts can run anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour or more. While technically, the one-act gets
its name from having only one act (however long that might be), it's more commonly thought of as a
play that isn't long enough to constitute a full evening. Arguably the most popular length for one-acts is
around a half-hour. At this length, a play can fit on a bill with a pair of other one-acts, and if your play
is suitable for high school production, thirty minutes is a good length for a competition play.

A good one-act focuses on one main action or problem; there's not time to get into complicated layers
of plot. And for practical reasons, it's a good idea to keep your play to one set and as few scenes as
possible. Why? Let's say that your one-act is on a bill with two other one-acts, a common scenario.
Let's further say that your one-act has two distinct settings, requiring two different sets and a set change
in the middle of an already short play. Not a good thing. Each of the other one-acts already has its own
set requirements, so suddenly the theater is faced with building four different sets for one evening. Not
likely to happen.
Another common situation is that a one-act precedes a play that's not quite long enough to be an
evening unto itself. My play The White Pages opened for Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile and
had to make use of largely the same set, with canvases painted like bookcases and a desk brought on
to make it look more like a bookstore. So the moral of the story is to write your one-act with the most
minimal set and technical demands possible.

Full-Length Plays
Full-length plays are also called evening-length plays, because they're long enough to be their own
evening. How long is that? Anywhere from around seventy or eighty minutes and up. How up is up?
These days, with TV shrinking our attention spans, you'd better have a very good reason to keep an
audience in the theater for much longer than two hours. And it's always a good idea to write your play
so that it can be produced, if necessary, with minimal set and technical requirements. This doesn't
mean that an ambitious designer can't go to town on your script if that possibility exists, but if producing
your play requires eight set changes or filling the stage with water, most theaters will not be able to
afford you.

Musicals
Musicals can run the gamut in length from ten minutes (though these are rare, because it's not very
cost effective to assemble a band to play for only ten minutes) to three hours. Again, the middle ground
- somewhere between ninety minutes and two hours, is probably the one to shoot for.