Drama Major I
The Dramatic Imagination Project
DUE DATE: _________________________
Name: ____________________________
_____ / 100 points
There are four types of questions we should ask ourselves when reading any genre of literature – fiction
or nonfiction – to help us understand the text on surface and deeper levels. Test and quizzes use these
questions to assess our understanding of a text.
Read through the four types of questions and the examples given.
1. “Right There” questions – Content (Level One): All you have to do is locate the answer and
copy it down.
 Example Question: What color is John’s Hair?
 Example Answer: “He has brown hair.”
2. “Pulling it together” questions – Content (Level One): the answer is in the text, but you have to
pull it from different parts of the text.
 Example Question: What is John’s relationship with his mother?
i. John yells at his mother when she uses strawberry and not grape jelly on his sandwich.
ii. John throws a temper when his mother enters his bedroom to bring him clean laundry.
iii. John says, “My mother watches really dumb soap operas.”
 Example Answer: John is disrespectful to his mother.
3. “Author and Me Questions” (Inference – Level Two/Three): The answer is not in the text, but
you need to use information from the text to answer it. These questions may focus on specific
events or ask the reader to draw broader inferences about theme.
a. Author’s Purpose: These questions focus on any choice the writer makes – i.e. the selection of
a word, the function of a paragraph, the strategy used to defend, refute, or qualify the writer’s
position, the use of literary devices or rhetorical devices.
 Example Question: Why do you think Shakespeare created the character of Puck in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream?
 Example Answer: He is a the servant of Oberon to play out Oberon’s tricks against Titania; he is
a foil for the character Egeus in the real people court of Theseus, he provides comic interludes
for the audience and physical humor.
b. Vocabulary in Context: these questions often focus on a word which is either unknown or used
in an unusual way.
 Example Question: What meaning does the word “winter” take in the line from Richard III,
“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by the Duke of York; / And all
the clouds that low’r’d upon our house / In the deep bosom of the ocean buried,” (RIII I.1.1-4).
 Example Answer: Richard is using “winter” as a metaphor that the dark, cold days of his family
not being in power in England are over by a victory in battle.
c. Inferential Reading: What does a careful reader note about the way the text is used.
 Example Question: From the beginning of the play, James Tyrone keeps pointing out to Mary
that she has “grown so fat”. Why does he keep bringing this up when most women don’t want
to be reminded of gaining weight?
 Example Answer: James is rejoicing that Mary is off drugs and looking healthy again, which
means the family can be healthy and normal again. He is also checking that she is still not
using drugs and is coping with life. He is also telling her she is beautiful to him.
4. “On My Own” – (Level Three): These questions extend beyond the text to the greater
theme/purpose of the entire piece.
 Example Question: What role does the past play in Long Day's Journey into Night?
 Example Answer: O’Neill uses the past as a weapon for each character to use against their
other family members and as an excuse for each character to use to explain why they haven’t
achieved their dreams and desires and ultimately why they aren’t happy. And so forth . . .
Your assignment, while reading The Dramatic Imagination, is to ask all four types of questions while you
read the book, then record the questions and your answers using the format below.
How to proceed as you read the Introduction and each chapter (this is “mapping” a text or “talking to the
text” or pulling out “Given Circumstances”):
1. Underline or highlight important points.
2. Record notes in the margins or on the blank pages to remember important points.
3. Record questions in the margins or on the blank pages that you formulate as you read.
4. Summarize major points of sections – “chunk” or divide the chapters into beats that seem to
hang together by tone, perspective, subject, etc.
5. Use shorthand symbols to mark the text, such as:
a. ! = Important point
b. ? = Question
c. * = Something with which I make a personal connection (It is “as if” . . . to connect to A
Practical Handbook for the Actor.)
6. Think about what Robert Edmond Jones is “literally” saying or “essentially” saying (again to
connect to A Practical Handbook for the Actor.)
7. Finally, summarize the entire chapter at the end with a quick list of main points.
If you need an IMC pass to complete the assignment, see me!
Name
( 6) Heading
Mrs. Roney
(20) “Right There”
Drama Major
(20) “Pulling it together
Due Date: ____________________________________
(24) “Author and me”
(30) “On My Own”
(100) Total
Title (you name your assignment!)
While reading the entire book, write questions as you read.
Then categorize and select the following types and required number of questions.
FORMAT FOR COMPLETED RESPONSE
 Typed
 Heading as above
 Questions(s) in italics
 Answers(s) in non-italics!
 Adequate spacing between questions
 Give sub-titles of type of question
SUBTITLES
 TEN (10) “Right There” questions
 FOUR (4) “Pulling it together” questions
 SIX (6) “Author and Me” questions
o Two of each kind underlined above
 THREE (3) “On My Own” questions