DRAMA
EU:
Literature serves as a means of
preserving unchanging values.
EQ:
How does literature help preserve the world’s
unchanging values?
What Is Drama?
A drama is a story enacted onstage for a live
audience.
What Is Drama?

Origins of Drama

The word drama comes from the
Greek verb dran, which means
“to do.”
 The earliest known plays . . .
 were written around the
fifth century B.C.
 produced for festivals to
honor Dionysus, the god
of wine and fertility
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
Ten-Minute Plays

. 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 oneacts 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.
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 (extent)
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.
Dramatic Structure
Like the plot of a story, the plot of a play involves
characters who face a problem or conflict.
Complications
tension builds
Exposition
characters and conflict
are introduced
Climax
point of highest tension;
action determines how the
conflict will be resolved
Resolution
conflict is resolved;
play ends
Dramatic Structure
Conflict is a struggle or clash
between opposing characters
or forces. A conflict may
develop . . .

between characters who
want different things or the
same thing

between a character and his
or her circumstances

within a character who is
torn by competing desires
Tragedy
A tragedy is a play that ends unhappily.
• Most classic Greek tragedies deal with
serious, universal themes such as
right and wrong
justice and injustice
life and death
• Tragedies pit human limitations against the
larger forces of destiny.
Tragedy
The protagonist of most classical tragedies is a
tragic hero. This hero
• is noble and in many
ways admirable
• has a tragic flaw, a
personal failing that
leads to a tragic end
pride
rebelliousness
jealousy
Comedy
A comedy is a play that ends happily. The plot
usually centers on a romantic conflict.
boy meets girl
boy loses girl
boy wins girl
Comedy
The main characters in a comedy could be
anyone:
nobility
townspeople
servants
Comedy
• Comic complications always
occur before the conflict is
resolved.
• In most cases, the play
ends with a wedding.
Modern Comedy

Modern Comedies

In modern comedies, the genders in this romantic
plot pattern sometimes are reversed.
Modern Drama
A modern play
• may be tragedy, comedy, or a mixture of the
two
• usually focuses on personal issues
• usually is about ordinary people
Modern Drama
Modern playwrights often experiment with
unconventional plot structures.
long flashbacks
visual projections
of a character’s
private thoughts
music
Performance of a Play
When you read a play, remember that it is meant
to be performed for an audience.
Stage Directions
Performance
Playwright describes setting
and characters’ actions and
manner.

Theater artists bring the
playwright’s vision to life
on the stage.
[Wyona is sitting on the couch.
She sees Paul and jumps to her
feet.]
Wyona. [Angrily.] What do
you want?

The audience responds to
the play and shares the
experience.
Performance of a Play

Theater artists include

Actors

Directors

Lighting technicians

Stage crew
Setting the Stage
Stages can have many different sizes and
layouts.
“Thrust” stage
• The stage extends
into the viewing area.
• The audience
surrounds the stage
on three sides.
Setting the Stage
“In the round” stage is surrounded by an
audience on all sides.
Setting the Stage
Proscenium stage
• The playing area extends behind an opening
called a “proscenium arch.”
• The audience sits on one side looking into the
action.
upstage
stage right
stage left
downstage
Setting the Stage
Stages in Shakespeare’s
time were thrust stages.
Setting the Stage
Scene design transforms a bare stage into the
world of the play. Scene design consists of
• sets
• lighting
• costumes
• props
Setting the Stage
A stage’s set might be
realistic and
detailed
abstract
and minimal
Setting the Stage
A lighting director skillfully uses light to change
the mood and appearance of the set.
Setting the Stage
The costume director works with the director to
design the actors’ costumes.
• Like sets, costumes can be
detailed
minimal
Setting the Stage
Props (short for properties) are items that the
characters carry or handle onstage.
• The person in charge of props must make sure
that the right props are available to the actors
at the right moments.
The Characters
The characters’ speech may take any of the
following forms.
Dialogue: conversations of characters onstage
Monologue: long speech given by one character to others
Soliloquy: speech by a character alone onstage to himself or herself or
to the audience
Asides: remarks made to the audience or to one character; the other
characters onstage do not hear an aside
The Audience
Finally, a play needs an audience to
experience the performance
understand the story
respond to the characters
The End
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