Script/Text, Scenario, Plan:
•The starting point of the theatrical
performance.
•The playwright’s script is the text by
which theatre is created.
•It can be simplistic or it can be
elaborate
•The script, scenario, or plan is what
the director uses as a blue print from
which to build a production.
The Process:
•The coordination of the
creative efforts
•Usually headed up in theatre
by the director.
•The pure process by which
the playwright’s work is
brought to realization by the
director, actors, designers,
technicians, dancers, musicians, and any other collaborators that come
together to work on the script, scenario, or plan.
•This is the works in progress stage.
The Product:
• The end result of the process of work
involved.
•The final product that results from all of
the labors coming together to complete
the finished work of script, scenario, and
plan, in union with all of the
collaborators in the process to create
the final product.
• What the audience will witness as they
sit in the theatre and view the work.
The Audience:
•Theatre requires an audience.
•The physical presence of an audience can change a
performance, inspire actors, and create expectations.
•Theatre is a living breathing art form.
• The presence of live actors on the stage in front of live
audiences sets it apart from modern day films and
television.
The Playwright:
•The person who is responsible for the
starting point of the theatrical event
•The initial creator of the script,
scenario, or plan, as outlined above.
This person is the playwright.
•A playwright works in that branch of
literature dealing with the writing and
producing of plays for the theatre.
The Director:
The individual who
stages the play and
makes the artistic
choices.
Blocking & Stage Directions
Elements of Drama:
•Most successful playwrights follow
the theories of playwriting and drama
that were established over two thousand
years ago by a man named Aristotle.
•In his works the Poetics Aristotle outlined the six elements of drama in his
critical analysis of the classical Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex written by the
Greek playwright, Sophocles, in the fifth century B.C.
•The six elements as they are outlined involve:
1) Thought, Theme, Ideas, 2) Action or Plot, 3) Characters,
4) Language, 5) Music, and 6) Spectacle.
Thought/Theme/Ideas:
•What the play means as opposed
to what happens (the plot).
•Theme may be stated in the title,
through dialogue, or it may be
less obvious and emerge only
after some study or thought.
Action/Plot:
•The events of a play; the story as opposed to
the theme; what happens rather than what it
means.
•In the plot of a play, characters are involved in
conflict that has a pattern of movement.
• The action and movement in the play begins
from the initial entanglement, through rising
action, climax, and falling action to resolution.
Characters:
•The people presented in the
play that are involved in the
perusing plot.
• Each character should have
his or her own distinct
personality, age, appearance,
beliefs, socio economic
background, and language.
Language/dialogue:
•The word choices made by the
playwright and the enunciation of
the actors of the language.
•Language and dialogue delivered
by the characters moves the plot
and action along, provides
exposition, defines the distinct
characters.
Genre/Form:
Drama is divided into the
categories of:
•Tragedy
•Comedy
•Melodrama
•Tragicomedy
Each of these genre/forms can be further subdivide by style and content.
Tragedy:
•Tragedy is an imitation of an action
that is serious, complete, and of a
certain magnitude.
•The tragedy is presented in the form
of action, not narrative.
• It will arouse pity and fear in the
audience as it witnesses the action.
Comedy:
•Comedy is physical and energetic.
•It is tied up in rebirth and renewal; this is the reason most comedy end in
weddings
•In comedy there is absence of
pain and emotional reactions,
as with tragedy, and a replaced
use of man’s intellect.
Melodrama:
•Melodrama is drama of disaster.
•Forces outside of the protagonist cause
all of the significant events of the plot.
•The protagonist is usually a victim of
circumstance.
•In melodrama we have clearly defined
character types with good guys and bad
guys.
•The good characters are rewarded and
the bad characters are punished.
Tragicomedy:
•Tragicomedy is the most life like of all of
the genres. It is non-judgmental with no
final answers.
•It focuses on character relationships and
shows society in a state of continuous
change.
•There is a mix of comedy and tragedy side
by side in these types of plays.
Dramatic Structure:
Dramatic structure involves the overall framework or method the
playwright uses to organize the dramatic material and or action.
Point of Attack:
The moment in the play when the main action of the plot begins.
Exposition:
•Important information that the
audience needs to know in order
to follow the main story line of
the play.
•The parts of the story that the
audience may hear about but that
they will not witness in actual
scenes.
•Explains what happens to the
characters before the play’s
opening scenes.
Rising Action:
•The section of the plot beginning with
the point of attack and/or inciting
incident and proceeding forward to
the crisis onto the climax.
•The action of the play will rise as it
sets up a situation of increasing
intensity and anticipation.
•These scenes make up the body of
the play and usually create a sense of
continuous mounting suspense in the
audience.
The Climax/Crisis:
•The point of the highest stage of dramatic intensity in the action of the play.
•The whole
combined actions
of the play
generally lead up
to this moment.
Falling Action:
The events leading up to the play’s conclusion
Resolution:
•The moment of the play in which the conflicts are resolved.
•The solution to the
conflict in the play,
the answer to the
mystery, and the
clearing up of the
final details.
Dramatic Structure
Plot Flow Chart
Spectacle:
•All of the aspects of scenery, costumes, and special effects in a
production.
•The visual elements of the play created for theatrical event.
•The qualities determined
by the playwright that
create the world and
atmosphere of the play
for the audience’s eye.
Music:
•Each theatrical presentation has its own distinct music, rhythm and melody.
•Music is not a part of every play. But, music can be included to mean all
sounds in a production.
•Music can expand to all sound effects, the actor’s voices and songs
•In the musical, the songs push the
plot forward and move the story to
a higher level of intensity.
• Composers and lyricist work together
with playwrights to strengthen the
themes and ideas of the play.
•Character’s wants and desires can be
strengthened for the audience through lyrics and music.
Scenery:
The effects created on the stage, sometimes suggesting realistic
locations.
Special Effects:
Special illusions created for the stage or
film.
Setting
 The set and scenery
 A color drawing of the front elevation of the set and a
floor plan which includes a visual depiction of the light
design*
 OR
 A model of the set and a floor plan which includes a
visual depiction of the light design*
Lighting
•How the play can be seen.
•Also helps to establish
mood, location, and time of
day.
Lighting
Lights
 The Lighting
 A color sketch of at least one lighted scene (*may be
included in the set design)
 A detailed list of lighting cues
The Light Plot
Costumes:
•What the actors wear.
•Helps to determine
their age, social status,
occupation, relationship,
and more.
Costumes
 At least 1 costume for each character (a total of five
designs)
 Labeled color sketches of each character (See textbook
for examples)
Costume Design
Sound Design
Sound Effects:
Sounds that are
both realistic and
unrealistic.
Sound
 The Sound
 Music selections for pre-show, during the show, and
post-show
 A detailed list of sound cues
Props:
Anything an actor can
hold, carry, or move.
Prop Design
Props
 The props
 Sketches or scrapbook of all production properties
 A detailed running list of props.
The Elements of Theatre