Download Drama in FYW Resources and Links

Teaching Drama in FY Writing Resources and Links
I. Theatre Mania Bros on Broadway
This short-lived feature on theatermania.com featured men who haven’t seen many plays before
reviewing Broadway shows. The reviews are wildly funny (Carrie Coon in who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? is described as deserving of a “Tony Award for Excellent Drunk acting”) but
they allow us a chance to see honest responses from people who aren’t familiar with theatrical
convention and who don’t use the specific vocabulary we associate with the genre. You might
have students read one of these and write their own review of a campus production in this style,
then revise it to reflect the conventions of academic and critical writing.
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/10-2012/bros-on-broadway-a-guywhos-never-seen-a-play-in-h_63298.html
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/10-2012/bros-on-broadway-a-dude-ina-relationship-sees-vir_63387.html
II. Introducing drama
As with fiction and poetry, it is important to consider the elements of the drama. In The Poetics,
Aristotle identifies six elements of the drama: Plot, Character, Thought, Diction, Song, and
Spectacle. Many of these occur in fiction and poetry as well.
Plot= what happens
Character= who it happens to, who makes it happen
Thought= why characters do what they do
Diction= how the way that characters speak reflects on who they are
Song= Because Aristotle is writing about Greek tragedy, he references the chorus, a
group of actors who spoke in unison about the events in the play. He tells us that the
chorus should be an integral part of the play and share in the action. How can we see the
chorus today?
Spectacle= The visual apparatus of the play. Aristotle says that spectacle is the element
least connected with the playwright. Do you agree?
It’s often helpful to look at a short play to help really identify these things in a script. Choose
something very short that you can have students read aloud more than once without taking up too
much time. I highly recommend anthologies of the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville’s Ten-Minute
Play contests. The 106 reader Literature to Go features several good short plays. You might also
look to August Strindberg’s The Stronger (technically a monologue) or Anton Chekhov’s short
“joke” plays: The Marriage Proposal, The Bear, The Anniversary, or On the Harmful Affects of
Tobacco if you want something a bit older. Ask the students to consider the play as if they were
going to produce it. Who would they cast, if they could cast anyone? What kind of set?
Costumes? Lighting? Sound? What other considerations might they have?
I like to have students brainstorm the different people involved in the production of a
playwright’s script and then add to it. They list actors and directors pretty quickly, but there’s
usually some conversation to add designers (set, costume, lights, sound, special effects, props,
wigs, make-up, video), composers, music directors, choreographers, fight directors, dramaturgs,
conductors/music directors, stagehands, riggers, stage managers, and of course producers and
marketing. This is important because it highlights theatre as a collaborative art; a piece of
dramatic writing may be written by one or two people, but many parties have a hand in creating
what we see on stage.
Sample Lesson (you’ll need a projector and internet):
Let’s take a look at how knowledge of dance changes the way we read “Executive Dance” by Joe
DiPietro.
 DiPietro, Joe. “Executive Dance.” 30 Ten-Minute Plays for 2 Actors from Actors Theatre
of Louisville’s National Ten-Minute Play Contest. Ed. Michael Dixon, Amy Wergner,
Karen C. Petruska. Hanover, NH: Smith and Kraus, 2001. 83-88. Print.
Distribute, get 3 volunteers to read (Steven, Jonathon, Stage Directions)
Discuss: Why did the playwright choose to have these men dance? How is the dance a metaphor?
How do we see the Aristotliean elements of drama function in this play?
Read again, this time with no stage directions and with video clips. (Rumba, Foxtrot, Waltz, and
Mambo)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaWdV5P-h26r0E5oikrVRH8k9OL2ZTNX
How did seeing the dances change the way you saw the play? Does it make the metaphor
stronger? Funnier? Why is it funny?
III. Writing a Sample Scene
Writing a scene can help students learn how drama works. I actually learned this exercise from
Alissa Torres, who wrote the graphic memoir American Widow, but it works as well for stage as
it does for comics.
In fiction and film, the writer and/or director has considerable control over what and how the
audience sees something. A fiction writer can offer a very distinct description of a room, telling
us not only how it looks, but what it smells like, what the temperature is, and what significant
history accompanies the objects in the room. A film director, working with an editor, can
emphasize the importance of an object by having the camera linger on it. S/he can drive home a
laugh line or a moment of dramatic tension by drawing attention to a minor detail. When writing
for the stage, we sacrifice that control. The audience will determine where they want to look.
Dialogue is our greatest tool. Though dialogue, we learn who characters are, why they do what
they do, and what is happening.
How can dialogue give us clues about the following:
Age?
Class?
Education?
Emotional state?
Ethnicity?
Gender?
Sexuality?
Race?
Political Leanings?
Religion?
Stage directions can also be valuable, but we should be careful not to rely entirely on them.
Sometimes they are important to the plot, but they can also become a crutch. Remember that
theatre is a collaborative art and once you’ve written a scene, actors, directors, and designers will
inform the final product. Let them do their work.
Scene exercise:
2 characters
16 lines of dialogue total= 8 lines of dialogue per character, alternating
Maximum 4 words per line. Contractions count as two words.
No stage directions
By the end of the scene, there should be a major relationship change between the two characters.
If there’s time, read everyone’s scene. If not, volunteers.
After each scene, discuss.
IV. Examining a Play in Production
Since plays are written to be performed, it can be helpful to examine a variety of stagings and
adaptations. For example, if you’re teaching Ibsen’s A Doll House, you can show clips from
straightforward interpretations, like Patrick Garland’s 1973 film, Contemporary retellings like
Rebecca Gilman’s Dollhouse, and avant-garde stagings like Mabou Mine’s Dollhouse.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7C2ACDA22D865716
http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2012/oct/18/nora-ibsen-dolls-house-video
Attachments:
 DiPietro, Joe. “Executive Dance.” 30 Ten-Minute Plays for 2 Actors from Actors Theatre
of Louisville’s National Ten-Minute Play Contest. Ed. Michael Dixon, Amy Wergner,
Karen C. Petruska. Hanover, NH: Smith and Kraus, 2001. 83-88. Print.
 A Doll House Powerpoint
 Excerpt from Gilman, Rebecca. Dollhouse. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
2010.