Write a ONE-ACT PLAY with AT LEAST three characters,
AT LEAST three scenes,
AT LEAST three pages per scene.
“Tragedy is the representation of an ACTION that is SERIOUS, COMPLETE, and of a certain MAGNITUDE…. in the form of ACTION, not narrative… through pity and fear effecting CATHARSIS of these emotions.” --Aristotle
Plan:
Character must be someone you know well enough to write from his/her point of view
Transform non-fiction characters into fiction (age, gender, occupation, situation).
No celebrities or characters from movies or books.
Combine your EXPERIENCE, OBSERVATION, RESEARCH, and IMAGINATION, and keep it real!
Dramatize your story WITHOUT using physical violence, weapons, or death.
SHOW how a CHARACTER learns, grows, or changes because of some kind of important experience.
Your play should be in manuscript format, as follows:
TITLE OF PLAY in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
AUTHOR
Characters: FIRST LAST, brief description of character.
FIRST LAST, brief description of character or relationship.
FIRST LAST, brief description of character or relationship.
Setting: Brief description of where play takes place.
At rise: Brief description of what is happening on stage when the curtain or lights come up.
Scene One
Stage directions in italics.
CHARACTER NAME CENTERED IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
Dialogue single-spaced and left-aligned. Skip a line between speeches.
CHARACTER NAME
Speech can go on as long as necessary. (If a character does something important, give a stage direction, italics, parentheses. Avoid adverbs.) If it is a long speech, that’s okay. If it’s a short one, that’s okay too.
CHARACTER NAME
Dialogue continues until scene is over.
END OF SCENE
Do a fantastic job with each of the following dramatic elements:
Character—we’ll be interested to the extent that the person is both REAL and UNIQUE, INDIVIDUAL. Can you capture this person’s VOICE?
Action—There must be something that this characters desperately WANTS or NEEDS, an OBJECTIVE which the character pursues throughout the play. This objective should be something REAL, but NOT TANGIBLE. Every action should have to do with this objective.
Conflict—The OBSTACLES should be important and difficult.
Reversal—Every scene must have at least one reversal, the change of an action to its opposite. The events of the play should lead to one major reversal, which should create some sort of Recognition.
Recognition—A main character must learn, grow, or change in some important way, so that we see that the events of the story have had an effect on him/her.