DRAM 1101 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I Beginnings a Central characters foreshadowing tone style design world of the play plot and the major dramatic question II Climactic structure III Themes IV Endings Outline of Current Lecture I The role of the playwright II Dramatic Action III Qualities of a fine play IV Current American playwrights V The playwright s process a Dialogue b Conflict c Structure Current Lecture I The Role of the Playwright a Generates the text of the play i Arguably the most important figure in theatrical process ii Simultaneously the most peripheral 1 Often uninvolved in the final product b Both literary and nonliterary i The play is the text but the final form of a dramatic text is in performance ii Must consider the words that he chooses but also the theatrical elements 1 Costume lighting scenery music spectacle 2 Movement 3 Use of silence iii Script is the blueprint of the final product c Its core is action i Not description These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute II III IV ii Relies on an ordering of observable dramatizable events iii Playwriting is event writing d Creates dramatic action Dramatic action a Concerns what the characters do and why they do it b Two common ways to structure the events of a play recap i Chronologically 1 A linear cause effect relationship continuously ordered fashion 2 A K A climactic plot structure 3 Moves from point to point telling the story and forms the basic structure for much modern drama ii Non linear or discontinuous 1 A K A episodic plot structure 2 Can be found in plays that use theatrical conventions such as flashbacks time shifts and shifts in style dream sequences stream ofconsciousness etc Qualities of a fine play a The interaction of the following elements that also contribute to a play s meaning i Credibility and intrigue 1 Staged world is internally consistent and compelling ii Speak ability stage ability and flow 1 Words and actions have maximum impact when staged 2 Speak ability dialogue that resembles ordinary speech 3 Stageability dialogue that can be performed and spoken effectively on stage 4 Flow information that is constantly moving the play towards some kind of conclusion iii Richness 1 Depth and quality a Depth in language adds authority iv Depth of characterization 1 Characters are differentiated and depicted compassionately a Independent identities and mannerisms v Gravity and pertinence 1 Relevance of themes to concerns of audience Gravity can refer to the themes being enduring and significant 2 Pertinence has to do with it being relevant to current events vi Compression economy and intensity 1 Compression playwright s tendency to condense a story into the necessary time frame 2 Economy consolidation of characters and events 3 Intensity quality of making the audience feel as though they are watching something that is unique Current American Playwrights a David Mamet i Mamet Speak 1 Profane foul language and broken rapid fire dialogue 2 Often centers work around issues of masculinity V 3 Plays include Race Glenngary Glenn Ross Speed the Plow Sexual Perversity in Chicago Oleanna 4 Movie Wag the Dog b Tony Kushner i Non realistic tradition c David Henry Hwang i Asian American racial identity d Sarah Ruhl i Also writes from a non realistic tradition ii Her metamorphoses of magic uncover inner states of being in modes unavailable to the realist e Lynn Nottage i Socially invested dramas examine multiple cultures and voices ii One leading American playwrites of this era The Playwright s Process a No set formula b But all Playwrights attend to 3 major areas i Dialogue 1 Sometimes composed from remembrances fueled by playwrights imagination 2 Example Sarah Ruhl s The Clean House was based on a conversation she overheard at a dinner party ii Conflict 1 Forced conflicts raise the stakes and lead to a play s climax iii Structure 1 Always carefully organized 2 Developed consciously or unconsciously