Young Playwrights Inc.
Young Playwrights Inc.
The Format Play
A Reference for Formatting your Play
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THE FORMAT PLAY
SCENE 1
(Lights up on a classroom. There are bulletin boards covered with artwork. A Playwriting Workshop Leader from Young Playwrights Inc. stands in front of the chalkboard, talking to a large class.)
PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP LEADER
So when you want to write a line of dialogue for a character, where do you write the character’s name?
(One writer raises her hand.)
WORKSHOP LEADER
Yes?
WRITER 1
You center the character’s name above the line of dialogue.
WORKSHOP LEADER
Exactly. That way we know that whatever is written underneath that character’s name is what the character is saying, even if the character goes on and on for ten pages. What would you call it if a character went on and on for ten pages without being interrupted?
(Another writer raises his hand.)
WORKSHOP LEADER
Yes?
WRITER 2
A monologue.
WORKSHOP LEADER
That’s right. And what we’re having here is a dialogue. I’m talking, and then one of you is talking, and we go back and forth like that. What do you call it when there is something written in a play that describes what a character does, rather than what a character says?
(A third writer raises her hand and the Teaching Artist motions for her to talk.)
WRITER 3
A stage direction.
WORKSHOP LEADER
That’s right. And when you put a stage direction in a play you should put parentheses around it so that we know no one is saying what is described, it is being acted out. Also, when you type up your play, you can put your stage directions in italics, to be even more clear.
(The Workshop Leader turns to the blackboard to write the name of the next exercise. Lights.)