SCENE 1

(Lights up on a classroom. There are bulletin boards covered with artwork. A Teaching Artist from Young Playwrights Inc. stands in front of the chalkboard, talking to a large class.)

TEACHING ARTIST

So when you want to write a line of dialogue for a character, where do you write the character’s name?

(One student raises her hand.)

TEACHING ARTIST

Yes?

STUDENT 1

You center the character’s name above the line of dialogue.

TEACHING ARTIST

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 student raises his hand.)

TEACHING ARTIST

Yes?

STUDENT 2

A monologue.

TEACHING ARTIST

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 student raises her hand and the Teaching Artist motions for her to talk.)

STUDENT 3

A stage direction.

TEACHING ARTIST

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 Teaching Artist turns to the blackboard to write the name of the next exercise. Lights.)

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[ Writer's Block? ] [ The Format Play ]

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Last modified:  December 18, 2007 04:01 PM