creative writing

• Theater is perhaps the oldest living art form in the history of mankind
• What people know of theater today came from the classical structures crafted during the time of ancient Greece
• Playwright


  A writer of plays
• Wright


  A worker skilled in the manufacture especially of wooden objects
• Playwright


  A "maker of plays"
• Playwrights make plays because they make the first and the most important part of the play: the script
• Plays are at the intersection of prose and verse, with a little technical writing thrown into the fray
• Plays are predominantly literary in nature and are considered as literature even if people cannot see it being performed
• Audiences can try to read a play and imagine its performance in their minds
• The play also evokes the same imagery and feelings people often get from reading poems or fiction works
• There is just another level added on to it: the performance
• Dramatic reading

  1. Count the number of characters

  2. Divide the class into groups for each role

  3. Read the script individually first

  4. Do a dramatic reading as a whole cast
• Plays are meant to be entertaining to give audiences a break from the realities and concerns of daily life
• Playwrights craft the play in a way that will capture the audience's attention
• Aristotle's three-part dramatic structure

  • Beginning (short exposition, introduce main characters and problem)
  • Middle (longest part with rising action and obstacles)
  • End (short falling action and denouement)
• Elements of drama


  • Plot
  • Character
  • Thought
  • Diction
  • Music/Melody
  • Spectacle
• Co-writing a play


  1. Get a writing journal

  2. Read the beginning of the play

  3. Imagine and write the next plot points

  4. Write the outline and pass it to the teacher
• The Man on the Kerb is a one-act play by Alfred Sutro intended to be a dualogue, meaning there are only two characters performing the play
• Playwright


  • Aware of the technical and performance aspects of the play
• The playwright is aware of the technical and performance aspects of the play
• To write the character listing and act/scene listing, the next step is to write the heading of each part
• Headings in Macbeth


  • Act I, Scene 1
  • A desert place
  • Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches
• Shakespeare wrote his stage directions and scene descriptions in italicized form, and inside brackets
• Chekhov's style


  • Scene descriptions in prose-formed sentences
  • Stage directions in brackets, not italicized
• In plays, character names are written in capital letters in the stage directions and scene descriptions
• Within the dialogue lines, character names are written with only the first letter capitalized
• There is no single template on how to write a script for a play, but there are certain overall conventions to be followed
• One-act play


  Normally runs between 30-45 minutes long, often has one scene only, focuses on a specific dramatic incident with few characters
• Full-length play


  Runs for around two and a half hours, has more than one act, runs for more than one hour
• Ten-minute play


  Focuses on one heightened but singular dramatic moment
• In the theater industry, one page of a script is equivalent to one minute of stage action
• Intertextuality


  The complex interrelationship between a text and other texts taken as basic to the creation or interpretation of the text
• Technical elements


  • Scenery/set
  • Props
  • Costume and makeup
  • Lights and sound
• Performance elements


  • Acting
  • Cast
  • Ensemble
  • Staging
  • Blocking
  • Direction
• When watching a theatrical performance, chances are, audiences sometimes do not remember the details of its story. However, they can vividly recall the actors' performances or the unique sets and costumes, especially the lines they delivered.
• Theatrical performance


  Catches the attention of the five senses, and the predominant stimuli from a play targets the eyes and ears
• Audiences in a play

  Can see the actors act out/perform in front of them, feel more involved compared to movies which are distant and detached
• When something dramatic/comedic happens in the play


  Viewers are immediately moved/laugh out loud together with other members of the audience
• Theater


  There is no physical divide between the literary piece and the reader, the reader becomes the captive audience, the literary piece is delivered to the audience in person
• Fourth wall


  The invisible barrier in between the audience and the performer, where performers often limit themselves in their staging