Script/Text, Scenario, Plan:

•The starting point of the theatrical performance. 

•The playwright’s script is the text by which theatre is created. 

•It can be simplistic or it can be elaborate

•The script, scenario, or plan is what the director uses as a blue print from which to build a production.  

The Process:

•The coordination of the creative efforts

•Usually headed up in theatre by the director.

•The pure process by whichthe playwright’s work isbrought to realization by thedirector, actors, designers, technicians, dancers, musicians, and any other collaborators that come together to work on the script, scenario, or plan. 

•This is the works in progress stage.

The Product:

• The end result of the process of work involved.

•The final product that results from all of the labors coming together to complete the finished work of script, scenario, and plan, in union with all of the collaborators in the process to create the final product.

• What the audience will witness as they sit in the theatre and view the work.

The Audience:

•Theatre requires an audience. 

•The physical presence of an audience can change a performance, inspire actors, and create expectations. 

•Theatre is a living breathing art form. 

• The presence of live actors on the stage in front of live audiences sets it apart from modern day films and television.

The Playwright:

•The person who is responsible for the starting point of the theatrical event

•The initial creator of the script, scenario, or plan, as outlined above. This person is the playwright.

•A playwright works in that branch of literature dealing with the writing and producing of plays for the theatre.

The Director:

The individual who stages the play and makes the artistic choices.

Blocking & Stage Directions

Elements of Drama:

•Most successful playwrights followthe theories of playwriting and dramathat were established over two thousandyears ago by a man named Aristotle.

•In his works the Poetics Aristotle outlined the six elements of drama in his critical analysis of the classical Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex written by the Greek playwright, Sophocles, in the fifth century B.C.

•The six elements as they are outlined involve:1) Thought, Theme, Ideas, 2) Action or Plot, 3) Characters,4) Language, 5) Music, and 6) Spectacle.

Thought/Theme/Ideas:

•What the play means as opposed to what happens (the plot).

•Theme may be stated in the title, through dialogue, or it may be less obvious and emerge only after some study or thought.

 

Action/Plot:

•The events of a play; the story as opposed to the theme; what happens rather than what it means.

•In the plot of a play, characters are involved in conflict that has a pattern of movement.

• The action and movement in the play begins from the initial entanglement, through rising action, climax, and falling action to resolution.

 

Characters:

•The people presented in the play that are involved in the perusing plot. 

• Each character should have his or her own distinct personality, age, appearance, beliefs, socio economic background, and language.

Language/dialogue:

•The word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the actors of the language.

•Language and dialogue delivered by the characters moves the plot and action along, provides exposition, defines the distinct characters. 

Genre/Form:

Drama is divided into thecategories of:

•Tragedy

•Comedy

•Melodrama

•Tragicomedy

Each of these genre/forms can be further subdivide by style and content.

 

Tragedy:

•Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude.

•The tragedy is presented in the form of action, not narrative.

• It will arouse pity and fear in the audience as it witnesses the action. 

Comedy:

•Comedy is physical and energetic.

•It is tied up in rebirth and renewal; this is the reason most comedy end in weddings

•In comedy there is absence of pain and emotional reactions, as with tragedy, and a replaced use of man’s intellect. 

Melodrama:

•Melodrama is drama of disaster.

•Forces outside of the protagonist cause all of the significant events of the plot. 

•The protagonist is usually a victim of circumstance. 

•In melodrama we have clearly defined character types with good guys and bad guys. 

•The good characters are rewarded and the bad characters are punished.

Tragicomedy:

•Tragicomedy is the most life like of all of the genres.  It is non-judgmental with no final answers.

•It focuses on character relationships and shows society in a state of continuous change.

•There is a mix of comedy and tragedy side by side in these types of plays.

Dramatic Structure: Dramatic structure involves the overall framework or method the playwright uses to organize the dramatic material and or action.   

Point of Attack:

The moment in the play when the main action of the plot begins.

Exposition:

•Important information that the audience needs to know in order to follow the main story line of the play.

•The parts of the story that the audience may hear about but that they will not witness in actual scenes.

•Explains what happens to the characters before the play’s opening scenes.

Rising Action: •The section of the plot beginning with the point of attack and/or inciting incident and proceeding forward to the crisis onto the climax.

•The action of the play will rise as it sets up a situation of increasing intensity and anticipation. 

•These scenes make up the body of the play and usually create a sense of continuous mounting suspense in the audience.

The Climax/Crisis:

•The point of the highest stage of dramatic intensity in the action of the play.

•The whole combined actions of the play generally lead up to this moment. 

Falling Action:The events leading up to the play’s conclusion

Resolution: •The moment of the play in which the conflicts are resolved.

•The solution to the conflict in the play, the answer to the mystery, and the clearing up of the final details.

Dramatic StructurePlot Flow Chart

Spectacle: •All of the aspects of scenery, costumes, and special effects in a production.

•The visual elements of the play created for theatrical event.

•The qualities determined by the playwright that create the world and atmosphere of the play for the audience’s eye. 

Music: •Each theatrical presentation has its own distinct music, rhythm and melody.

•Music is not a part of every play.  But, music can be included to mean all sounds in a production.

•Music can expand to all sound effects, the actor’s voices and songs

•In the musical, the songs push the plot forward and move the story to a higher level of intensity.

• Composers and lyricist work together with playwrights to strengthen the themes and ideas of the play. 

•Character’s wants and desires can be strengthened for the audience through lyrics and music.  

Scenery:

The effects created on the stage, sometimes suggesting realistic locations.

Special Effects:

Special illusions created for the stage or film.

SettingThe set and scenery

A color drawing of the front elevation of the set and a floor plan which includes a visual depiction of the light design*

ORA model of the set and a floor plan which

includes a visual depiction of the light design*

Lighting

•How the play can be seen.

•Also helps to establish mood, location, and time of day.

Lighting

LightsThe Lighting

A color sketch of at least one lighted scene (*may be included in the set design)

A detailed list of lighting cues

The Light Plot

Costumes:

•What the actors wear.

•Helps to determine their age, social status, occupation, relationship, and more.

CostumesAt least 1 costume for each character (a

total of five designs)Labeled color sketches of each character (See

textbook for examples)

Costume Design

Sound Design

Sound Effects:

Sounds that are both realistic and unrealistic.

SoundThe Sound

Music selections for pre-show, during the show, and post-show

A detailed list of sound cues

Props:

Anything an actor can hold, carry, or move.

Prop Design

PropsThe props

Sketches or scrapbook of all production properties

A detailed running list of props.

 

The Elements of Theatre