Elements of Drama

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Elements of Drama
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PLOT or story line

• Every story must have a
• Beginning
• Middle
• End
• Dont forget the conflict!!!

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Whats in that story?

• Monologue
• (speech by one character to another)
• Soliloquy
• (character, alone, reveals inner thoughts and
  feelings)
• Dialogue
• (characters speaking to each other)

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elements of production

• Set or scenery -
• the background built on stage to establish time
  place for the audience
• (may be literal or symbolic)

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Costumes makeup

• These can be used to change an actors posture,
  age, physical build, etc.
• (change can be real or artistic)

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Props

• The smaller things actors move on stage that add
  detail authenticity to a show
• School bag
• books

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Sound Lights

• These can be used to establish setting, mood,
  period and build plot character

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Roles

• The various characters in the play that the
  actors play

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The elements of performance

• character
• movement
• vocal expression
• speaking style
• listening
• acting
• storytelling

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The script

• Title
• Character List
• Scene Description ( sometimes a set description)
• Scene or Act
• Dialogue
• All CAPS Character name
• Italics Stage Directions
• Regular type spoken words
• JAMES (softly) Tracy? (clears throat) Tracy?
  (louder, getting braver) Tracy? Wake up, I need
  to tell you something

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Theatre Spaces

• Arena Stage Proscenium Stage
• Thrust stage

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Basic Theatre Terms

• ad-lib creating dialogue or actions to cover a
  mistake
• an act (n.) a smaller section of a play (like a
  chapter)
• antagonist the person, thing, or idea that
  causes conflict for the protagonist
• aside line(s) delivered to the audience
• at rise the moment the curtain rises, whats on
  stage
• audition an actors job interview
• a beat (n.)- a change in topic or feeling in a
  scene
• blackout the end of a scene, act, play
• blocking the planned movement of actors onstage
• breaking character becoming yourself onstage
  rather than your character

• to cast (n.) to place actors in specific roles
  in a play
• character list the list at the start of a play
  naming describing all the characters
• climax the high point of the plot where the
  protagonist must make a choice that determines
  the outcome of the play
• cold reading (part of an audition) when an
  actor is asked to perform a script he has not
  been able to prepare ahead of time
• comedy a play with a happy ending
• conventions practices characteristic of a
  particular time period or region
• to cross (v.) to move from one place to another
  on stage
• cue a signal for an actor or crew member to do
  something in a play

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Basic Theatre Terms

• cue line line of dialogue that tells an actor
  or crew member some action must be taken
• denouement the resolution or falling action in
  a play (plot)
• dialogue lines spoken in a play between 2
  characters
• diction the specific words chosen, on purpose,
  by a playwright
• discovered already on stage when the scene
  begins
• down-stage turn turning so your body passes
  through the full-front position (blocking)
• drama a play of serious nature
• epilogue a bit tagged on to the end of a play
  to explain or excuse
• exposition the beginning of a play used to
  provide background information (plot)

• falling action the resolution or denouement of
  a play (plot)
• focus the intended point of interest on stage
• fourth wall the imaginary wall between actors
  onstage and the audience like a TV screen
• gesture an action performed with the hands,
  arms or head (nod)
• holding for a laugh allowing the audiences
  response to begin dying away before continuing
• intention what your character wants in a scene
• interior monologue the stream of thoughts a
  character thinks while he/she is onstage
• monologue a long speech by 1 character
• motivation the characters reason for doing or
  saying something

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Basic Theatre Terms

• objective a characters goal in a specific
  scene
• observation studying others as sources for your
  characters voice or movement
• off book not using a script, memorized
• on book using a script, not memorized
• plot what happens in a play
• to project (v.) to make your performance
  audible and visible to every audience member
• protagonist the main character
• rising action the development of the conflict
  in a play (plot)
• scene a smaller division of a play
• scene description a detailed description of the
  set and situation at the start of an act or scene

• stage business activities performed onstage as
  part of your character
• stage directions the instructions for what and
  how to do things in a script (these are not spoke
  out loud!)
• stage crew those members of the show who are
  not actors
• strike to take down, clean up, and put away all
  materials used for a performance when it is
  complete
• subtext the thoughts/meanings that underlie the
  actual spoken words
• theme what the play is about (an idea)
• tragedy a play that ends unhappily for
  many/most of the characters
• to upstage (v.) to draw the attention from the
  indented focus in a scene

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Types of plays broken down

• Farce
• Parody
• Sentimental Comedy
• Musical Comedy
• Comedy of Manners
• Satire
• Theatre of the Absurd
• Sentimental Drama
• Melodrama
• Social Drama
• Morality Play
• Drama
• Tragedy

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Styles of Plays- how the type of play is done

• Looks like the real thing
• Naturalism slice of life, it is the real
  thing
• Realism theatrical representation of the real
  thing
• Reality with meaning
• Expressionism resembles the real thing but
  colors, shapes, etc may be exaggerated or used
  symbolically to help develop character or theme

• Not even trying to be real
• Theatricalism pure theatre, not pretending to
  be anything other than a play
• Historical Period styles
• Classic or Neo-Classic a style consciously
  imitating the Greek or Roman classics
• Romanticism projects the idea of the
  perfectibility of mankind, optimistic, hopeful,
  focus on nature