Parts of a Play

How can you help us give you the best performance we can?

Please, no talking during the performance.It

distracts the actors as well as the people sitting nearby.

Respond naturally to our play. Emotions are part of drama. We hope that you'll laugh, cry and even gasp—but as a natural response to the story, and not in order to distract attention from the stage.

Please leave all “noisemakers”—food, gum, cell

phones, iPods, etc.—back at school or on the bus.

In a quiet theater, wrappers, munching—and even a phone’s vibration—are heard by all, the actors included.

No photographs of any kind, please.Flashbulbs can make the actors lose their focus and can be dangerous. Digital cameras, along with all other kinds of recording devices, are prohibited, as is text-messaging.

Parts of a Play

CHARACTER/S

DICTION/DIALOGUE

PLOT

• Protagonist: lead character; "agon" = struggle, "pro" = for. The good guy.
• Antagonist: "anti" = opposing/agains; often the bad guy, or anything that struggles against the protagonist.
• Foil/Counterpart: reveals some aspect of the main characters by having similar or different circumstances or behaving the same way.
• Stock Characters: exemplify one particular characteristic or trait (comedian)

MUSIC/SONG

Aristotle

Language is used to: depart information, reveal characters, characterize, direct attention, reveal themes and ideas, establish mood/ tone, establish tempo/rhythm appropriate to character

"the arrangement of events or the selection and order of scenes in a play.”

Plot is different from the story -- the story is WHAT happens; the plot is HOW it happens.

• Narrators/Chorus

The sound of the dialogue; musicality, rhythm, pace, etc.; helps establish mood, characterization, and/or lend variety and pleasure.

• Non-Human Characters
• Confidante: a character whom the protagonist trusts and confides in.

"A story is a full account of an event or series of events, usually in chronological order; a plot is a selection and arrangement of scenes...”

Raisonneur/Author's Character: speaks for the author, giving his/her philosophy -- usually not the protagonist.

Exposition

Everything the audience needs to know to understand the play.

• Greek Scientist & Philosopher (384-322 BCE)
• Divided "poetry" or plays into 6 main parts
• Still used today to outline and understand plays.

Conflict

The clash of opposing forces (e.g. man vs. man, man vs. self, man vs. natural forces, man vs. God, or group vs. group)

Climax

The point when one or the other forces is favored; the point at which events must turn in one direction or another.

Resolution/

Denouement

Whatever comes after the climax.

SPECTACLE

THOUGHT/

THEME

The central or main idea that emerges from the dramatic action. It is not always stated directly.

These were the “embellishments” in a play. Today, we refer to them as the visual elements: scenery, costumes, lighting, movement, gestures, and other nonverbal elements.