To Stage a Play

See pages 567–568 for tips on writing a play.

Question the situation for the play.
- Subject: What is the subject of the play? Is it a comedy? A tragedy? A mystery? Is it a new play or a classic?
- Purpose: Why are you putting on the play? What effect should it have? What mood do you want to create?
- Audience: Who will see this play? How can you connect with the audience?
Plan your play by completing a planning sheet. (See page 361.)
Research the play.
- Actors: Cast actors. (Conduct tryouts if necessary.) Get copies of the play for all of those with speaking parts and read through it.
- Technical crews: Enlist others to help design and build sets, create costumes, work backstage, run lights and sound, provide publicity, create a program, and handle ticket sales.
Create your production of the play.
- Read through the script together.
- Block scenes by deciding where actors enter, stand, move, and exit.
- Run scenes to help actors learn lines and blocking.
- Practice music first offstage. Then add music to the practice runs.
- Rehearse with the whole cast, but require actors to memorize lines on their own time.
Improve your performance by evaluating and revising it.
- Evaluate your play.
  Does the performance suit the goal of the project?
  Do the performers get the ideas across? Do they create the right emotional impact? Does the audience respond appropriately?
- Tighten the performance.
  Remove awkward pauses and unnecessary actions.
  Rearrange blocking so that speakers can be seen and heard.
  Rework scenes that aren’t functioning well.
  Add subtle reactions to lines and actions.
- Perfect your performance.
Present your performance. Listen to the audience’s response; then continue to refine your work to improve your next performance.

567

Play Script

This page shows the first part of a play script, which includes all the main features of a script.

Title

Einstein’s Letter

By Terrance Young

Cast

ALBERT EINSTEIN, a genius

LEO SZILARD, a genius

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, president of the United States

Act / Scene

ACT I, SCENE 1

Setting

SETTING: The porch of a seaside cabin on Long Island, July 12, 1939.

(SZILARD, well-dressed in a suit, approaches the door of a screened-in porch and knocks. EINSTEIN emerges from the cabin, wearing a T-shirt and pants rolled up at the ankles.)

EINSTEIN: Leo, so glad you could come.

SZILARD: My friend. Thank you so much for meeting with me.

Stage Direction

EINSTEIN: (Opening porch door) Come inside. Let’s sit on the porch. There’s a nice breeze off the Atlantic. (The men move to sit in chairs beside a coffee table.)

SZILARD: (Jittery) The matter weighs heavily on me.

EINSTEIN: As on me, my friend. It’s quite a request to ask a pacifist to encourage the president of the United States to build the most destructive weapon man has ever known.

Dialogue

SZILARD: It is either the president of the United States builds it, or Hitler builds it. Which would you choose?

EINSTEIN: I would choose that neither one have such power.

SZILARD: One will.

EINSTEIN: Yes.

SZILARD: (Pause) He has taken the Sudetenland. . . .

EINSTEIN: (Grave) Perhaps it will be enough.

SZILARD: It has only whetted his appetite. With an atomic bomb, think how far he will go. He is already mining uranium. He is looking for sources of deuterium. He is bent on making a bomb.

EINSTEIN: Bent. It is a very telling word. Hitler is bent, and now we must be bent as well.

SZILARD: It is a terrible circumstance.

EINSTEIN: You have written to the president. What was his response?

SZILARD: None. But he will listen to the great Albert Einstein.

EINSTEIN: That’s exactly what I fear. . . .

568

Types of Plays

The Western world has created many types of plays over the last three thousand years, though most fit into the following broad categories.

▶ Drama

Drama refers to a serious play that depicts real-life situations and addresses important themes. Dramas tend to explore human relationships, historical events, and the human condition. (The term drama also sometimes refers to theatre in general, encompassing both comedy and tragedy.)

▶ Comedy

Comedy refers to a play in which the main character is redeemed, often despite his or her faults. Here are four common types of comedy:

Farce uses fast-paced and ludicrous situations, accidents, misunderstandings, mistaken identities, physical humor, and racy material to get a laugh. Examples include Pseudolus and Lend Me a Tenor.
Romantic comedy follows the struggle of two or more people who are falling in love. Examples include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Guys and Dolls.
Satire pokes fun at human vice and folly, often depicting public figures and institutions as absurd. Examples include The Wasps and Candide.
Comedy of manners/ideas focuses on sophisticated characters, witty dialogue, and philosophical ideas. Examples include Helen and Man and Superman.

▶ Tragedy

Tragedy refers to a play in which the main character is destroyed, often because of his or her faults. Here are three versions of tragedy:

Aristotelian tragedy depicts the downfall of an essentially good person due to his or her own faults. The play evokes fear and pity from the audience. Examples include King Lear and Death of a Salesman.
Hegelian tragedy depicts the fatal conflict between two good causes in opposition—for example, Albert Einstein the pacifist having to suggest an atomic bomb to Roosevelt. In this type of tragedy, good itself is the victim. Examples include Antigone and Miss Saigon.
Revenge tragedy depicts a wronged hero who seeks revenge on the perpetrator of his or her misery and is destroyed by the act of revenge. Examples include Hamlet and Sweeney Todd.