Joshua+Kraus

My one act play.

I've decided to change my Unfamiliar Genre to something that will likely be more manageable for me to write in the amount of time I have to work on it. I wish to now work on a short, one act play.

Why: I don't really have any experience when it comes to writing a play, or anything that resembles a play, so because of that I think this will be a good experience for me to learn the ins and outs of playwriting. I also think it will allow me to get better at writing dialog, since the majority of a play's action is expressed through what the characters are saying.

What I know about the genre: As far as the actual writing process goes, I know very little about it. I do know that most written plays contain a cast of characters, an explanation of the scene or setting for the play, and several specific on-stage actions for certain characters. Other than this however, I do not really know what else is involved in writing a play.


 * Annotated Bibliography:**


 * [],** by B. Danesco, accessed on 2/9/11,

A short article on how to write a one act play. This article covers everything from how to design a main character that will strengthen the resvi of the play, as well as giving other advice such as how to brainstorm for ideas that characters in the play will encounter. This article also gives a explanation on how to write dialog for your actors, as well as how to write stage directions and actions into the play.

"The Bond", by Amy Lowell and Robert Frost. Copyright 2008. Accessed on 2/9/11.

The Bond is a play that uses three female characters, each one dealing with something that is related to a man or male companion. Throughout the play, each female character speaks solely to the audience, and they are unaware of the other character's presence.

"10,000 Cigarettes", by Alex Broun. Accessed on 2/9/11.

10,000 Cigarettes is a play in which four female characters each represent one female character. The four actors finish each other's lines as if to represent one single thought by the character Gloria. The play deals with Gloria's addiction to cigarettes, and her inner dialog as a result of a man telling her she couldn't go two minutes without a single cigarette.

"Beer Girl", by Walter Wykes. Copyright 2009. Accessed on 2/9/11

Beer Girl is a play about a man, a woman, and a robot made out of beer cans. In this play, a man falls in love with his creation, a robot made entirely out of beer cans. As the play progresses, he is visited by his ex-girlfriend who becomes jealous over the fact that the man has fallen in love with a robot made out of beer.

//Dear Josh:// //This sounds very reasonable. I think the key is to keep the time elapsed short and the number of characters small. You can accomplish a lot in a small space, if you don't try to write a full length play. Good luck.//

//Bill//

//**How-to-Guide for writing a one-act play:**//

First and foremost, as in any writing a person should first decide what the topic is that he/she wants to write on. Typically in most one act plays it needs to be something that is both approachable (something that can easily be dealt with in the time that a one act play is, usually around 10-15 minutes long), and it also needs to be something that will make some sort of impression on the audience (writing a play around the topic of mathematical equations will likely be less than thrilling to most). After initial brainstorming has been done, and the writer has a decent idea of what his/her play is going to deal with, they must then first begin to construct characters within the play.

Designing/writing characters for a play is similar to any other type of writing, however the major difference is that there is little to no description of what the character acts like/looks like (except for the small amount of detail given in the cast of characters section). The only impression that the audience has from said character is from his/hers actions and dialogue. Thus, in writing a play, dialogue is easily the most important aspect of a well written play. Once the writer has a general idea about the characters in his/her play, as well as the number of actors needed to portray the characters, it’s usually a good idea to write out a small cast of characters section at the start of the play script. This way the reader/actor will have a rather small idea of what the character he/she will be portraying is like. After the cast of characters has been written, the writer must then describe the opening setting and scene, who or how many characters are on the stage once the curtains go up, and what the general beginning mood of the play is. This will allow the actors in the play to get a general sense of where the play is going. Be careful to choose your setting wisely; typically in most one act plays, the setting of the play never changes, so it’s important to have a setting that will work throughout the whole play.

From this point on the writer must begin with the “meat” of the play. This is done through both dialogue and stage direction. The following is an example of both follows: MIKE: Blah blah blah blah blah. (MIKE looks over to his right and is shocked to see SALLY come towards him. SALLY enters stage left)

Use parentheses to distinguish character action from dialogue. Be careful however; too much stage action in a script not only slows down line reading, but it also limits the artistic freedom that both actors and directors have. A good play script does not require much stage action; through the use of character development and dialogue, a good actor should be able to interpret the play in such a way that they add their own movements/actions that will end up complimenting the character’s personality and motives.

That is really all there is to it; in the end it all really depends on the ability of the writer to convey his/her message through a means of well written dialogue and on-stage action.