About the Play

About the Play

1. Ownership: Copyrights and Cash

   • Copyright
     • Legal guarantee granted by the government to creative artists that allows them to maintain control and profit from their work.  - Can't change play without playwright's permission. 
   • Public Domain
     • Once a playwright has been dead for 70 years, his/her plays become public property. 
   • Writers for Hire
     • Writers who forfeit their rights to the works they author for a film or TV program.
   • Royalty Payment
     • Fee paid to the playwright or agent for rights to produce their play.

2. Playwright's Life and Words

   • Closed-shop Union
     • > WGA: writers guild of America (TV and screen writers union) > Writers for hire 
   • Open-shop Union
     • > DGA: dramatists guild of America (theater playwrights) > Royalties

3. Aristotle's Poetics

   • 6 Elements
     • Plot
       • What's it about?
     • Character
       • Who's doing the action?
     • Thought
       • What do the actions mean?
     • Diction
       • How is dialogue used to reveal character and set environment?
     • Spectacle
       • how do visual and auditory elements contribute to performance?
     • Song
       • How do musical elements move plot along?

4. Art of Playwriting Employs

   • Dialogue Stage directions Parentheticals: Short descriptions to help interpret a line (ie. gleeful, angry, sorrowful, etc...)

5. Internal Rhythm

   • Theme
     • Central ideas that generate the play's life.
   • Action
     • Plays come to life when characters say and do something.
   • Conflict
     • Tension

6. Playwright's Toolbox (Vocab)

   • 1) Text 2) Subtext 3) Listening  4) Imagery 5) Music a. Rhythym (pattern) b. Tempo (speed) c. Tone (high, low, squeaky,etc...) 6) Genre: category (comedy, tragedy, realism, etc...) 7) Formula plot: follows specific recognizable blueprint 8) Grows organically from character's actions, motivations, and/or needs

7. Plotting the Story

   • Story
     • Full account of people and events, often told chronologically.
   • Plot
     • Select scenes from a story and arrange to present onstage.