Ella HungerfordENG 504

Dr Mary KennedyGenre Study – One Act Play

6 November 2008

THE ONE-ACT PLAY GENRE STUDY

WHAT IS A GENRE STUDY AND WHY SHOULD IT BE TAUGHT?

In an age when technology has changed and revolutionized nearly every occupation and industry, education is often accused of being “stuck in the mud” – some teachers unwilling to change familiar teaching methods and school day routines to accommodate new and potentially groundbreaking approaches. Educators are the most stubborn of creatures, refusing to give up their tried and true systems, even when a particularly pioneering technique or idea comes along; Lucy McCormick Calkins defines this phenomenon, saying that teachers “tend to take radical new ideas and stretch, chop, twist, and splice them until they fit into the existing norms of the school day rather than alter those norms” (454). To some teachers, the genre study is one such “radical new idea.” Although neither particularly radical, nor particularly new, it is faced with the same kind of opposition that Calkins describes. There are a multitude of reasons to use genre study in the classroom, from allowing students the opportunity to engage in a meaningful and profound way with an unfamiliar type of text, to giving them the chance to make relevant, authentic connections between their classroom experiences and their lives outside of school.

Lucy Calkins and Charles Cooper, both supporters of the genre study method, emphasize the importance of the broadness of the term “genre.” Whereas students probably assume that “genre” refers only to a type of literature – fiction, for example, or poetry, or even genres within these genres, like science fiction, or haiku – Cooper proposes that genres are “types of writing produced every day in our culture, types of writing that make possible certain kinds of learning and social interaction” (25). By Cooper’s definition, a genre does not need to be a published work of literature – in fact, it doesn’t even need to be considered “literature” at all. A genre includes such writings as recipes, knock-knock jokes, epitaphs, newspaper articles, and word problems in math (Calkins 358 – 59). To teach our students that a genre includes all of these things – all of these writing products that they are so familiar with – is to empower them in the classroom and to open up the possibilities of a genre study to them.

A genre study involves exactly what its name implies – examining and becoming deeply engaged and familiar with a particular genre, and then using this knowledge to create our own texts in the same style. Shortly, I will outline a genre study using the one-act play as a model genre. As mentioned, our new, broad definition of genre can include anything from the text on the backs of cereal boxes to the great, canonical, classical texts. One of the most powerful advantages of the genre study is the opportunity for collaboration that it presents within the classroom. Because the genre study is unlike

traditional unit or lesson plans, students and teachers will both reap the benefits. This collaborative element of the one-act play genre study compliments Cooper’s definition perfectly in that it is making possible learning as well as social interaction. The one-act play is an excellent choice for any classroom’s genre study because of its naturally cooperative and performance-based essence, and because most students are likely to have at least limited experience in drama, since most high schoolers are required to read a Shakespearean play. The one-act play genre study can also help teachers tie together and tie in other units of study and certainly other genre studies that they may have done.

Now that we are a little more familiar with what a genre study is and have been briefly introduced to the one-act play, why should we teach the genre study in our classrooms? As previously mentioned, the genre study has the unique ability to connect students’ classroom learning to “the real world” since its relevance is apparent. Students can immediately see the link between English class and math class when we are willing to define word problems as a type of genre. Similarly, they feel immediately comfortable with a lesson that involves knock-knock jokes. Connecting students to classroom material benefits us as teachers twofold: it first interests the students making our job easier and their class time more enjoyable, and secondly, it gives the students a more authentic learning experience, meaning that their learning will be richer and more significant than if we had chosen to read Ethan Frome for the fifth year straight.

The majority of students will be familiar with plays and the theatre, but they are likely to be acquainted with longer, full-length plays with multiple acts. The analogy that Danielle Angie uses and that I find to be quite useful is that the one-act play is to the full-length play what the short story is to the novel. Students should be familiar with both short stories and novels and should therefore be able to identify at least some of the challenges that face authors of these types of writing. In writing a short story, the author must condense the set-up, conflict, and resolution (these are basic components of a narrative arc that students should be familiar with – it is probably helpful to review them to refresh students’ memories and to get students who may be unacquainted with the narrative arc comfortable with its structure), as well as introduce characters and plotlines that interest and engage readers; the author of a novel, on the other hand, has a much different set of challenges. Whereas we would not send our students off to write a novel, we similarly would not send them off to write an entire play. The one-act play is a manageable length and time frame for students, and offers an easy entry point into the world of drama for first time playwrights. There is, nevertheless, justifiable skepticism surrounding the one-act play genre study – many teachers are hesitant to devote a significant amount of teaching time to a form of writing that is not likely to be on state tests, or to be considered immediately “useful” outside of the English classroom. However, the one-act play genre study familiarizes students with several literary elements, such as plot and conflict, sharpens their dialogue writing skills, and requires them to be deeply imaginative. The genre study modeled here asks students to first closely examine the one-act play and become familiar with its inner workings by reading and viewing several exemplary one-act plays (referred to as our “touchstone texts”). Then, working in small groups, students will write, edit, and perform their own one-act play by the conclusion of the unit; although they will have their classmates to bounce

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ideas off of, each group member will be held accountable for a portion of the group’s work and will therefore be evaluated both individually and collectively. Ultimately, it will be the students’ own imaginations and hard work on display in the end result of the genre study. This genre study will first define some crucial terms and then discuss how the one-act play can be used effectively within the classroom as a means of reaching those goals of authentic engagement, connection, and learning for students.

DEFINING DRAMA AND THE ONE-ACT PLAY

As we must first understand what a genre is before we can undertake the genre study project, similarly we must first help our students define “drama” and the one-act play before we can ask them to undertake a writing project. Students will be familiar with narrative writing, which is the form of writing that novels, short stories, biographies, and students’ own essays take. In narrative writing, William Packard says, readers are led “step by step through the story line” by the narrator, who will “invariably include a good deal of background material and specific detail… to help develop the exposition of setting and plot and character” (3). This genre study, for example, is a piece of narrative writing. The narrative is a formula that is going to be very comfortable for students – dramatic writing differs from traditional narrative writing (although our genre study does include the narrative arc) and they may have trouble at first writing in this new manner. Dramatic writing emphasizes the strategy “show, don’t tell,” wherein the author “plunges the audience right into the middle of an action” (Packard 3). It asks the writer to allow the audience to do their own information gathering to develop the story’s plot, setting, etc. from what they are being shown through dialogue and character’s actions. This will no doubt be fairly difficult at first for some students, since they are much more accustomed to spelling things out for the audience.

With the concept of drama fresh in our minds, we are ready to begin to introduce the one-act play. Since we used the analogy of what short stories are to novels to compare what one-act plays are to full-length plays, it would be helpful to hand out a page from a short story and a page from a play, one-act or full-length (suggestions are included in APPENDIX A with the touchstone texts). Read the texts out loud with the class – have students help in reading the page from the play aloud. Have students, either individually or in groups, work to write out ways in which the two texts differ and ways in which the two texts are the same (the format of the play, all dialogue, the short story tells us things about characters, plot, etc). As the class shares out these ideas, begin to write a preliminary list of characteristics of the one-act play that the class is coming up with – that is, essentially, what we’re asking them to do here. This list will be further fleshed out, built upon, and redefined as the genre study continues, and will be valuable to students when they are writing their own one-act plays.

Students would now have a very basic idea of the features of the one-act play, so it is appropriate to introduce one of our touchstone texts. I recommend “Trifles,” by Susan Glaspell, as it is a convenient length for the classroom and offers us the opportunity to discuss using suspense in our plays. There is a list of other touchstone

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texts and suitable one-act plays for the classroom in APPENDIX A. It would be most helpful to assign roles to students and to act out the play you have chosen as your main touchstone text (I suggest even rotating so that every student gets a chance to act) – this will help students to connect most closely with the genre and with the format of the genre. After the fun of acting out (hopefully this means actually acting out the play, not just reading out loud from their seats), students should respond to the play, both as readers and as writers. This can be done in either a response journal or a writer’s notebook – students in any English class should utilize a writer’s notebook as a place for storing ideas and potential topics for writing; it can also be used to keep notes regarding frequently encountered literary devices that the students, as authors themselves, will find useful (more on writer’s notebooks in APPENDIX B).

First, ask students to respond emotionally to the play – did it make them feel anything? If so, what? Respond purely as readers. Then, ask them to respond as writers – what features of the one-act play did they notice this time? What was different from the first play that we read? What was the same? Now, in small groups, students can begin to synthesize the unifying characteristics and features of the one-act play – this step is important, as it gives students a chance to bounce ideas off of each other without being “right” or “wrong” in a small scale setting before having to be “right” or “wrong” in front of the entire class (and the teacher!). Bring the class back together as a whole and have the groups share out what they found – add each group’s contributions to the list of one-act play features you began after reading the page from the short story and the page from the play. The class should feel free to discuss and debate with each other what they feel are the true basic elements of the one-act play. The list should be fairly comprehensive after all the groups have contributed to it, but you may need to add to it in case they’ve missed anything. After the list is complete – with your additions as well – you’ll want to give the students a handout of the characteristics of a one-act play. This list is going to be priceless to them as they begin writing their own one-act plays. A sample handout is included in APPENDIX C and the list should include the following genre features:One-act plays and full-length plays (like short stories and novels) share many of the same characteristics, including that they:

Revolve around a focal event, conflict, or incident. Without an authentic and believable central idea, the play won’t go anywhere and the audience won’t sit through it. The focus of the play will involve the main character and will follow the narrative arc in that it will begin with the set up, where the audience will be introduced to the situation leading up to it, the conflict itself, and then the resolution at the end of the play.

Have a unique and very specific written form. Students must have the opportunity to practice writing in this format, as it will be new to them and will require them to think in unfamiliar ways.

Involve a limited number of consistent and well-developed characters. Believable, relatable, interesting, and consistent characters are going to be one of the most important elements in a play. Without characters – particularly a main character – that the audience is interested in and

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sympathetic to, the play will not work, regardless of how riveting the plot. If the audience doesn’t care about the characters, it is likely that the playwright has not put enough time into developing the characters – this is why it is so important to make sure that students actualize their understanding of every character that they bring into their plays and don’t bring in any character without: a) having a deep understanding of that character’s personality, and b) knowing exactly what purpose that character has in the plot (Ayckbourn).

Have authentic, organic dialogue. Dialogue is possibly the greatest test of how well an author knows his or her characters – without convincing dialogue we do not have convincing characters. Writing dialogue in a distinct dialect is an excellent way of creating a persona – however, some playwrights prefer to leave dialect and accents up to the actor and director. Similarly, some will include very elaborate and specific stage directions and some will leave stage directions sparse. It is important, however, to note that within stage directions, student playwrights will be able to dictate how a character speaks, using directions for tone of voice, breaks in conversation, placement on stage, etc.

Take place in a defined setting. Students can have fun with the setting, since where the play is set can be anywhere – the asteroid formerly known as Pluto, in the elevator of the Eiffel Tower, the basement of their grandmother’s house, the penthouse suite of the Palms hotel in Las Vegas. One-act and full-length plays differ here in that full-length plays can afford to have multiple settings, whereas one-act plays, for the sake of time, should generally focus on using one defined and clear setting.

One difference between the one-act play and the full-length play is running time – for the sake of classroom use, the one-act play should run no longer than 20 minutes and should really be about 10 minutes long. Full-length plays are generally over an hour long and have intermissions. Because of this decrease in running time, the one-act playwright must condense their action.

These characteristics are ones that, in fewer words, the students should have been able to synthesize from the texts. These genre features will be incorporated into the one-act play written assignment, the peer review, and the rubric. It is important that students see this same unified list of characteristics repeatedly to reinforce them.

USING THE ONE-ACT PLAY IN THE CLASSROOM

As teachers striving to provide our students with the most relevant and valuable instruction possible, it seems contradictory that education would be so slow to adapt to new strategies like the genre study. However, most teachers are probably just uncertain about how to use different genres, such as the one-act play, in the classroom in a practical way. We’ve already helped our students to define drama and the one-act play for

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themselves, while introducing them to the format and a few touchstone texts. They’re now ready to write their own one-act plays, which will more deeply engage them with the genre and with the format of the texts.

To write the one-act play, I suggest that students work in small groups. As mentioned, the one-act play is highly collaborative by nature and since this type of writing is likely to be brand new to students, it will work better to have them in small groups. You can break up the groups any way you’d like – by interest or by topic that they plan to write about, or students who work well together, counting off by number, anything. While handing out the assignment, give students a copy of the rubric that they will be graded on. A sample rubric, based on the New York State Regents and ELA Standards is available in APPENDIX D. You’ll notice that the sample rubric also incorporates the genre features that I listed; it’s important that the rubric include all of these elements to familiarize students with the format and particularly with the Regents criteria for grading. Both the writing assignment and the rubric should be gone over in detail with the class in order to make sure that students understand how they will be graded, how to achieve the best grade possible, and to have any questions answered. The writing assignment might look something like this:

ONE-ACT PLAY WRITING ASSIGNMENT

Now that we’ve read and acted out one-act plays and discussed their characteristics, this is your chance to write your own!

Our one-act plays will be written COLLABORATIVELY, in small groups, which means that you’ll have your classmates to help you make sure that your dialogue is organic and your characters are believable, but you’ll also have to make some compromises – you may not end up writing about your first choice of topic, or your group may decide to name the main character something that you don’t like. These are the joys of group work.

Remember to refer back to the touchstone texts that we have looked at and the one-act play characteristics handout to guide you and make full use of your writer’s notebook for inspiration.

Some things to keep in mind as you write: Your play should run about TEN MINUTES Show – don’t tell (this is the ESSENCE of dramatic writing!) Keep your characters consistent Try your dialogue out loud – your group members are going to be your

harshest critics Use your list of one-act play characteristics!

TIMELINEWrite first draft, peer reviewing in class; first draft due to classmates for revisionFIRST DRAFT DUE:

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Revise and edit first draft with suggestions from peer review session and tips learned in mini-lesson; second draft due to teacher for revisionSECOND DRAFT DUE:

Group conferences with teacherDUE:

Revise and edit second draft with teacher suggestions; third draft due to teacher for edits only, tentative gradeTHIRD DRAFT DUE:

Revise and edit third draft; final draft due to teacherFINAL DRAFT DUE:

After your group’s final draft has been turned in, we will perform our one-act plays and your group will have the option of publishing your play for the public. Break a leg!

As the timeline suggests, students will be required to produce multiple drafts of their plays and to peer review their classmates’ plays. Multiple drafts are crucial in the writing process, as they help students achieve their full potential and offer great opportunities for both teacher and student. Too often, teacher feedback is only given at the end of the writing process, once the “final draft” has been turned in and graded – when this feedback from the teacher is useless to the student’s growth as a writer. Peer review is also a useful device within the classroom, as it allows students to sharpen their editing and revising skills, which is often difficult to do while editing and revising your own work. It also helps students to become more aware of the editing and of the writing processes.

After the assignment and the rubric have been handed out and explained in depth and all questions have been answered, the groups should be given ample time to work on the plays in class within their groups. One of the wonderful things about playwriting is that it is naturally collaborative – writing organic dialogue is easiest when you can try it out loud. This initial writing time is going to be one of the most difficult periods, so it may be helpful to start them off with a mini-lesson – I’ve included a sample mini-lesson on building characters in APPENDIX E to help students begin to flesh out their characters and to really begin thinking at the level that they need to be thinking about their plays. The character building lesson asks students to observe a few people, preferably strangers, and to take some notes on them – what kinds of clothes they’re wearing, their mannerisms, etc. Then, to bring those notes to class and to build a character in their head based on this stranger. The students must answer questions about their characters (What kinds of pizza do the characters like? Do they own a car or a bike? And so on and so forth) and in the end, they have a complete life story and profile of their characters.

Giving students enough writing days is crucial, but so is giving them enough teacher modeling. I highly suggest doing this project along with your students. While it

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may be somewhat time-consuming, you should seriously consider writing your own one-act play as the students do (and if you’re asking your students to do it, why shouldn’t you?); having original material to use in mini-lessons and for use in modeling is invaluable and it’s also fun to write alongside your students. As your students finish up their first draft, introduce peer review. Hand out peer review questions (a sample form is included in APPENDIX F) and let students know that they will be revising each others first drafts – then the group will make necessary changes based on the comments they receive and a second draft will be handed in to you, the teacher. It is important that they take peer reviewing seriously because they’re helping their classmates become better playwrights. Then you can explain the peer review process – read through the play once without doing any revising, then take a look at the peer review questions, and read through it a second time while taking notes on the peer review questions. The peer review questions, like the grading rubric and the writing assignment itself, should incorporate the genre features that have been discussed.

After students have peer reviewed and are working on their second drafts, you might want to consider doing a mini-lesson on revision. I’ve included a sample mini-lesson in APPENDIX G, on using dialogue to show character. The lesson emphasizes using thoughtful, natural dialogue to reveal character; it asks students to read snippets of three different plays out loud within their groups – the first play, “Sun Dried,” by Edna Ferber, uses dialogue to its advantage, showing instead of telling; the second play, “The Illuminati in Drama Libre,” tells us nothing about either of the characters in the play – although this play serves its own purpose, its dialogue not having much use; and the third play I want them to read aloud from is their own, so that they can hear how it sounds against these two. This mini-lesson piggybacks on the building characters lesson, as students will need to know their characters very well in order to write organic dialogue for them – is this character always a snobby brat? Is that one only sometimes sarcastic? When is he sarcastic? When he feels threatened? When he is trying to impress the snobby brat? These are questions the students will have to ask each other.

Students may continue to revise their drafts with the suggestions from peer review and the mini-lesson in mind. The second draft should be handed in to you for your responses. Remember that this is the second draft and should therefore be much more thoughtful and polished than if it were a first draft. This is a good time to schedule conferences, as the students are in the thick of revising and editing and some groups may feel overwhelmed or be losing direction – conferences can help to re-focus group energy and give them a fresh look at their plays.

After you’ve handed back the groups’ second drafts, consider a mini-lesson on editing, like the one included in APPENDIX H on format and punctuation. This is an excellent opportunity to use your material to show the students correct playwriting format. The mini-lesson includes a comparison of playwriting format and screenwriting format (which are very similar) to that of a novel or short story. Using your own play for the playwriting format can show students that it’s okay if you – and in fact, it’s expected that you will – make mistakes, especially when we’re learning something new. The groups will continue to revise and edit their second drafts, under the assumption that their

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third draft will be handed in to you for editing only. On the third draft you can offer a tentative grade – the grade that you would give the play if it were handed in “as is” and can be raised if the group puts in the necessary work for their final draft.

Now that the work is over and students have handed in their final drafts, the fun begins: performing the plays. Since the one-act play is naturally a performance piece, there are several options for the “publication” step. Publication and performance are important steps in the writing process as they serve to “inaugurate” students into the writing world and cause them to see themselves truly as authors. It is sometimes tempting to skip over publication for the sake of time, but Calkins argues that publication should truly be seen as the first step and not the final step in the writing process. Ideally, the plays would be performed as the school’s seasonal production, as a sort of “medley” of one-act plays, but of course this is not always possible. Probably the easiest way to accomplish publication is to have the groups switch plays and perform each other’s – how much direction each group needs from the group whose play they’re performing will also be a testament to how well each play is written. Once the plays have been performed for the class, it might be fun to invite in other classes and teachers and perform for them as well. Particularly well-written plays can be submitted to local, state, or even national writing contests. A few online resources for submitting plays include:

- The Young Writers Project, (http://www.youngwritersproject.org/node/32/), which accepts writing from any genre, and even publishes an anthology of young peoples’ writing

- Next Step Magazine’s Shout Out Teen Writing Contest, (http://www.nextstepmagazine.com/nsmforum/yaf_topics2_Enter-the-contest.aspx), which is an ongoing writing contest, offering $100 and publication to every monthly winner

- The Writing Conference, (http://www.writingconference.com/contest.htm), which offers students a chance at publication and celebration by other student authors and teachers

- The Claremont Review, (http://www.theclaremontreview.ca/submit.htm), which prefers “works that reveal something about the human condition” and sends published authors a copy of the magazine in which their piece runs

Finally, after the thrill of publication, students will need to take the time to reflect on the process, what they learned through it, and how this new knowledge can be applied to other areas. The reflection step is extremely important in that it helps students make the connections to the rest of their education and how what they learn in English class fits in to what they learn in Social Studies class, etc. Both student and teacher need the opportunity to step back from their work, to appreciate what they’ve accomplished, and to consider how their project affects the rest of their learning. The following questions can be used to help students think about their genre study experience and connect it to other areas of their educational experience. It may be helpful to have them respond to the questions in a class journal, or even in their writer’s notebook if appropriate.

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1. Is your one-act play something that you feel proud of? Why?2. Did working in a group help or hurt your creativity? How? In what other ways

did it help your work? In what ways did it hurt your work?3. In what ways did learning how to write a one-act play change the way you write?

Are these changes good or bad?4. Did understanding the whole genre beforehand make it easier for you to write

your play? Why? 5. What changes would you make to the one-act play unit?6. What was your favorite part of the genre study?7. What other genre studies would you want to do in class (poetry, graphic novels,

short stories, book reviews, etc)?

It is hoped that by the conclusion of this genre study (or any other genre study undertaken in the classroom), both students and teachers will be more knowledgeable on the one-act play and more willing to use the genre for both academic and recreational purposes. The genre study is a wonderful resource for teachers looking to make their curriculum more relevant and connected to their students’ lives and this can be accomplished relatively easily. The following are some books about both genre and the one-act play, and the English classroom in general, that I found helpful but did not cite directly while putting together this genre study, as well as a few that include one-act and ten-minute plays that would be appropriate for the high school classroom.

Atwell, Nancie. In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, andLearning. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton-Cook, 1998.

Bentley, Nancy, Donna Guthrie, and Katy K. Arnsteen. Putting on a Play: The YoungPlaywright's Guide to Scripting, Directing, and Performing. New York, NY:Millbrook Press, 1996.

Cassady, Marshall. Characters in Action: A Guide to Playwriting. Lanham, MD:University Press of America, 1984.

Cooper, Charles R. Evaluating Writing: The Role of Teachers' Knowledge about Text,Learning, and Culture. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English,1999.

Hull, Raymond. How to Write A Play. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books, 1983.

Judy, Susan, and Stephen Judy. Putting on a Play: A Guide to Writing and ProducingNeighborhood Drama. Boston, MA: Macmillan Company, 1982.

McCaslin, Nellie. Creative Drama in the Classroom and Beyond. Danbury, CT: Allyn &Bacon, Incorporated, 2005.

Soven, Margot Iris. Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools: Theory,

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Research and Practice. Danbury, CT: Allyn & Bacon, Incorporated, 1999.

McCaslin, Nellie. Creative Drama in the Classroom and Beyond. Danbury, CT: Allyn &Bacon, Incorporated, 2005.

Swados, Elizabeth. At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater. Danbury, CT: Faber & Faber,Incorporated, 2006.

Taylor, Val. Stage Writing: A Practical Guide. New York, NY: Crowood Press, 2002.

WORKS CITED

Angie, Danielle. " A Creative Genre-Study on One-Act Plays."<http://facultyweb.cortland.edu/kennedym/genre%20studies/playsoneact.htm>.

Ayckbourn, Alan. The Crafty Art of Playmaking. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Bomer, Randy. Time for Meaning: Crafting Literate Lives in Middle and High School. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1995.

Calkins, Lucy McCormick. The Art of Teaching Writing . Portsmouth N.H.: Heinemann, 1994.

Packard, William. The Art of the Playwright. New York, NY: Paragon House, 1987.

Pike, Frank, and Thomas G. Dunn. The Playwright's Handbook. New York, NY: SignetClassic, 1985.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A:TOUCHSTONE TEXTS

The following are specific plays or books containing many good examples of one-act plays that could be used as touchstone texts in the classroom.

“Trifles,” Susan Glaspell

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“The Inspector General,” Anton Chekhov“A Marriage Proposal,” Anton Chekhov“Fourteen,” Alice Gerstenberg“The Illuminati in Drama Libre,” Alice Gerstenberg“The Mint Julep Trilogy,” Nick Zagone (for older / mature high school classrooms;

can also be used individually as “Mint Juleps,” “The Coors Lights,” or “TheLong Island Iced Tea”)

Dabrowski, Kristen. Twenty 10-Minute Plays for Teens Volume 1. New York, NY:Smith and Kraus, Incorporated, 2004.

Dixon, Michael B., Tanya Palmer, and Brendan Healy, eds. 30 Ten-Minute Plays for 4,5, and 6 Actors. New York, NY: Smith and Kraus, Incorporated, 2001.

Jory, Jon, comp. 25 Ten-Minute Plays from the Actors Theatre of Louisville. SamuelFrench Inc Plays, 1989.

Lane, Eric, and Nina Shengold, eds. Take Ten II: More Ten-Minute Plays. New York,NY: Vintage, 2003.

APPENDIX B:THE WRITER’S NOTEBOOK

The writer’s notebook is something that students will have hopefully been introduced to by the time they reach your classroom, but if not, it is a very important writing tool. Its primary use is as a storage space for students to keep ideas and possible subjects for future writing, as well as to explore topics that they’re interested in without the pressure of formal writing. Students are encouraged to keep their writer’s notebooks with them at all times to get into the habit of writing down things they see and hear that inspire them – it could be a snippet of conversation that they overhear in the cafeteria, an advertisement on the side of a bus on the way home, or a news story that they see on television – anything can be put in the writer’s notebook because it is their place to explore and inspire themselves as authors. In the one-act play genre study, writer’s notebooks can be used for:

Quotes – humorous, inspiring, thought provoking, confusing: overheard in everyday conversation, taken from reading, etc. (quotes are an especially important part of a playwright’s notebook because DIALOGUE is so crucial to the one-act play)

Lists of topics the student may want to write about Questions the student has (about the genre, school work in general, things they

see happening in school, out of school, etc) Reflection, “two-minute essays,” responses to texts Potential characters – interesting people on the street, in the mall, relatives, etc

(how they’re dressed, mannerisms, speech patterns, etc.)

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As you can see, the writer’s notebook, when utilized correctly, is likely to become a very personal place for the student and shouldn’t be graded or assessed like a journal. You may wish to periodically “check” writer’s notebooks, not for content but just to make sure that students are making use of them.

APPENDIX C:SAMPLE LIST: CHARACTERISTICS OF A ONE-ACT PLAY

There should be a class discussion regarding the characteristics of a one-act play during which students reflect on the plays that they have read and watched since the beginning of the one-act play study. A list should be made of what students decide are the defining characteristics and from it, the teacher should compile the truly unifying features and type up a handout. Here are a few basic characteristics that you would want to make sure are definitely included:

Emphasis on organic, believable dialogue – see “The Mint Julep Trilogy” Clear setting – see “Trifles” Limited number of characters (characters remain consistent throughout play) Time limit (10 – 60 minutes, but for the classroom it should be between 10

and 20 minutes) Follow the written format:

Stage directions, including setting description, prop and actor placement, characters current actions.

CHARACTER’S NAME: Dialogue. (stage directions) More dialogue.

Focus on a main conflict or event – see “Fourteen” Focus on main character; well developed, relatable, and interesting Follow the narrative arc (rising action, conflict, resolution) – see “Fourteen”

APPENDIX D:SAMPLE 6-POINT GRADING RUBRIC

6 5 4 3 2 1

MEANINGIs entertaining and involves the audience emotionally throughout

Is entertaining and involves the audience emotionally

Is entertaining and involves the audience emotionally somewhat

May be entertaining and vaguely involves the audience emotionally

Is not particularly entertaining and does not emotionally involve the audience

Is not entertaining and does not emotionally involve the audience

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DEVELOPMENT

(CHARACTERS)

Revolves around a limited number of well-developed & consistently engaging characters, concentrating on a relatable main character, to whom the action of the play is occurring

Revolves around a limited number of consistently engaging characters, concentrating on a fascinating main character, to whom the action of the play is occurring

Revolves around a limited number of consistent characters, concentrating on a main character, to whom the action of the play is occurring

Revolves around a limited number of characters, concentrates on a main character; characters are not engaging or well developed enough

Revolves around a number of characters, doesn’t concentrate on a single character; characters are not engaging or well developed

Too many characters, doesn’t concentrate on a single character; characters are not engaging or well developed

ORGANIZATION &

SETTING

Focuses on a central event/conflict that interests & engages the audience’s attention, and follows narrative arc; setting is relevant & makes sense in the play’s context

Focuses on a central event/conflict that interests the audience, and follows narrative arc; setting is relevant & makes sense in the play’s context

Focuses on a central event/conflict that interests the audience somewhat, and follows narrative arc, may move too quickly or too slowly; setting is relevant and makes sense

Attempts to focus on a central event/conflict and follow narrative arc, but moves too quickly/slowly at times – conflict is not resolved, only mildly interesting, etc; setting makes some sense

Attempts to focus on a central event/conflict and follow narrative arc, but moves too quickly/slowly – conflict is not resolved, not interesting, deus ex machina, etc; setting makes little sense

Does not focus on an interesting central event/conflict or follow narrative arc; setting makes no sense within the context of the play’s action

LANGUAGE USE

(DIALOGUE)

Uses dialogue organically and authentically throughout, emphasizing the characters’ dispositions

Uses dialogue organically and authentically, emphasizing the characters’ dispositions

Uses dialogue organically and authentically most of the time, emphasizing the characters’ dispositions

Dialogue is inorganic or rushed at times, doesn’t fit scene, character, etc

Dialogue is inorganic or rushed, doesn’t fit scene, character, etc; inconsistent

Dialogue is inorganic or rushed, doesn’t fit scene, character, etc; inconsistent and not thought through

CONVENTIONS (FORMAT)

Has followed the correct written format perfectly, including appropriate stage direction and running time

Has followed the correct written format, including appropriate stage direction and running time

Has followed the correct written format, including appropriate stage direction; runs slightly over or under specified time limits

Followed the written format, but clearly had trouble with it; stage directions are inappropriately timed and/or incorrect; runs over or under time limits

Has not followed the written format, or has attempted to & done so incorrectly; stage directions are incorrect; runs far over or under time limits

Has not followed the written format; the play is not performable

APPENDIX E:MINI-LESSON: BUILDING CHARACTERS

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The following is a sample mini-lesson to be used while students are writing their rough drafts of their plays. They’ll need to complete this over the course of at least two class periods – the first to receive the assignment, and the second to build their characters.

In order for the audience to believe your characters, you as the author must believe your characters. The best way to do this is to know them inside and out, to become your characters when necessary. “You can never know too much about your characters before you start,” veteran playwright Alan Ayckbourn says.

1. Observe a number of people (no less that three) as closely as possible. At least two of these should be complete strangers. Pay close attention to the way that they dress and their mannerisms – try to avoid any tendency to judge! Be an objective observer.

2. When you have a moment by yourself, take the time to remember as many specific details about the person as possible, making a list of identifying characteristics.

3. With your lists of details, think about the people you observed. Use your imagination to create profiles and life stories for two of your people, based on the information you gathered. Consider some of the following questions and what they tell you about your characters:

- What is their favorite food? Do they like spicy food? How do they order their pizza?

- Do they read celebrity gossip? The New York Times? Sports Illustrated?- What kind of car do they drive? A beat up minivan, a 2009 sports car, a

bicycle?- Do they have a temper? Are they a “doormat”?- Would you want them on your team for Pictionary? Trivial Pursuit?- What kind of drink would they order at the bar? A light beer? A

Cosmopolitan?

4. Allow yourself free rein in creating your characters, but always make sure that you are backing up your guesses against something that you observed. For example, “Her permed bangs were frizzy and the soles of her sensible shoes were nearly worn through, so I think that…”

REMINDERS:You will need to think this deeply, IF NOT DEEPER,

about every single character that you bring into your plays.NEVER bring in a character without a purpose.*** Keep your characters CONSISTENT!! ***

APPENDIX F:PEER REVIEW QUESTIONS

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Now that you’ve completed your first draft, swap with another group and read over their rough draft. Just read the play through once, without taking notes or answering any questions. After you’ve gotten a sense of the play, read through it one more time and take notes on the following questions.

1. React as a reader to the one-act play. Did the play involve you emotionally at all? Tell the authors your raw, initial reactions to their play here.

2. Does the play follow the standard manuscript format? Are the stage directions

and dialogue understandable? Do they make sense in the context of the play?

3. Does the play adequately introduce its characters through stage direction or a cast page? What more could be done to develop the characters? Is there a clear main character that the audience cares about?

4. Is the setting made clear and described through stage direction? Does the setting make sense within the action of the play?

5. Does the play follow the narrative arc with a rising action, a conflict, and a resolution by the time lights go down? Is there are clear main focus or conflict? Is the main conflict engaging / can the audience connect with it?

6. Do you believe that the play can be performed in ten to twenty minutes? If it’s too long, suggest places in the play where the authors could “cut the fat” – in other words, take out unnecessary dialogue. If it’s too short, suggest areas where the authors might extend scenes, or where the audience wants to know more.

7. Get out your editor’s pencil and go back through the play carefully – mark places where the authors should check their spelling, grammar, or manuscript format.

8. What are the strengths of the play? What were your favorite moments?

9. Where can the play be improved? Any other suggestions for the authors?

Return this question form and the group’s rough draft to them and be sure to get your group’s draft and peer review question forms back as well. Now – on to revision and editing!

APPENDIX G:MINI-LESSON FOR REVISING

After students have done peer review, ask them to read these two snippets of one-act plays and compare them in terms of dialogue and character development. Does the

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author’s use of dialogue aid in the development of the characters? Does it serve any purpose in the play whatsoever? The first excerpt is from Edna Ferber’s “Sun Dried.”

[A rooftop in New York . MARY LOUISE, an attractive young woman, appears on the stairway, her head wrapped turban-style in a towel. CHARLIE, a janitor, enters behind her. The sounds of the city can be heard far below.]

CHARLIE: How’s this?

MARY LOUISE: Perfect! It’s perfect! Thank you, Charlie.

CHARLIE: It ain't long on grassy spots up here, but say, breeze! Like a summer resort. On a clear day you can see way over 's far 's Eight' Avenoo. Only for the love of Mike don't blab it to the other women folks in the buildin', or I'll have the whole works of 'em usin' the roof for a general sun, massage, an' beauty parlor.

MARY LOUISE: I'll never breathe it to a soul. I promise.

CHARLIE: [Noticing something in her hand.] What's that?

MARY LOUISE: It—it’s parsley.

CHARLIE: Parsley! Well, what the—

MARY LOUISE: Well, you see. I'm from the country, and in the country, at this time of year, when you dry your hair in the back yard, you get the most wonderful scent of green and growing things—not just flowers, you know, but new things coming up in the vegetable garden, and—and—well, this parsley happens to be the only really gardeny thing I have, so I thought I'd bring it along and sniff it once in a while, and make believe it's the country, up here on the roof.

CHARLIE: [Chuckles.] Women ain’t nothin' but little girls in long skirts, and their hair done up.

MARY LOUISE: I know it.

After reading this excerpt, ask students to respond first as readers (Did they feel any emotional connection in this short piece? Was it interesting?), and secondly as writers (Did the dialogue help to develop Mary Louise and Charlie? How or how not?). Then, ask students to read this second excerpt, from Alice Gerstenberg’s “The Illuminati in Drama Libre.”

HE: [Flirtatiously.] Well?

SHE: [Flirtatiously.] Well?

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HE: Who?

SHE: Guess.

HE: Impossible!

SHE: Try.

HE: Then?

SHE: Answer!

HE: What?

SHE: Truth.

HE: Again?

SHE: Stop!

HE: Here?

SHE: No.

HE: There?

SHE: No!

After reading this second piece, ask students to again respond first as readers and then as writers. Ask them to compare and contrast these two plays – what purpose does dialogue serve in the first play? What purpose does it serve in the second play? How could we revise either play to make the characters stronger and more developed? It’s helpful to have overhead copies made of these excerpts to that the revisions can be made by students. Then, in their groups, have students read parts of their own plays and work on making their dialogue stronger.

APPENDIX H:MINI-LESSON FOR EDITING

This mini-lesson is mainly a comparison and clarification for students on playwriting format. Either distribute paper copies, or make overheads of each type of format (playwriting, screenwriting, and short story); students should work in groups – preferably groups different from those of their playwriting groups, just to mix it up – to come up with lists of features for each format. For example, screenwriting utilizes many of the same elements as playwriting, but they must be adapted for a different medium – it

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uses abbreviations such as “V.O.” for “voice over,” and “INT” for “interior,” etc. After students have come up with the differences and become “experts” in the format, put up an excerpt of your own play and ask them to edit it (for this reason, it’s best to use the overhead or similar device).

Excerpt from “Trifles,” by Susan Glaspell:

SHERIFF. Nothing here but kitchen things.

(The County Attorney, after again looking around the kitchen, opens the door of a cupboard closet. He gets up on a chair and looks on a shelf. Pulls his hand away, sticky.)

COUNTY ATTORNEY. Here's a nice mess.(The women draw nearer.)

MRS. PETERS (to the other woman). Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. (To the Lawyer). She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would break.

SHERIFF. Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves.

COUNTY ATTORNEY. I guess before we're through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about.

HALE. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.(The two women move a little closer together.)

COUNTY ATTORNEY (with the gallantry of a young politician). And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies? (The women do not unbend. He goes to the sink, takes dipperful of water form the pail and, pouring it into a basin, washes his hands. Starts to wipe them on the roller towel, turns it for a cleaner place.) Dirty towels! (Kicks his foot against the pans under the sink.) Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?

MRS. HALE (stiffly). There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm.

Excerpt from “V For Vendetta” screenplay by Larry and Andy Wachowski:

INT. SHADOW GALLERY

The man, now fully dressed in cloak, hat, and mask gazes intothe mirror.

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This is V.

FATE (V.O.)And this is the voice of Fatesigning off and bidding you apleasant evening.

EXT. CITY STREET

Close on Evey's high heels, stumbling and awkward as shewalks down a dark cobblestoned street.

EXT. CITY STREET

Close on V's boots walking in the opposite direction so thatit seems they are walking towards each other.

EVEY (V.O.)I don't know what brought ustogether that night. I had neverbeen to that part of Westminsterbut ever since I've known him, I'vestopped believing in coincidence.

For the short story, I recommend using Alice Walker’s “Flowers,” which can be accessed online at (http://theliterarylink.com/flowers.html).

The excerpts referenced here were found online at the following websites:Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/trifles.htmLarry and Andy Wachowski’s “V For Vendetta” based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore http://sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=v_for_vendetta_2005

APPENDIX I:REGENTS ASSIGNMENT

It is important that students have ample time practicing and are adequately familiar and comfortable with the Regents before they take it so that it doesn’t throw them any surprises. The following is a sample Critical Lens assignment that could be used in conjunction with this one-act play genre study. Note that for authenticity’s sake, the Critical Lens quote is an actual quote from the January 2008 New York State Regents.

Critical Lens: “Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength…” – Henry Ward Beecher, Life Thoughts, 1858

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Your Task: Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature (at least one one-act play) that you have read from the particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the "critical lens.” In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two works.

Guidelines:Be sure to

Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis

Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it

Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion

Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen

For each work, do not summarize the plot but use specific references to appropriate literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, language, point of view) to develop your analysis

Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose Follow the conventions of standard written English

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