Playwriting

Pauses serve a great purpose in theatre. What's not being said in that pause? Here's an acting exercise to use in rehearsal.

Use these prompts as bell-work or as warm ups before a writing exercise. The focus of automatic writing is to get words on the page: good, bad and ugly.

Students will be able to demonstrate how to visualize an issue through character.

Use these first lines prompts (list of 35) for monologue and scene work.

Use this exercise to practice creating characters and then writing the first few lines of a monologue. Students will use a headline as a jumping off point.

Author Nick Pappas has created a resource for teachers to develop the tools they need to help student writers find their voice. This resource focuses on two big questions: What is Feedback?, and What is Useful Feedback? At its core, all answers will focus on giving notes that will improve the work, which, in this case, is our students’ plays. And, as a teacher, that’s the goal: we want our students to write and to grow through their writing. If we want students to get better, we need to get better. Understanding the definition of feedback and understanding how to provide useful feedback is the key to all of us getting better.

This exercise helps students think about how their characters sound.

A page of prompts for student-written monologues.

Picture prompts are a great way to initiate student writing. They don’t have to have an idea, they simply respond to the picture. Have students study the picture and answer the provided questions. Each picture includes a character or a story element question.

A short guide for playwriting punctuation.

The goal in this ongoing work to be a loving, inclusive teacher in a loving, inclusive space is to continue to build the library in your room to represent every student. Providing access to these materials within the walls of a classroom allows students to engage in the literature without judgment. This document offers a teacher self-assignment task to populate your bookcase with inclusive, diverse material and then a couple of classroom tasks you can do to make sure your books get noticed.

A set of 5 posters to inspire in the drama classroom. Part of the Playwriting Outside the Lines PD course in the DTA.

One of the best things a playwright can do is develop a point of view. This is a self reflection exercise and scene writing exercise all rolled into one.

A set of four posters for your drama classroom - each with a different message about devising.

Sometimes all students need is a little push. Give students one of these self reflection sentence starters to get them going. You'll be amazed at what they write next.

Practice the act of writing a two character, one location scene with these short exercises. Whatever the scenario, limit the length: 10 lines per character.

What is a 24 hour playwriting festival? Student playwrights gather together and write for 12 hours. (eg: 8pm to 8am) Student directors and actors then cast, stage, rehearse and perform during the next 12 hours (8am to 8pm). Everything from concept to production takes place within 24 hours. Follow the step by step outline in the resource.

This journal was created as an accompaniment to Steven Stack's DTA course: Playwriting Outside the Lines. It can also be used as a stand alone resource, as a writing tool and a path for creation. The journal is divided into 5 sections: Creative Sandbox, Play/Scene Development, Random Thoughts and Lines, Home of the Rough Drafts, and Notes from Others.