Writing for the Stage

Hi Gang,

Today we’re going to embark on a week long scripting workshop. I will have you write something specifically for the stage. However, I feel that if we’re going to do this, we need a little understanding of the specifics required in writing for an audience.

STORY STRUCTURE

Most plays follow a basic three act structure:

1. The first act is the Protasis, or exposition.
2. The second act is the Epitasis, or complication.
3. The final act is the Catastrophe, or resolution.

Please note that this is fluid. Some plays start with the complication already in place. Some plays have little to no resolution.

Most importantly, although I use the term ‘act’ this does not mean a play must have three distinct acts. You can make a play any length you like, breaking it up with as many or few intermissions as you think your audience can take.

ONE ACTS (No intermission)

Most common types:

• Comedy
• Experimental

Endgame by Samuel Beckett (Length: 1 hour)

Actor’s Nightmare by Christopher Durang (Length: 30 minutes)

Word, Words, Words by David Ives (Length: 15 minutes)

TWO ACTS (One Intermission)

• Most common to all forms of theater
• Rare for experimental plays

Noises Off by Michael Frayn

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

THREE ACTS

• Almost exclusively dramas
• Mostly large casts or over multiple time periods

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts

WRITING TIPS

Day 1 on the scripting work shop is all about planning. 

When you are coming up with characters don’t forget the following:

• Write characters that want something (which puts them in conflict with other characters) and try to get what they want at every moment.
• Make sure that each character has something at stake, a consequence if he doesn’t get what he wants.
• Make each character speak in a distinctive voice. This does not mean catchphrases or funny words, it means how they chose their words when speaking to others.

Day 2 and 3 are about creating natural sounding exposition. 

Here are a few other tips that are helpful when writing dialogue for the stage:

• Do not have a character tell us something she can show us instead. For example, it’s much more effective to hide under the bed than to say “I’m afraid.” You can save a lot of time writing boring dialogue and save the audience from having to watch it.
• Write a conflict that builds as the play progresses. As you structure the conflict, think in terms of your play having a beginning, a middle and an end.  In other words, try to imagine the story from beginning to end.

Things that MIGHT work

• Create a “ticking clock” that puts the characters under pressure to get what they want right away.
• Make sure there is a good reason, an “event,” for your play. It’s not enough for two characters to sit around and talk for a while and then leave. There needs to be some important reason why we’re watching them now, at this particular moment.
• Give each character a “moment,” something that justifies the character’s existence in your play and that makes him attractive for an actor to play.
• Allow conversations to take tangents. When you’re talking with your friends, you rarely stick to a single subject with focused concentration. While in a play, the conversation must steer the characters toward the next conflict, you should allow small diversions to make it feel realistic.

STAGING TIPS

When writing for the stage, it’s important to always visualize the final product. You need to know what it’s supposed to look like in the end. On thing to consider is the type of theater space it will occupy.

Proscenium

In-the-Round

Thrust

Black Box

Theater Passe Muraille in Toronto

Main Space

Back Space