Introduction to Playwriting
Curriculum guideline
The bulk of the classes will be conducted in the workshop format. The following may be combined with the workshop:
- in-class performance of students’ work
- lectures and discussions
- small group work
- assigned reading and class presentations
- interviews with instructor
Selected plays from published texts.
Students’ manuscripts will form the bulk of the course content.
General Objectives:
The student will learn the techniques of dialogue, characterization, and plot construction as these apply to the writing of stage plays. The student will write drama for in-class discussion and will learn how to revise manuscripts.
Specific Objectives:
Pre-writing:
- The student will learn to identify and outline script ideas suited to stage presentation.
- The student will learn to utilize dramatic action, character revelation, lighting, stage movement, set and costume in the presentation of play ideas.
- The student will develop dramatic material through controlled classroom exercises.
Writing:
- The student will recognize the various stages in drafting a play.
- The student will recognize a variety of modern and traditional dramatic forms and will learn to express play ideas using these forms.
- The student will learn to develop writing habits consistent with the production of quality written work.
- Over the term, the student will learn to write dramatic material that shows development in the understanding of dramatic form.
Reading:
- The student will read and watch the work of published and produced playwrights to discover how those writers deal with problems of form and craft.
- The student will recognize how playwrights use character development, dramatic structure, dialogue and stage direction to write successful plays.
- By reading the work of his/her peers aloud in the classroom, the student will develop the critical skills necessary to judge the effectiveness of dramatic material.
Revising:
- The student will recognize the value of revision as an essential writing process and where suitable will revise his/her work for class discussion.
- The student will evaluate critical suggestions from the instructor and his/her peers, and incorporate these into the revised play.
- The student will learn to prepare a play manuscript for presentation to producer, editors and workshops.
A minimum of three assignments submitted for class discussion, including a monologue, a short sketch, and a one-act play will count for a minimum of 60% of the course grade. Other evaluations may include self-evaluations of submitted material, in-class writing assignments, participation in the workshop (in-class critical analysis of student work), and a 500-word report on a professional live play seen during the term. An overall minimum of 40 pages of work is required.
Students are required to attend 80% of the workshops. A student missing more than 20% of the workshops without receiving prior permission from the instructor will receive a 0 in class participation. Leaving after the break is considered half an absence.
Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students
The following may be required:
The text of a play being produced by the Douglas College Theatre Department in the current semester. To be announced at beginning of term; a relevant play anthology such as Modern Canadian Plays (ed. Jerry Wasserman).
- Any College entrance Language Proficiency Requirement EXCEPT the Douglas College Course Options in ELLA or ENGU, OR
- a minimum grade of C- in ELLA 0460, or a minimum grade of C- in both ELLA 0465 and 0475, OR
- a minimum grade of C- in ENGU 0450 or ENGU 0455 or ENGU 0490 OR
- Mastery in ELLA 0330 and any two of ELLA 0310, 0320, or 0340.
Courses listed here must be completed either prior to or simultaneously with this course:
- No corequisite courses
Courses listed here are equivalent to this course and cannot be taken for further credit:
- No equivalency courses