THTR 1020 Lecture : 1020 Spring Lecture Outline Three
Document Summary
As a reader of a play, you will be challenged to create the performance in your mind"s eye by playing the roles of designer, director, and actor in your imagination. Each choice you make defines what the play will mean to you. (54) The story of a play includes all the events that happen or are mentioned in the text. A play"s story may include many incidents that have taken place before the play begins. The plot of a play is the ordering or structuring of the events that actually take place on stage. The plot defines how the events unfold for the reader or viewer. Playwrights use the plot to create dramatic tension, usually through developing conflict and creating struggles and obstacles for the characters to overcome. (55) Dramatic structure is the scaffolding on which a playwright plots a tale to frame or shape the action. Different dramatic structures become conventions of playwriting in different times and places. (57)
