1. Playwriting (With Me, Mrs. Cannon)

2. Since we are learning about writing plays, I’ve invited Shakespeare to be our special guest.

3. How now! I am Mrs. Shakespeare. Let us not tarry in our discussion of playwriting.

4. She was the best that I could do. Good luck!

5. 1. Plays are stories. They have characters, the five parts of a story, plot, and dialog.

6. 2. Plays have a different format than stories. This way, the actors, directors, and stage crew know how to bring the story to life on stage.

7. For example… Names are written in bold so they stand out Prospero: Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come. [Enter Ariel.] Ariel: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! Prospero: Hast thou, spirit, Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ariel: To every article. From The Tempest by William Shakespeare

8. For example… Stage directions are in italics with brackets Prospero: Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come. [Enter Ariel.] Ariel: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! Prospero: Hast thou, spirit, Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ariel: To every article. From The Tempest by William Shakespeare

9. For example… This tells actors when to enter and exit Prospero: Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come. [Enter Ariel.] Ariel: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! Prospero: Hast thou, spirit, Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ariel: To every article. From The Tempest by William Shakespeare

10. For example… It tells crew when to play sound effects and music, too Prospero: Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come. [Enter Ariel.] Ariel: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! Prospero: Hast thou, spirit, Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ariel: To every article. From The Tempest by William Shakespeare

11. Your stage directions must be clear. Otherwise, they will play giddy music in the middle of the shipwreck! Everything will be ruined!

12. For example… There are no quotation marks in the dialog Prospero: Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come. [Enter Ariel.] Ariel: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! Prospero: Hast thou, spirit, Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ariel: To every article. From The Tempest by William Shakespeare

13. For example… This is because the name at the beginning of the line tells us who’s speaking Prospero: Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come. [Enter Ariel.] Ariel: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! Prospero: Hast thou, spirit, Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ariel: To every article. Biggest arrow ever! From The Tempest by William Shakespeare

14. For example… Dialog is indented like this Prospero: Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come. [Enter Ariel.] Ariel: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! Prospero: Hast thou, spirit, Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ariel: To every article. From The Tempest by William Shakespeare

15. Mrs. Shakespeare: If the dialog isn’t indented correctly, everything looks like one giant blob of text. You might miss something important. [Mrs. Shakespeare glares at the quill.] After all, you might have missed the stage directions above if you were just glancing over your script.

16. Mrs. Shakespeare: If the dialog is indented correctly, it’s easier to see when I’m finished speaking. [Mrs. Shakespeare lifts quill and studies it suspiciously.] Mrs. Shakespeare: Adding spaces between stage directions and dialog can make it easier to read the script, too.

17. That is all you must know to begin writing your scripts. If you have questions, let Mrs. Cannon know. I must continue work on my play.