Playwriting Prep Work

The first day of a playwriting unit should not be the first day your students start writing. There are so many barriers and pre-conceived notions when it comes to writing that to dive in on day one could lead to a lot of resistance. You may have one or two natural writers in a class of 30, so how can you help everyone else feel confident about writing a scene or play? 

Prep work. Spend two to three weeks before your unit with exercises designed to help students get words on the page. You don’t have to spend a lot of time with these exercises, they all work just fine for bell work. They also shouldn’t be assessed. Do them, share a little, and move on. The point is to provide students with a process where they feel comfortable taking their own ideas out of their head and exploring them on the page. And by writing every day for a set period of time, you’re creating routine. Routine and habit will always get more writing done than talent. Show all your students that they can write to the best of their ability.

Here are some examples of prep work exercises. Each one should only take a few minutes, five minutes tops. The purpose is not to “finish” the exercise, it’s to get comfortable with exploring a topic through writing. Do some writing and then move on to another activity. 

Self-Reflection Prompts 

How would you finish each of these sentence starters? 

• I firmly believe…
• I see myself as…
• I think others see me as…
• I see the world around me as…
• I most want to improve this about myself. 
• The areas I am strong/weak are…

Free-Writing Prompts

Get your thoughts on the page on one of these topics. If you get stuck, write about that. If you don’t like the topic, write about that! The aim of a free-writing session is to keep writing for the entire time without stopping. 

• What makes you happy? Mad? Sad?
• What is bugging you today? 
• Is the internet bad for you? Why or why not? 
• What did you do last night? 
• My favourite/least favourite class is…

Monologue and Scene Prompts

When using monologues and scenes for bell work, focus on the form. Make sure they’re writing monologues in the first person, that the character is named, that there is a defined listener. For scenes, focus on the two-person, one-location scene. Bell work is perfect for getting students to practice the playwriting form without pressure. And again, students don’t have to finish, they just have to practice the form. 

• Chris pulls Terry into an empty classroom. The first line of the monologue is “I have something important to tell you.”
• A teen stands in front of a mirror. They are getting up the nerve to ask someone out. What do they say?
• A girl prepares to tell her best friend that she kissed her friend’s boyfriend.
• A teen prepares their story for what happened to the family car.
• A teen is trying to explain why they hate their step-parent.

Observation 

To observe is to look specifically at people, places, and things. Playwrights can use observation to come up with play ideas. Establish a routine of observation and have students write down one observation in their journals based on a specific prompt.

Ease into the writing process and get your students writing today!