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Students write on their preconceived notions about playwriting, their expectations and fears, and identify actions: What does a playwright do?

Along with character, conflict is one of the backbone elements of a good play. In this lesson, students will work on a conflict profile.

Students will receive the criteria for their play project and start work on their outline.

Students will outline and begin writing their first draft.

The first draft is due in this class. Students will have time to work and then submit.

This is the last class session students have to work on their plays.

Students are given time to work on their second draft. Students will receive an In-depth Character Profile sheet to help them apply critical thinking skills to their draft.

Students will discuss and examine how to give and receive feedback. Then students will read their first draft aloud and receive feedback on it.

Students are given time to work on their second draft. Students also review the Post-First Draft Questions to apply critical thinking skills to their draft.

Students will discuss the question “What is theatricality?” in terms of what makes a play stageable. Students continue to work on their first draft.

Students are given time to work on their second draft. Students also give and receive feedback on their draft.

In these last two sessions, students will focus on the performance aspect of playwriting. Students will practice in groups, present an online staged reading, and reflect on their experience with the unit.

Students will play a drama game and participate in an exercise to explore how conflict affects their active tactics. Students apply conflict to a scene for performance.

Students create a situation from a picture and examine the given clues to help fill in the gaps. Students then examine the clues in a contentless scene, fill in the gaps, and create their own scenario to perform.

Students will use “Show and Tell” to create a detailed background for their contentless scene character and improvise a personal interview with that character.

Students will participate in a demonstration to explore the rules of virtual staging and performance and why they are important. They will perform a Bad Idea/Good Idea skit for the class to demonstrate their understanding of the concept.

Students will perform and be evaluated on the contentless scene that they have prepared during the unit.

Students will begin their staging journey by compiling the basics. They will read the scene and identify some general knowledge that will help them play the scene.

Students will participate in an observation activity and play “What Are You Doing?” to explore how stage business affects performance. In this session, you will coach students through a scene with stage business, then they will apply stage business to their own performances.

Students review what they have studied in this unit as well as how to give and use constructive feedback. Students will pair up with another scene group, then perform for each other. Students will use the Preview Worksheet to help guide and assess their previews and critiques.