Playwriting Lesson Plans

Lesson 9 of 10 in Playwriting: Part 2 Unit

Session 9: Final Writing Day

by Lindsay Price

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

Session 9 Slide Deck

# Playwriting # playwriting

Lesson 10 of 10 in Playwriting: Part 2 Unit

Sessions 10 & 11: Practice, Staged Reading, Reflection

by Lindsay Price

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.

Session 10 & 11 Slide Deck

# Playwriting # playwriting

Lesson 5 of 7 in Unit Five: Intro to Script Writing Unit

Set Design and Blocking

by Lindsay Johnson

In this lesson, students will create a set design and add blocking notes to their scripted scenes.

Slide Deck

# Playwriting # playwriting # middle school friendly

Shakepeare's Words: Iambic Pentameter

by Kerry Hishon

The objective of the lesson is for students to learn what iambic pentameter is and to have the opportunity to create their own monologues using iambic pentameter. This lesson is a useful complement towards studying classical works by playwrights such as William Shakespeare.

# Playwriting # Shakespeare # playwriting # Shakespeare

Lesson 4 of 5 in Play Adaptation Project Unit

Source Material Analysis

by Lindsay Price

In this lesson, students will get into the nitty gritty of adaptation: the close reading and annotation of the source material. You want your students to know the original text inside and out before they start to adapt. Students will use practice texts to try out the exercise that they will then use on their chosen adaptation source material.

Practice Text: The Dog and the Sparrow
Slide Deck Lesson 4

# Playwriting

Lesson 3 of 8 in Playwriting Unit

Stage Directions

by Karen Loftus

Students continue their exploration of playwriting by learning about stage directions, applying the elements to create a stage-directions scene, and applying tools to an open scene.

Slide Deck Lesson 3

# Playwriting # playwriting

Story vs Monologue

by Lindsay Price

Students will discuss and answer questions regarding the differences between a monologue and a story using The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as a model.

# Playwriting # playwriting # monologue

Lesson 2 of 6 in Self-Management Playwriting Unit

Strategy/Plan/Process

by Lindsay Price

Students will officially set their goal and discuss the differences between a strategy, action plan, and process. By the end of the lesson, students will have created a strategy paragraph, developed a framework for writing their play through a plan of action, and identified specific playwriting exercises to use.

Playwriting Exercises Packet
Playwriting Forms Packet

# Playwriting

Lesson 1 of 8 in Playwriting Unit

Structure

by Karen Loftus

Students begin their exploration of playwriting by learning about structure and applying the elements in a writing exercise.

Slide Deck Lesson 1

# Playwriting # playwriting

Lesson 3 of 4 in Spoken Word Poetry Unit

Structured Spoken Word Performance Rehearsal With Feedback

by Quincy Young

Students will follow a structure to rehearse their spoken word poetry performances with peer feedback.

Slide Deck Lesson 3

# Playwriting

Subtext: Pass the Salt

by Lindsay Price

Subtext is the underlying meaning in a text. What is a character thinking? Learning to apply subtext to a scene is an excellent character development tool. It encourages students to think about “the why” behind a line. “Why does a character say this line? Why do they use a particular inflection? What are they really trying to say?

In this lesson plan, students explore the meaning of subtext, practice applying subtext in dialogue and to create their own scene.

# Playwriting # Character Development # playwriting # character development

The Criteria of a Good Monologue

by Lindsay Price

Students will identify the elements of a good monologue through analysis and evaluation, focusing on a need to speak (Why does the character speak?), a specific character voice (Who is the character?) and a journey (Is there a beginning, middle, end?).

# Playwriting # playwriting # monologue

The Foundations of Playwriting

by Lindsay Price

Use this lesson plan as an introduction to a playwriting unit.

This is a two lesson plan unit. Students complete exercises that demystify and reframe the four foundational elements of the playwriting process: Warm Ups, The Idea, Character, and Conflict. These plans are grounded in the statement: “You can’t build a house without a good foundation.” In order to write plays students need to know the basics first.

# Playwriting # playwriting

Lesson 2 of 5 in Play Adaptation Project Unit

The Guidelines of Theatrical Adaptation

by Lindsay Price

In this lesson, students will learn a set of guidelines for theatrical adaptation for students to follow when they write their own. They will then apply those guidelines in a couple of smaller text section exercises.

Slide Deck Lesson 2

# Playwriting

Lesson 2 of 4 in Playwriting Kickstart: Multi platform Unit

The Idea Process

by Lindsay Price

In Lesson 2, students learn and apply two topic areas to generate ideas

# Playwriting # playwriting

The Masque of Red Death and Coronavirus

by Lindsay Price

In this compare and contrast lesson, students will read a dramatization of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of Red Death. This story is the ultimate example of “social distancing.” Students will compare and contrast the dramatization to the current events surrounding Coronavirus and then write an adaptation focusing on modern viruses.

# Playwriting # Analysis

Lesson 7 of 13 in Devising Unit

The Ren Run

by Corinna Rezzelle

In this lesson, students will work in groups to create transitions in improvised tableaux and movement pieces. They will also participate in a “ren run” to practice improv blocking.

Slide Deck Lesson 7

# Playwriting # devising # playwriting

Lesson 7 of 13 in Devising Unit

The Ren Run

by Corinna Rezzelle

In this lesson, students will work in groups to create transitions in improvised tableaux and movement pieces. They will also participate in a “ren run” to practice improv blocking.

Slide Deck Lesson 7

# Playwriting

Lesson 2 of 7 in Monologue Writing Made Easy Unit

The Story Mountain Framework

by Matthew Banaszynski

Students will understand the parts of a story and how it relates to a monologue through the story mountain framework.

Slide Deck Lesson 2

# Playwriting # Acting # monologue # playwriting # acting

Lesson 5 of 8 in Playwriting Unit

The Unities

by Karen Loftus

Students continue their exploration of playwriting by learning about Aristotle’s Unities of time, place, and action. They apply the Unities in an improv.

Slide Deck Lesson 5

# Playwriting # playwriting