ISSUES IN DRAMATIC STRUCTURE

PART 1: EVERY DAY LIFE (STASIS)

Ø      Introduce main characters and their “typical” lives.

o       Hints of conflict, clues as to what is lacking or what the main character wants, needs, or yearns for, things that could be changed in that life.

Ø      Secondary characters, and what they contribute to the main character’s life.

Ø      Establishing genre and style: Is this a comedy?  A drama?  A poetic, surrealist vision of life?

PART 2: INTERRUPTION OF EVERY DAY LIFE (CALL TO ADVENTURE, FOLLOWED BY EMBRACE OF ADVENTURE OR BEING FORCED INTO ADVENTURE)

Ø      New event that takes the character in a new direction

o       Calling for a new life, new way of living, dying, or coping with dying.

Ø      This event needs to alter the every day life and completely challenge the main character in his/her way of thinking about life.

Ø      Dramatic question is posed:  Will the character achieve his/her goal?  What do we need for the story to end?

PART 3: MAIN CONFRONTATION (CONFLICT)

Ø      What to do with this new life?

Ø      How to embrace or oppose new life?

Ø      How to get back to old life?

Ø      Will things ever be the same?  Should they be?

PART 4: RESOLUTION

Ø      How is the issue resolved?

Ø      How has the character survived the challenges posed in this new life?

Ø      What has changed the character’s way of thinking?

Ø      Did the character get what he/she wanted, or wanted to avoid?

PART 5: THOUGHT

Ø      What does the play leave us with?

Ø      What has the writer sought to communicate?

Ø      Is there a specific message?

Ø      What ideas has the play grappled with?