Lesson Plan:  10-minute play workshop

THP 260/ENG 210 – Introduction to Playwriting

75 minutes – 10:40-11:55

Objectives:

Students will demonstrate understanding of sharp, fast-paced, realistic dialogue.

Students will be able to give and receive productive, supportive feedback.

Students will be able to listen to plays aloud, analyze, and discuss them.

Students will demonstrate synthesis of ideas of conflict, character, structure, and dialogue through discussion of own ten-minute play.

Rewriting dialogue: – 15 min.

            --Class exercise/Discussion--

Pass out handout with divorce conflict.

Students will work in groups to cut down and rewrite dialogue so that it can fit on a single page.

As a class we will discuss what their solutions were and why.

How to give feedback: – 15 min.

--Handouts/Discussion--

Pass out handouts: “How to give and receive feedback,” and “Neutral questions”

Read through and discuss workshop process – feedback in a writer-centered environment that allows for students to think critically about their own and others’ work, while maintaining a positive and productive atmosphere:

Writers ask three questions of own work.

Class gives response to questions.

If writer wants, can open up discussion for class to ask questions of writer.

Reading of 10-minute plays: – 40 min.

            --Workshop--

Read 2 students’ ten-minute plays:

Plays read aloud, 10 minutes to read each play.

Questions and feedback, 10 minutes for each play.

Assignment for next class: – 5 min.

For students who have not yet written their 10-minute play:

Come up with a list of ideas and/or questions for the class about the 10-minute play you are planning.

For students who have read their 10-minute play in class:

            Write a 1-2 page reflection on what you learned about your work through the workshop

process.  What did you notice yourself?  What did others notice?  What will you change?

We will spend time at the beginning of next class discussing any potential ideas, brainstorms, questions, or other issues in an attempt to decide on a specific topic, theme, or plot, or to flesh-out a play’s skeleton.