When having students try their hand at writing their own play scripts, we often focus our attention on the skill of writing dialogue and perhaps include a discussion of the emotions involved for the characters. Unfortunately, we often neglect an examination of the more physical part of drama - the action of the story which would be given to the director and actors through stage cues.

Visualizing

For young writers of play scripts and puppet scripts, the skill of visualization should also be taught. Children must learn to see with their mind's eye what will be transpiring on stage throughout their play. Without some forethought and clearly written stage cues, actors could be stumped when it comes to figuring out how and if they can actually perform some of the actions suggested by the script. If for example, the task is to write their own play script of Peter Pan, they are likely to have Peter heroically flying through the air, sword in hand, snatching Captain Hook's hat from his head and making a spectacular landing high up in the rigging of the ship. This would be a marvelous scene, but how do the students perform that on a classroom budget?

The Reality of Play Scripts for School

The last thing we want to do is dampen the originality or imagination of our students, but if they are putting in the effort to write a play script, the performance is just as important as the writing in determining the success of the task.

When rehearsing a play, students often spend a lot of time pushing or pulling each other around ("You go here, no you go there...etc.") while trying to figure out the movement or the "how to's" in order to carry out the action suggested by the dialogue. The playwright could try to solve some of these problems for the actors by thinking through the entire script and visualizing how and where the action would be carried out on the stage.

Finding and Solving the Impossibles

To think about .....

Basic Stage Instructions

These are usually easy to determine and should be written in with the characters' dialogue. (e.g. enter stage right .... tiptoeing up behind John etc...) Most students will be familiar with these stage cues from reading scripts, but without focusing on them, they are not as likely to put them into their own writing. These can be even more important in classroom drama, however, when there is no director to determine how the actors should move.

Props/Scenery

Items should be listed separately and some thought given to where they will be placed for the actor to pick up, move around, sit on etc.

Actions

This is the area where the finding and solving of the impossible usually happens. Noting that character 1 is standing on rock (chair) at the back of the stage while his next line is to be whispered in the ear of character 2 who is still standing at the front of the opposite side of the stage needs to be reworked. Thinking back to our Peter Pan problem ... with live actors how do we get the effect of Peter flying without endangering the lives of the actors! If, however, it is a puppet script the effect could be handled easily. Even when writing for puppets, the writer must stop and think through a few cases of "How do I do that?". With actions as simple as picking up a piece of paper, which is no problem for a live actor, a technical challenge is created for some types of puppets. Great opportunities for creative problem solving!

To help students to work through his process, add a Blocking activity to the editing process. In some ways they take on the role of the director when thinking through the staging of their play. Have them create a chart to complete as they examine the script. In one column draw a box to represent the stage area (one for each scene for longer works) and actually mark on it the placement of objects and using symbols and lines track the movements of the characters. This will help them to come across any difficulties presented by the script. Include a column for scenery, props, sound effects/music and any actions that may need to be worked out technically. If the students are working in a group to present the play, this is a great activity for them to do together as preparation before rehearsing the play.

With practice, students learn to visualize some of the finer details as they write their play scripts, but blocking and charting is always a valuable activity. More preparation before jumping into rehearsals can save a lot of time. Find and solve the "impossibles" first!

Time crunch? For a print version of a play script blocking chart visit Scruffy Plume's Play Scripts and Songs for Teaching @ http://www.play-script-and-song.com Our goal is to provide time-saving ideas and materials to help teachers integrate the arts into all areas of education.