Chapter 1 The Play's the Thing

The stage is a magical place. Live actors and a live audience make for an immediacy no other art of the written
word can duplicate. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the dramatic "poet" (that's us) had the power
and the duty to "teach and to please," and it's a tradition that lives on to this day. Sounds great. But how do you do
it? Before your play can teach and please anyone, you have to write it, rewrite it (probably over and over again),
submit it to theaters and hope that one of them will want to produce it. It can be a long road, particularly because
now more than ever, plays tend to get plenty of development (i.e. readings and workshops) before getting fully
produced. Good playwrights typically have patience and perseverance to spare.

Types of Plays. Plays come in all shapes and sizes. Here are the most common ones:

Ten-Minute Plays: Ten-minute plays have become very popular in recent years with the advent of The Actors
Theatre of Louisville contest. A good ten-minute play is not a sketch or an extended gag, but rather a complete,
compact play, with a beginning, middle and end. It typically takes place in one scene and runs no more than ten
pages. In fact, because many contests disqualify entries with more than ten pages, it's a good idea to adhere to that
page limit religiously.

One-Act Plays: One-acts can run anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour or more. While technically, the one-act
gets its name from having only one act (however long that might be), it's more commonly thought of as a play that
isn't long enough to constitute a full evening. Arguably the most popular length for one-acts is around a half-hour.
At this length, a play can fit on a bill with a pair of other one-acts, and if your play is suitable for high school
production, thirty minutes is a good length for a competition play.
A good one-act focuses on one main action or problem; there's not time to get into complicated layers of plot. And
for practical reasons, it's a good idea to keep your play to one set and as few scenes as possible. Why? Let's say
that your one-act is on a bill with two other one-acts, a common scenario. Let's further say that your one-act has
two distinct settings, requiring two different sets and a set change in the middle of an already short play. Not a
good thing. Each of the other one-acts already has its own set requirements, so suddenly the theater is faced with
building four different sets for one evening. Not likely to happen.
Another common situation is that a one-act precedes a play that's not quite long enough to be an evening unto
itself. My play The White Pages opened for Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile and had to make use of
largely the same set, with canvases painted like bookcases and a desk brought on to make it look more like a
bookstore. So the moral of the story is to write your one-act with the most minimal set and technical demands
possible.

Full-Length Plays: Full-length plays are also called evening-length plays, because they're long enough to be their
own evening. How long is that? Anywhere from around seventy or eighty minutes and up. How up is up? These
days, with TV shrinking our attention spans, you'd better have a very good reason to keep an audience in the
theater for much longer than two hours. And it's always a good idea to write your play so that it can be produced, if
necessary, with minimal set and technical requirements. This doesn't mean that an ambitious designer can't go to
town on your script if that possibility exists, but if producing your play requires eight set changes or filling the
stage with water, most theaters will not be able to afford you.

Musicals: Musicals can run the gamut in length from ten minutes (though these are rare, because it's not very cost
effective to assemble a band to play for only ten minutes) to three hours. Again, the middle ground - somewhere
between ninety minutes and two hours, is probably the one to shoot for.

Chapter 2
Different Theater Spaces

Not every theater space is the same, and it pays to be aware of the types of spaces in which your play might be
produced. Often, plays work better in some spaces than others. Keeping in mind that many theater spaces are
hybrids, here are the basics:

Proscenium

Effectively, the actors perform with the audience sitting in front of them. Either the stage is raised above the level
of the audience (for example, in many high schools) or the seats in the "house" are raked (in other words, the
farther away from the stage your seat is, the higher up you get). Most theaters - everything from Broadway to high
schools - are prosceniums.

Thrust

Imagine a tongue thrusting into a proscenium-style audience and you have a thrust configuration. In this
configuration, though this may not be true of the extreme upstage area, the actors will have audience on three
sides.

In the Round
The actors are in a central playing area, and the audience surrounds them on all sides. Actors may have to enter and
exit through the aisles.

Black Box

A black box is a performance space that is exactly what it sounds like: a black-painted square or rectangle. A true
black box - that is, one with no fixed seating - is the ultimate in flexibility, because the theater can configure the
audience arrangement to match the staging needs of your play, rather than staging your play around the audience.

Touring

A "touring" space isn't a kind of space at all, but if your show needs to tour - (e.g. to schools) that means it could
be performed in anything from a giant proscenium auditorium to a densely packed classroom - it's a good idea to
observe some common sense guidelines:

No sets, or sets that can be installed and taken down in minutes, and transported in a deep trunk or a van.
Props and costumes that can be packed into a large box for easy transport.
No lighting cues beyond "lights up" (if that), and only sound cues that can be done from a boombox.
Small cast (anything larger than four is begging for trouble).
Forty to forty-five minutes running time (for high schools, and fewer for younger children), to fit into one class
period.

Chapter 3
Story Structure

Scenes or Acts?

Should you divide your play into acts, or just into scenes? It's really a matter of personal taste, as long as you
recognize a few basic principles of play construction and why we have these divisions in the first place.

Virtually all plays, as much as we rail against the way some screenwriters have turned this into a cookie-cutter,
divide into what has come to be called three-act structure. Here's where you get to impress your friends with your
fancy verbiage:

The first act is the Protasis, or exposition.

The second act is the Epitasis, or complication.
The final act is the Catastrophe, or resolution.
Just as in screenwriting format, the middle act is the longest. Aristotle (384-322 BCE.), whose Poetics represented
his collected observations on dramatic structure and playwriting based on the practice of Greek dramatists, is
largely credited for three-act structure and has had long-lasting influence on playwriting. Want to really, really
impress your friends? Tell them Aristotle didn't say anything about three Unities.

So what does this three-act structure mean? It means that no matter whether you label the divisions in your script
acts or scenes, the arc of a good play will be roughly the same. Logically, though, if you're writing a play that is
not meant to have an intermission, it makes sense simply to have scenes, whereas if you expect to have an
intermission, put it between two acts. Of course, you could also put an intermission between scenes if you prefer.
You have options. You even have options when it comes to structure. Read more about them in Chapter 17.

Write to be Read

One of the terms you'll hear a lot from me is "your reader." But plays are meant to be performed, not read - right?
True, but before your play makes it to a stage, it will have to survive a small army of readers. For example, when I
was reading for Robert Brustein's American Repertory Theatre, a play typically had to get through at least two
script readers before it reached the head of new play development. If it got through him, it would go either to the
literary manager or to the associate artistic director or perhaps to Brustein himself. That's a lot of reads, so it's
crucial that you write not just to be performed, but to be read as well.

Chapter 4
Story Development

Writing off the top of our head sometimes is great to capture a fleeting idea. But real planning and preparation
work can save the writer a lot of frustration and backpedaling at a later date. Outlining and breaking down the
dramatic elements of a story are well worth the effort. By playing contrasts and conflict to maximum effect the
playwright can stir the primal in us.

There are so many ways to approach an idea. And the actual activity of logging in the possibilities is not a pleasant
task. But having an easy and systematic method to catalog ideas, dialogue, and other snippets is like having an
assistant available at all time to do your bidding. In recent years software developers have created products to
simplify this process; some are for outlining/brainstorming and others specifically organize dramatic elements
under a theoretical umbrella. Whatever method you choose here is a "Top Ten Tip' List for you:

1. Create a world that's true to real life or fantastical or that mixes the mundane with the magical. But
whatever set of rules you create for that world, make sure you follow them.
2. Write a conflict that builds as the play progresses. As you structure the conflict, think in terms of your play
having a beginning, a middle and an end.
3. Write characters that want something (which puts them in conflict with other characters) and try to get what
they want at every moment.
4. Make sure that each character has something at stake, a consequence if he doesn't get what he wants.
5. Create a "ticking clock" that puts the characters under pressure to get what they want right away.
6. Make sure there is a good reason, an "event," for your play. It's not enough for two characters to sit around
and talk for a while and then leave. There needs to be some important reason why we're watching them
now, at this particular moment.
7. Write dialogue that illuminates your characters and advances the plot at the same time.
8. Make each character speak in a distinctive voice. If you have trouble with that, try imagining a specific
actor you know - even if it's someone who will never play the part - in the role.
9. Do not have a character tell us something she can show us instead. For example, it's much more effective to
hide under the bed than to say "I'm afraid."
10. Give each character a "moment," something that justifies the character's existence in your play and that
makes him attractive for an actor to play.

Chapter 5
What Does a Play Look Like?

Not Like This!

You may have seen plays that look something like this:

ALEX. I want somewhere with a lawn.

MERC. What? That patch of dead grass on 133rd not good enough? (Merc eyes the lock on the box of
women's clothing.) Wish I had a lawn. I would've been a different person. (Beat.) Make sure you get a lawn.
(Beat.) You been through your Mom's clothing?
ALEX. (Lying) No. You?
Notice that character name, dialogue and intermittent (stage directions) extend from left margin to right
margin, except for a small indent of the first line. Text is single-spaced.

This is Published Play Format, typically what the publisher gives you in an Acting Edition, and its goal is to
save space. It's hard to read, and not submission format. Submitting a script in this format is a bad idea - it
would surely give a theater's overworked literary staff a headache.

What Should My Play Look Like?

Playwrights and the people who read their work have never adopted an ironclad, industry-wide format, maybe
because theater, by its nature, tends toward the revolutionary and can't bear to become establishment. Maybe
we're just not that organized.

But even if there's not one, absolutely must-follow format, there are definitely common-sense formatting
principles of "readability" that must be respected. If a work is going to be read by potentially many people you
must place the words on the page in the most familiar manner. This will assure the reader that an experienced
writer is behind the work and that same writer will not burden the reader with unusual markings, fonts, or
margins. Here is a general rendering of Manuscript Format.

Note: Script formatting software has made formatting all scripts considerably easier and less time-intensive in
recent years, and many of these same programs have playwriting templates, with settings that you can modify
with relative ease. They're definitely worth investing in and more on those later.

Chapter 6
Manuscript Format Elements

The Rules: Manuscript format is the only format to use when you are submitting your script to theater companies,
contests, publishers, agents and other theater opportunities. The guiding principle here is easy reading.

Title Page
Cast Page
Musical Numbers Page (musicals only)
Act/Scene Heading
At Rise Description
Character Name
Dialogue
Stage Directions
Transition
No particular font, like the Courier 12 point in screenwriting, is the rule. I prefer Times Roman for its ease of
reading, but Courier or any other simple, clear font is acceptable. Cursive fonts or handwritten corrections are not
acceptable. Whichever font you choose, though, keep the size at 12 points for reading ease.

Play Page Layout

The Rules:
Use 8.5" by 11" paper (3 hole punch if possible).
Top and bottom margins are about 1".
Right margin is also 1". Left margin, where the binding is, is approximately 1.5".
Page numbering starts on page 2, place a page number in the upper right hand corner (in the header).
Do not number the Cast Page.
Note: See International Submission setting at end of document.
Software Tip: Script formatting software knows how to put off page numbering till the right place. As we go along
other rules are either incorporated or quickly set up in the software, too.

Chapter 7
Title Page Element

The Rules: Vertically centered on the page, type the play's title in all Caps, centered directly below type your name
in mixed case.

Keep your title page simple - no oversized letters, color or fancy graphics. Being something of a minimalist, my
title page might look something like this...

BEEF JUNKIES
Jon Dorf
An alternate method of presentation:

COLLISIONS IN AIR AND SPACE

by Jon Dorf
For a musical:

DAY ONE

Book and lyrics by Jon Dorf

Music by Mary Nelson and James Balmer
Your address, phone number, email address follows. Print it right justified (in the right half of the page) and as
close to the bottom margin as you can get without wrapping onto the next page (or your agent's contact
information, if you have representation).

The Rules: Should you put the draft number or the date on your script? I would argue "yes" to the draft number and
"no" to the date. The draft number helps the theater tell one draft from another. For example, Tom Shade and
Michael Gray, co-artistic directors of City Theater Company of Wilmington (DE), where I am the resident
playwright, read new drafts of my plays on a regular basis. I would hate to have to tell Tom or Michael, "the latest
draft is the one 92 pages long, not 94 pages." Printing a date on a script, while technically serving as
distinguishing, has the negative impact of dating your work.

The Rules: Don't ever send out a First Draft!

What about a Copyright Notice?

Copyright notices are placed either below the address field on the right, or left aligned on the first line of the
address block.

There are two schools of thought on whether to put a copyright notice on the title page. One argument is that it
may deter would-be thieves from "borrowing" your work and shows that you know your rights. The opposite
argument is that it's a sign of paranoia or amateurism.

Your script is copyrighted from the instant you write it, even though to receive statutory protection it needs to be
registered with the Register of Copyrights; therefore including the copyright notice is redundant.

Here's what my complete title page might look like:

LAST RIGHT BEFORE THE VOID

 Jon Dorf

c/o The Writers Store

2040 Westwood Blvd.
Westwood, CA 90025
(800) 272-8927
[email protected]
DRAFT 2.3

Chapter 8
Cast Page Element

Use the standard page margin, without page number. Capitalizing the character names helps set them apart - you
may even wish to write them in bold. If the character description wraps onto a second line, use a .5" hanging
indent.

The Rules: This is the readers' and potential producer or director's reference page.
Detail your characters' age, gender and anything else that is essential to casting.
If necessary include a little spin on "who" your characters are.
Include whether one actor is meant to play multiple characters (referred to as Multiple Casting).
Do not write exhaustive descriptions of the characters' behavior; you have to show this in the play.
Here you can also include any setting information, whether there's an intermission in your play, or no obvious act
break. If you want the play to run without intermission, tell us that too. Here's the Cast Page from my play Milk
and Cookies.

Cast of Characters

MARGE NANCY REAGAN BALLMOTH, harried thirty-something mother

JACKIE, her ten-year-old son, played by the actor who plays Rufus
BRUCE, the average-looking man from the milk carton and about Marge's age
BLONDIE, a youngish, not necessarily blond woman
MARGE'S HUSBAND, about Marge's age and played by the actor who plays Rufus
RUFUS, a thirty something mysterious freelance version of the witness protection
program living in Montana

The play takes place over several days in various suggested settings in California, Nevada,
Idaho and Montana.

Chapter 9
'Musical' Numbers Page Element

The Rules: In a musical, include the Musical Numbers Page after the Cast Page. The exact format varies, but think
two columns: in the left column list the titles of the songs, and the right column, left indented approximately 3",
list the performing characters. Divide the show into acts.

Below is the Musical Numbers Page for Day One, for which I wrote book and lyrics, a commission from the
Choate Rosemary Hall Summer Arts Conservatory, where I served as playwright-in-residence.

LIST OF SONGS

Act I
"Day One" The Cast
"A Hole in the Wall" Jake, Stanley, Wannabes
"This Place This Time" Stanley, Stella, Jake
"Mohammed Ali" Skeeter
"The Solution is Clear" Erika, Skeeter, Wannabes
"The Solution is Clear" (reprise) Erika, Skeeter, Blaise
"Fifteen Minutes" Thyme, Ensemble
"Melt Into Me" Helen
"A Good Boy is Hard to Find, and a Wannabes
Good Man is Downright Impossible"
"Out Past Infinity" Blaise
"Don't Let it Splatter" Helen, Jake, Stanley, Stella, Skeeter
Act II
"Locker Room Blues/Year-Long Limbo" Skeeter, The Cast
"New School Order" Erika, Wannabes
"Lost Sheep" Helen, Jake, Stanley, Stella
"I Hate Stanley" Stella
"Sand" Thyme, Jake
"Come on, Jake" Wannabes
"Sturdy and Strong" Blaise, Jake
"I Hate Stanley" (reprise) Helen, Wannabes
"In a Heartbeat" Stanley, Stella, Helen
"The Dance/Finale" The Cast
Act/Scene Heading Element

Typically, Act/Scene Headings are very simple. Act numbers are traditionally written in Roman numerals, while
Scene numbers are written as Arabic numbers. Text of both Act and Scene are written in all CAPS and centered on
the line. In the past playwrights used to underline these headings, but boldface type stands out better.

The Rules: If you're writing a ten-minute or one-act play with only one scene, you don't need to use Act/Scene
headings. But if you're writing a one-act play with multiple scenes or a multi-act play, you need to give your reader
some road signs.

Look at it below:

ACT I

SCENE 1
If a play is a one-act, cut the Act Heading (obviously) and just use the Scene Heading. Now, you're ready for the...

Chapter 10
Setting and At Rise Description Element

Typically, the At Rise and Setting Description are left indented at approximately 3.25" (a little more than half
across the page,) running to the right margin.

The Rules: When your play, or any new scene or act, begins, the reader wants to know the Setting and who and
what is seen on stage. This At Rise Description is so named because it refers to the raising of the curtain most
theaters used to have. While these days curtains are mostly reserved for large, proscenium houses, such as on
Broadway, we still need to know what the stage looks like when the lights come up. Older formats would often call
for the Setting and the At Rise Description to be separated, but these days we tend to put them together.

At RISE:
(A kitchen/living room somewhere in
California. Early evening. MARGE, thirty
something mother, stops to scrutinize
the carton before pouring milk into a
bowl of flour. On the table are four
place settings, one of which includes a
martini.)
From the above description, your reader knows the setting (place and time) of the play, as well as who and what
occupies the space when the play begins.

Use the At Rise margins each time a new scene or new act begins. Since the whole idea of starting a new scene is
that either the place or time has changed - otherwise, you'd still be in the same scene - it's common sense to set the
new scene for your reader with an At Rise description.

How to Describe the Setting

The amount of information playwrights include to set the scene varies incredibly. Here are a few examples:

(A deserted road on the outskirts of a

not quite apocalyptic suburbia. Not
quite five o'clock in the not so distant
future. COWGIRL, late twenties and the
Bonnie half of a Bonnie and Clyde team,
holds a syringe. Her hands shake.
COWBOY, about her age, holds a
backpack.)
In Beef Junkies above, I give a sense of the world of the play and the time of day, but "a deserted road" is as
specific as I get about the set. But in the opening of The Wash, I give more detail.

(The laundry room of a New York

apartment building. Friday night, around
nine o'clock. A row of washing machines
right. Opposite them, a row of dryers.
Center, several chairs for those who
wait. JUDITH, mid-twenties, puts her
laundry in a washing machine. Her
pocketbook is atop Agatha Christie's
Dead Man's Folly inside her empty
laundry basket.)

The Stage

Notice the use of the terms "right" and "center," which along with "left" are theatrical shorthand for Stage Right,
Stage Left and Center Stage. Right and left always refer to the actors' right and left, and center is the center of the
stage. Sometimes you'll also see "upstage" or "downstage," or their shorter forms, *up and *down. The latter terms
get their names from the early days of theatre, when stages were raked, and if you walked toward the back of the
stage, you literally walked up, and if you walked toward the audience, you were walking down. Few raked stages
exist, but we still use the terms.

Character Name Element

Characters' names may appear in two ways: before dialogue and contained in the stage directions. Character names
that precede dialogue are always capitalized aligned at a 2.5" tab stop. In stageplays, opposed to screenplays, you
are permitted to use boldface to further set the character name apart.

PERRY
They were your dogs. And Rover just ran away. We don't even know for sure he's
dead.

MARLA
It's been two years.

PERRY
Probably found an owner who fed him more than Diet Dog.
For character names that appear in the stage directions you have the choice of two formats. The first format is like
screenwriting: the character name is in all CAPS the first time it is introduced in the stage directions, after that it's
always in mixed case. For example, I introduce Marla in this At Rise description.

(Late afternoon. A living room. MARLA,

thirty something, holds a cardboard dog
and looks out a window, which might be
indicated by a hanging frame.)
But later in the play, I write

(Marla strokes the cardboard dog.)

The second way to format character names in stage directions is to use ALL CAPS throughout. It's a matter of
personal preference: pick the format that seems most readable and stick with it.

Chapter 12
Dialogue Element

Writing good dialogue is hard, but formatting it is easy. Dialogue, which is always mixed case, single-spaced,
typically runs margin to margin and follows the character name on the next line. A blank line follows between the
dialogue and the next character's name. A formatting program will do the spacing and margin adjusting
automatically for you.

COWGIRL
The hamburger is ten feet tall.

COWBOY
It's not there.

COWGIRL
I know, but it's dripping fat, and it's sizzling. It's on a sesame bun, and you
can just see some onion sticking out. There's a dab of ketchup on the onion.
Maybe it popped out from under the bun. It's winking at me.
Sometimes stage directions interrupt dialogue, but each adheres to its own formatting rules. See below.

COWGIRL
Piece in your teeth.
(She puts the finger with the fragment of the mystery
meat into her mouth. She instantly spits it out.)
Ugh! Why'd you tell me it was beef?
Continuing Dialogue

If a character's dialogue is interrupted by a page break, and continues onto the next page, you repeat the character
name set-up on the next page with the (cont'd) remark after the name. This is what formatting software was made
for!

LADY SHAKESPEARE
And he fed the dog! Yeah, the dog ... I don't know ... No ... That population's
on the ups every day, and we're gonna' get buried in garbage else ... That's why
he's feedin' the dog ...
At the top of the next page:

LADY SHAKESPEARE (cont'd)

Don't tell me different. No, no, no ...
(She sees Ben.)
There's little trash babies, all kinds, eatin' their lunch out of a garbage
pail. I just know the Trash Man's comin'. Who thrown their babies to the
garbage?
Offstage Dialogue

When a character walks offstage while speaking either notate this as part of the stage directions, or alongside the
character name if the character is already offstage. You may write either "Offstage" or "Off."

BAXTER
Yeah. Sure.
(Baxter exits to the kitchen. Off)
We mostly talk sports when he calls, 'cause he's into that. Talk a little
wrestling, a little football - he's a linebacker. Not a real good team - I snuck
over to see a game once. They're small. Josh is real fast. If they had some
other real fast kids they might be good. But now football's almost over and it's
time for wrestling.
...or...

HOLLY (off)
You still have to bandage it.
Interruptions

When one character interrupts another, use double dashes (--) or an em dash (a long dash) to show that the speaker
is being cut off. Below, I make use of an em dash. No need to write "interrupts."

HUGO
If my Dad said we're moving just like that -

CHARLIE
You'd move. Hold this cone
(holds out the ice cream cone)
a sec?
Using ellipses ( ... ) does not signify that a character has been interrupted, but rather that she hesitates or trails off
of her own accord. For example, in Shining Sea, Pac can't bring himself to ask a question:

PAC
Would you ... ?

CANDY
Would I what?
Emphasizing Dialogue

Occasionally, the actor's emphasis on a particular word may be so important that you want to write that direction
into the script. While there is no ironclad rule for this practice, italicizing the word to be emphasized works best
(underlining or capitalizing the word is both confusing and cramping). To use italics successfully, do not overuse
them. Below is an example:
 WENDY
You do? But she's my hallucination.
Simultaneous Dialogue

Sometimes characters speak at the same time. The rule of thumb is to divide your page into two columns, placing
the character names within their individual columns. Indent any stage directions 1" instead of 2".

FLYER MAN
Only diamonds do the trick. Only diamonds do it. Say it with me: only diamonds
do it. Say it.

FLYER MAN BEN

Only diamonds do it. Only diamonds do it.
Writing Tip: Make sure to punctuate very carefully. Through careful punctuation, and not by giving them line
readings, is how you tell the director and the actor how your characters speak. A comma means something
different than a period. Ellipses mean something different than an em dash. A period and a question mark make big
differences in an actor's inflection. Control the rhythm of your play through the punctuation.

Chapter 13
Lyrics

If you're writing a musical or a "play with music," if words are to be sung, they need to be set apart from spoken
dialogue. Lyrics are written in ALL CAPS, but in all other respects, lyrics are written in dialogue format. Some
writers double-space between stanzas (I do below), some don't. Go with whatever is the easiest read.

ERIKA
(speaking as if to a young child)
What do you think of your new school so far?
(beat)
Let's go - the bell rang five minutes ago, and you don't have a hall pass.

(Erika pulls Skeeter to his feet, but he breaks away.)

SKEETER
THE BELL HAS RUNG
MY BELL'S BEEN RUNG
THREE TIMES ALREADY THIS MORNING
OR WAS IT FOUR - I'M BARELY THROUGH THE DOOR
AND I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE

I DIDN'T ASK TO BE IN HONORS MATH

OR FOR THAT GIRL TO CHOP MY LUNCH IN HALF
AND LEAVE ME FOR DEAD
WITH THE FOOD CHAIN WRAPPED AROUND MY HEAD
If there is spoken dialogue in the middle of a song, just insert them on a separate line in mixed case between the
lyrics, not separated by any blank lines:

ERIKA
It's a replica. I wanted to get used to it. You can't just swing this thing
anyway the wind blows.
A GAVEL IS AS PRECIOUS AS A RAIN IN THE SAHARA
YOU MUST SWING AND BANG WITH VIGOR AND LET NO ONE ELSE BE FAIRER
Stage Direction Element

Indent stage directions (except for At Rise directions) 2" from the left margin, and let them wrap at the right
margin.

Stage directions always follow a blank line, and are either inserted single spaced within dialogue or on their own,
between speakers, preceded and followed by a blank line. A format for stage directions is included with all script
formatting softwares, making these transitions easy and headache-free.

Your stage directions are just as important as your dialogue. Remember that your reader will read them first, so
make them concise and as readable as possible, perhaps even entertaining.

The Rules: Do not try to direct the play from the page by telling us what the character should be feeling or by
giving abundant line readings.
Some writers like to write stage directions in complete sentences, while others prefer phrases. Punctuate
accordingly. Whatever you do, use the active present tense.

COWGIRL
I could suck one. I could suck one for an entire day.
(finishes looking through the backpack)
Where is it?

(Cowboy pulls a tiny piece of meat from his pants. He

puts it in his mouth and tastes it.)

COWBOY
Pork.

Chapter 14
Transition Element

Since curtains are so rarely used, lighting has become the chief means of indicating the beginning and end of your
play. Typically, "Lights up" is understood as the direction at the opening of any scene, so it's rarely written.
However, a lights out direction usually does appear at the end of a scene or an act or the play. Among the common
terms are "Lights fade" and "Blackout."

Collisions in Air and Space is divided into scenes rather than acts. The end of Scene 1 looks like this:

MERC
I know.
(He pats Alex on the back and looks out the window.
Beat)
There's somebody under the window.

(Alex joins him at the window as they look down. Blackout.)

If it's the end of an act, it's a good idea to indicate that too. For example, in Milk and Cookies:

BRUCE
For?

MARGE
Rufus.

(Blackout and end of Act I.)

And then there's the end of the play. Here's the ending of War of the Buttons:

WALKER
(Beat. Exiting)
Good war.

CHARLIE
Yeah. You too.

(Walker exits. Beat. Charlie bites into the cone, then

exits as the lights dim. End of play.)
Instead of "End of play," you may wish to cling to tradition and write "Curtain."

Chapter 15
Page Break Rules

The Rules:
Do not break dialogue or stage directions in mid-sentence.
Do not page break between a character name and the dialogue that follows.
See Continuing Dialogue for instructions about how to break in the middle of a character's dialogue.
Page Breaking rules like the above can be automatically dealt with. If there were any one software product that
could truly be said to have changed the world for scriptwriters, it has been the 'Stand Alone Script Formatter.'
These products store your character names, scene locations, margin settings, and CASE settings for all elements.
They have note annotation, index card like viewing, voice read back of character dialogue, even online copyright
registration. In other words, they let you concentrate on your writing by doing virtually everything else. The time
you'll save makes this money very well spent.

Binding
The Rules: Three-hole punch your play using brads in the top and bottom holes, leaving the middle hole empty.

Unless a theater has specific guidelines, binding varies. I prefer to package my plays like screenplays.

Want a more secure script? Some writers like to three-hole punch script covers to use as front and back covers.
When a theater requires a "securely bound" script, I particularly favor a folder (it works with a standard three-hole
punch) with a card backing and a see-through front. Whichever method you prefer, The Writers Store carries all of
the supplies necessary to package your script appropriately for submission. For ten-minute plays, a secure staple in
the upper-left corner is usually sufficient unless the theater tells you otherwise. Do not paperclip scripts unless
directed to do so by the theater, ditto with loose scripts (the US Register of Copyrights is the exception to the loose
script rule).

Chapter 16
Submitting Your Work

The Rules: Understand that large cast shows are very expensive, often prohibitively so, for professional theaters to
produce. Schools, on the other hand, often need large cast shows to involve lots of students. Shows with lots of
female roles will be particularly welcome at the typical high school.

The Rules: Before submitting your script to a theater company, be aware of a few facts:
All literary offices are inundated with scripts and understaffed.
Different theaters want you to approach them - or not approach them - in different ways.
Not every theater will be the right place to send your newly-minted masterpiece.
If a theater wants a certain type of play (for example, they only produce one-acts), that's what they want. Don't
send them anything else.
Response times vary from a few weeks to more than a year. Be patient and move on to writing something else
rather than sitting on your hands.
Most scripts have to be rejected - often for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of your play - because
theaters receive many more scripts than they can produce. It's not personal.
Submissions to theaters follow one of the following five paths:

Direct Solicitation

Don't call them. They'll call you.

Agent Submission

You don't send it - your agent does. Don't have an agent? Some theaters that request Agent Submissions only may
respond to a well-written query or to a writer with a professional recommendation, but there's no guarantee.

Professional Recommendation

Have a theater professional - typically an artistic director or a literary manager or someone familiar to the company
- draft a brief letter recommending the script. Send that with the script and your cover letter.

Query

Send a one-page letter briefly telling them about the play, its history (productions, readings, workshops), any
unusual technical requirements, and a little bit about your experience. You may be asked to submit a one page
synopsis and/or sample pages. When in doubt, submit a ten-page - no more - dialogue sample. Always include a
stamped postcard for their reply so that they can just check, "Yes, please send a copy of Milk and Cookies," or
"Yes, please send a copy of Milk and Cookies after (date)," or "Other." Don't give them a "no thank you" box to
check; if their response is no, at least make them write it. Give them space next to the "Other" box to explain why.
Sometimes they'll take the time to tell you. Why a stamped postcard and not an envelope? Since you want them to
request the script, make it easy for them: with a postcard, all they have to do is check the box and drop it in the
mail.

Unsolicited

Just send them the script with a brief cover letter (see Query). Some theaters that take unsolicited scripts don't want
to be queried, others leave it as an option. Always include a stamped, self-addressed envelope (SASE) for the
theater's reply. I enclose a letter-sized envelope and tell the theater to recycle the script if they pass on it, for three
reasons: 1) chances are that the draft the theater has will no longer be current by the time they send it back, 2) who
knows what condition it will be in - you can't exactly resubmit a stained, dog-eared script. And 3) it doesn't cost
much to simply print or photocopy another copy.

If a theater accepts query letters and unsolicited scripts, the query letter is a good money-saver if you're not sure
that a theater is really right for your work.
The Rules: Never send out the only copy of your script. And make back-ups of your computer files regularly.

How do you find out what theaters want? A good starting place is The Dramatists Guild of America Resource
Directory. The Dramatists Guild is the organization of professional playwrights, lyricists and composers. Any
serious writer should join, because not only do members receive the Resource Directory and other publications, but
they also get access to a treasure-trove of services for playwrights, ranging from free legal advice on playwriting
matters to discounted theater tickets to help ironing out disputes with theaters.

The Rules: Proofread your script for typographical and other errors, and remember that a spell-check program
doesn't catch everything. Another set of eyes or reading the script aloud really helps.

Chapter 17
International Submission Formats

While the Manuscript Format as described in this article is the rule in the United States, Australia and New
Zealand, and most theaters anywhere in the world will accept it, there are other formats prevalent in other
countries. Look below for some helpful hints:

Canada, France, Great Britain

Page margins are approximately the same as in the United States, approximately 1.5" on the left, 1" on the right,
and 1" on the top and the bottom.
Capitalize the speaking character's name, (just like in the US), but place the name flush left, followed by a colon or
semicolon. Putting the name in boldface is a popular option, which increases readability.
A speaker's dialogue follows on the same line as the character name, left-indented approximately 1.5-2" or
generously enough for there to be sufficient white space for easy readability.
Stage directions should sit on their own line, italicized and left-indented approximately .5-1".
Directions to the actors (for example, "excitedly") are placed within dialogue, contained in parentheses and
italicized.
A blank line follows all dialogue or stage direction.

Conclusion - The 15th Commandment

The playwriting ideas in the body of Playwriting 101 are the ones most common to today's playwriting
mainstream, and as a writer just starting out, it's best to keep ideas like the need for conflict and the three-act
structure in mind. In fact, beginners should probably stop reading here. But if you feel you've mastered the basics
and are ready for a curveball, read on. Playwriting, more so than screenwriting, has always been a home for writers
with unique ways of telling a story, or for writers who don't tell a story at all-on purpose.
For example, think of Beckett's Waiting for Godot, one of the greatest plays ever written. What's the conflict?
There really isn't one. There's barely a story: it's just two guys waiting for a third man that never shows up. And by
the end, nothing has happened. For the audience, the fun of the play is listening to the back and forth between
Vladimir and Estragon as we slowly fill in the landscape of the world in which they live. This "landscape"
structure works as an alternative to the more conventional conflict-crisis-resolution structure.
Some plays use a technique called "gapping" instead of lots of onstage conflict and plot. The scenes are episodes,
and between each episode, time has passed, and things have changed. What happens during the scene, again, is that
we as the audience fill in what these changes have been.
Or your play can be a "process" structured around some event. For example, two people wait for a bus. When the
bus arrives, the play ends. Or maybe the play is a collection of characters, each following a story that happens at
the same time as the others but seems disparate. In the end, all of these stories meet and add up to one. Examples
of this more "anecdotal" structure can be found in the work of the great Russian playwright Chekhov.
Does this mean that conflict and the three-act structure are dead? That we should throw out everything we thought
we knew about playwriting? Of course not. But remember that there are only a limited number of plots out there
(some people say seven, others fourteen, others thirty-six). Look at Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet, in terms of its
plot, is just a cookie-cutter tale of forbidden love. What makes it great is the rich, often beautiful dialogue that
Shakespeare creates, the wonderful moments between the characters, the variety of textures and moods in the
scenes. That's what we remember-not what a clever story he wrote or how much conflict there was.
So what, practically speaking, is the Fifteenth Commandment? It's the commandment to know what really makes a
play memorable to an audience, and to use that knowledge to free yourself as a writer. And hey-if you can write as
well as Shakespeare, that wouldn't hurt either.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to Write a Play Script

Three Parts: Brainstorming Your Narrative; Deciding on Your Plays Structure; Writing Your Play
You have an idea for a play perhaps a brilliant idea. You want to expand it into a comedic or dramatic story
line, but how? Although you may want to dive right into the writing, your play will be much stronger if you spend
a lot of time planning your story out before you start your first draft. Once you've brainstormed your narrative and
outlined your structure, writing your play will seem a much less daunting task.
Steps
Part 1 Brainstorming Your Narrative
1. Decide what kind of story you want to tell. Though every story is different, most plays fall into categories
that help the audience understand how to interpret the relationships and events they see. Think about the
characters you want to write, then consider how you want their stories to unfold. Do they:[1]
o Have to solve a mystery?
o Go through a series of difficult events in order to achieve personal growth?
o Come of age by transitioning from childlike innocence to worldly experience?
o Go on a journey, like Odysseuss perilous journey in The Odyssey?[2]
o Bring order to chaos?
o Overcome a series of obstacles to achieve a goal?
2. Brainstorm the basic parts of your narrative arc.[3] The narrative arc is the progression of the play through
beginning, middle, and end. The technical terms for these three parts are exposition, rising action, and
resolution, and they always come in that order. Regardless of how long your play is or how many acts you
have, a good play will develop all three pieces of this puzzle. Taken notes on how you want to flesh each one
out before sitting down to write your play.
3. Decide what needs to be included in the exposition. Exposition opens a play by providing basic information
needed to follow the story: When and where does this story take place? Who is the main character? Who are
the secondary characters, including the antagonist (person who presents the main character with his or her
central conflict), if you have one? What is the central conflict these characters will face? What is the mood of
this play (comedy, romantic drama, tragedy)?
4. Transition the exposition into rising action. In the rising action, events unfold in a way that makes
circumstances more difficult for the characters. The central conflict comes into focus as events raise the
audiences tension higher and higher. This conflict may be with another character (antagonist), with an
external condition (war, poverty, separation from a loved one), or with oneself (having to overcome ones
own insecurities, for example). The rising action culminates in the storys climax: the moment of highest
tension, when the conflict comes to a head.[4]
5. Decide how your conflict will resolve itself. The resolution releases the tension from the climactic conflict to
end the narrative arc. You might have a happy ending, where the main character gets what he/she wants; a
tragic ending where the audience learns something from the main characters failure; or a denouement, in
which all questions are answered.
6. Understand the difference between plot and story. The narrative of your play is made up of the plot and
the story two discrete elements that must be developed together to create a play that holds your audiences
attention. E.M. Forster defined story as what happens in the play the chronological unfolding of events.
Plot, on the other hand, can be thought of as the logic that links the events that unfold through the plot and
make them emotionally powerful.[5] An example of the difference is:
o Story: The protagonists girlfriend broke up with him. Then the protagonist lost his job.
o Plot: The protagonists girlfriend broke up with him. Heartbroken, he had an emotional breakdown at
work that resulted in his firing.
o You must develop a story thats compelling and moves the action of the play along quickly enough to
keep the audiences attention. At the same time, you must show how the actions are all causally linked
through your plot development. This is how you make the audience care about the events that are
transpiring on stage.
7. Develop your story. You cant deepen the emotional resonance of the plot until you have a good story in
place. Brainstorm the basic elements of story before fleshing them out with your actual writing by answering
the following questions:[6]
o Where does your story take place?
o Who is your protagonist (main character), and who are the important secondary characters?
o What is the central conflict these characters will have to deal with?
o What is the inciting incident that sets off the main action of the play and leads up to that central
conflict?[7]
o What happens to your characters as they deal with this conflict?
o How is the conflict resolved at the end of the story? How does this impact the characters?
8. Deepen your story with plot development. Remember that the plot develops the relationship between all the
elements of story that were listed in the previous step. As you think about plot, you should try to answer the
following questions: [8]
o What are the relationships between the characters?
o How do the characters interact with the central conflict? Which ones are most impacted by it, and how
does it affect them?
o How can you structure the story (events) to bring the necessary characters into contact with the central
conflict?
o What is the logical, casual progression that leads each event to the next one, building in a continuous
flow toward the storys climactic moment and resolution?
Part 2 Deciding on Your Plays Structure
1. Begin with a one-act play if you are new to playwriting.[9] Before writing the play, you should have a sense
of how you want to structure it. The one-act play runs straight through without any intermissions, and is a
good starting point for people new to playwriting. Examples of one-act plays include "The Bond," by Robert
Frost and Amy Lowell, and "Gettysburg," by Percy MacKaye.[10][11]Although the one-act play has the
simplest structure, remember that all stories need a narrative arc with exposition, rising tension, and
resolution.
 o Because one-act plays lack intermissions, they call for simpler sets and costume changes. Keep your
technical needs simple.
2. Dont limit the length of your one-act play. The one-act structure has nothing to do with the duration of the
performance. These plays can vary widely in length, with some productions as short as 10 minutes and others
over an hour long.
o Flash dramas are very short one-act plays that can run from a few seconds up to about 10 minutes long.
Theyre great for school and community theater performances, as well as competitions specifically for
flash theater. See Anna Stillaman's "A Time of Green" for an example of a flash drama.[12]
3. Allow for more complex sets with a two-act play. The two-act play is the most common structure in
contemporary theater. Though theres no rule for how long each act should last, in general, acts run about half
an hour in length, giving the audience a break with an intermission between them. The intermission gives the
audience time to use the restroom or just relax, think about whats happened, and discuss the conflict
presented in the first act. However, it also lets your crew make heavy changes to set, costume, and makeup.
Intermissions usually last about 15 minutes, so keep your crews duties reasonable for that amount of time.[13]
o For examples of two-act plays, see Peter Weiss' "Hlderlin" or Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming."
4. Adjust the plot to fit the two-act structure.[14] The two-act structure changes more than just the amount of
time your crew has to make technical adjustments. Because the audience has a break in the middle of the play,
you can't treat the story as one flowing narrative. You must structure your story around the intermission to
leave the audience tense and wondering at the end of the first act. When they come back from intermission,
they should immediately be drawn back into the rising tension of the story.
o The inciting incident should occur about half-way through the first act, after the background
exposition.
o Follow the inciting incident with multiple scenes that raise the audiences tension whether dramatic,
tragic, or comedic. These scenes should build toward a point of conflict that will end the first act.
o End the first act just after the highest point of tension in the story to that point. The audience will be left
wanting more at intermission, and theyll come back eager for the second act.
o Begin the second act at a lower point of tension than where you left off with the first act. You want to
ease the audience back into the story and its conflict.
o Present multiple second-act scenes that raise the stakes in the conflict toward the storys climax, or the
highest point of tension and conflict, just before the end of the play.
o Relax the audience into the ending with falling action and resolution. Though not all plays need a happy
ending, the audience should feel as though the tension youve built throughout the play has been
released.
5. Pace longer, more complex plots with a three-act structure. If youre new to playwriting, you may want to
start with a one- or two-act play because a full-length, three-act play might keep your audience in its seats for
two hours![15] It takes a lot of experience and skill to put together a production that can captivate an audience
for that long, so you might want to set your sights lower at first. However, if the story you want to tell is
complex enough, a three-act play might be your best bet. Just like the 2-act play, it allows for major changes
to set, costumes, etc. during the intermissions between acts. Each act of the play should achieve its own
storytelling goal:[16]
o Act 1 is the exposition: take your time introducing the characters and background information. Make the
audience care about the main character (protagonist) and his or her situation to ensure a strong emotional
reaction when things start going wrong. The first act should also introduce the problem that will develop
throughout the rest of the play.
o Act 2 is the complication: the stakes become higher for the protagonist as the problem becomes harder to
navigate. One good way to raise the stakes in the second act is to reveal an important piece of
background information close to the acts climax.[17] This revelation should instill doubt in the
protagonists mind before he or she finds the strength to push through the conflict toward resolution. Act
2 should end despondently, with the protagonists plans in shambles.
o Act 3 is the resolution: the protagonist overcomes the obstacles of the second act and finds a way to
reach the plays conclusion. Note that not all plays have happy endings; the hero may die as part of the
resolution, but the audience should learn something from it.[18]
o Examples of three-act plays include Honore de Balzac's "Mercadet" and John Galsworthy's "Pigeon: A
Fantasy in Three Acts."
Part 3 Writing Your Play
1. Outline your acts and scenes. In the first two sections of this article, you brainstormed your basic ideas
about narrative arc, story and plot development, and play structure. Now, before sitting down to write the
play, you should place all these ideas into a neat outline. For each act, lay out what happens in each scene.
o When are important characters introduced?
o How many different scenes do you have, and what specifically happens in each scene?
o Make sure each scenes events build toward the next scene to achieve plot development.
o When might you need set changes? Costume changes? Take these kinds of technical elements into
consideration when outlining how your story will unfold.
2. Flesh out your outline by writing your play. Once you have your outline, you can write your actual play.
Just get your basic dialogue on the page at first, without worrying about how natural the dialogue sounds or
how the actors will move about the stage and give their performances. In the first draft, you simply want to
get black on white, as Guy de Maupassant said.
3. Work on creating natural dialogue. You want to give your actors a solid script, so they can deliver the lines
in a way that seems human, real, and emotionally powerful. Record yourself reading the lines from your first
 draft aloud, then listen to the recording. Make note of points where you sound robotic or overly grand.
Remember that even in literary plays, your characters still have to sound like normal people. They shouldnt
sound like theyre delivery fancy speeches when theyre complaining about their jobs over a dinner table.
4. Allow conversations to take tangents. When youre talking with your friends, you rarely stick to a single
subject with focused concentration. While in a play, the conversation must steer the characters toward the
next conflict, you should allow small diversions to make it feel realistic. For example, in a discussion of why
the protagonists girlfriend broke up with him, there might be a sequence of two or three lines where the
speakers argue about how long theyd been dating in the first place.
5. Include interruptions in your dialogue. Even when were not being rude, people interrupt each other in
conversation all the time even if just to voice support with an I get it, man or a No, youre completely
right. People also interrupt themselves by changing track within their own sentences: I just I mean, I
really dont mind driving over there on a Saturday, its just that listen, Ive just been working really hard
lately.
o Dont be afraid to use sentence fragments, either. Although were trained never to use fragments in
writing, we use them all the time when were speaking: I hate dogs. All of them.
6. Add stage directions.[19] Stage directions let the actors understand your vision of whats unfolding onstage.
Use italics or brackets to set your stage directions apart from the spoken dialogue. While the actors will use
their own creative license to bring your words to life, some specific directions you give might include:
o Conversation cues: [long, awkward silence]
o Physical actions: [Silas stands up and paces nervously]; [Margaret chews her nails]
o Emotional states: [Anxiously], [Enthusiastically], [Picks up the dirty shirt as though disgusted by it]
7. Rewrite your draft as many times as needed. Youre not going to nail your play on the first draft. Even
experienced writers need to write several drafts of a play before theyre satisfied with the final product. Dont
rush yourself! With each pass, add more detail that will help bring your production to life.
o Even as youre adding detail, remember that the delete key can be your best friend. As Donald Murray
says, you must cut what is bad, to reveal what is good. Remove all dialogue and events that dont add
to the emotional resonance of the play.
o The novelist Leonard Elmores advice applies to plays as well: Try to leave out the part that readers
tend to skip.[20]
Q&A
How would I write a one-act play?
Be concise with your plot - condense the climax so it can occur in one act with a short introduction and
resolution or summation at the end.
Do I have to write a lot of drafts if I am satisfied with the first one?
If you're happy with the first draft, give it to other people to read. It may be that you've lost your objectivity
and need some assistance to find what isn't working. Or, you're a Shakespeare and you hit on the head first
write. Either way, it never hurts to get other people's perspectives and constructive feedback.
If I want two or more characters talking at once. How do I do that?
Just put a name then a comma then also add your other name. For example; Kady, Sam - Hey Bryan!
Can I write a character for a play who never makes an appearance on stage?
What is the best way to start a drama?
You have to set up a conflict of some kind, like an argument or a love triangle. Maybe something happens
between the main character and their best friend to make them enemies.
How do I put a sneeze in a script?
In the script, identify the character you want to sneeze just like you would if the character had a line to say,
but instead of a writing a line for the character to speak, write "(sneezes)" exactly where you want the
character to sneeze.
I need to write a six minute play about tourism problems in Jordan, with about 7 actors that need, any advice
about how to make it interesting and realistic?
Get together with a group of friends, family, etc. and ask them about tourism problems in Jordan, or else call
the tourism bureau and ask for their help. Take notes on the information you get, then change it around to
make the tone more conversational ("Hey, Bill, have you heard that people don't want to travel to Jordan
because of the poor transportation system?" "Sure, Bob, I've also heard people are concerned about escalating
crime rates."). Make it interesting and productive by having your actors suggest solutions to these problems.
Tips
Most plays are set in specific times and places, so be consistent. A character in the 1930s could make a
telephone call or send a telegraph, but couldnt watch television.
Check the sources at the end of this article for the proper play format and follow established guidelines.
Make sure you always keep it going if while putting on the show you forget a line make it up! Sometimes, it's
even better than the original line!
Read the script out loud to a small audience. Plays are based on words, and that power or the lack of it quickly
becomes obvious when spoken.
Don't leave the play in a secret spot try to make it noticeable that you are a writer!
Warnings
The theatrical world is full of ideas, but take care your treatment of a story is original. Stealing someone elses
story is not only morally bankrupt, and youll almost certainly be caught.
Protect your work. Make sure the plays title page includes your name and the year you wrote the play,
preceded by the copyright symbol: .
 Rejection vastly outweighs acceptance, but dont be discouraged. If you get worn out with one play being
ignored, write another.

Sources and Citations

1. http://www.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/film/narrativearc.html
2. http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
3. http://www.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/film/narrativearc.html
4. http://literarydevices.net/climax/
5. http://www2.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/intranet/englishbasics/Plot01.htm
6. http://thecinematheque.ca/education/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/LanguageofFilm01.pdf
7. http://narrativefirst.com/articles/plot-points-and-the-inciting-incident
8. http://thecinematheque.ca/education/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/LanguageofFilm01.pdf
9. http://www.bottletreeinc.com/how_to_write_a_one_act_scenechanges.html
10. http://www.theatrehistory.com/plays/bond.html
11. http://www.one-act-plays.com/dramas/gettysburg.html
12. http://www.1actplays.com/plays/timeofgreen/timeofgreen.pdf
13. http://www.nytix.com/Links/Broadway/Articles/intermission.html
14. http://www.vcu.edu/arts/playwriting/structure.html
15. http://www.playwriting101.com/chapter01
16. http://www.writerswrite.com/screenwriting/lecture4.htm
17. Cowgill, Linda J. Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters. New York: Watson-Guptil
Publications, 2005.
18. http://www.writerswrite.com/screenwriting/lecture4.htm
19. http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/Publishing/StagePub/PlayDirections.aspx
20. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/24/elmore-leonard-rules-for-writersShare Excerpt
 Tips for Writing Stage Directions

1. Direct the actors: Stage directions are not the same as TV and film directions. The latter tend to be written from
the point of view of the camera. They say what the audience should see and therefore what the director should
shoot. Stage directions, by contrast, direct the actors. So, where a TV script would say we see two men sitting at
a card table, a stage script should say Dom and Kev are sitting at the card table.

2. Direction before action: Imagine that Helen has a long speech. Then we find the direction Derek, who has been
dozing throughout Helens speech, finally begins to snore. That direction tells Derek what he should have been
doing for the past half a page. Its better to tell the actor before the action it makes rehearsals so much easier.

3. Direct the immediate: Tarquin enters. He is a tall, thin man with a droopy moustache. The actor playing
Tarquin is unable to change his height and build as he enters the stage. Thus they are matters for casting. If those
characteristics are essential to the role, then they should form part of a character profile, either at the start of the
script or (better, in my view) in production notes. Even growing a stick-on moustache takes time.

4. Dont direct the audience: Some shows particularly British pantomimes have audience involvement.
However, in general, members of the audience do not have copies of the script. Consequently, they are notoriously
bad at following stage directions. By all means direct the actors to interact with the audience, but saying what the
audience will do in response will only lull the actor into a false sense of security.
5. Set the scene: The director and actors need to know the features of their environment, but only as far as it is
essential to what follows. Thus it is good practice to start a scene with a brief scene-setting direction:
A country road. A Tree. Evening.

6. Knock, knock: Whos there? The complement to the scene-setting direction is the at rise direction, to say
whos on stage when the curtain goes up. The play always goes better when the right actors are on stage at the
right time.

7. Remember that all the worlds a stage And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and
their entrances And its the writers job to make sure that the people speaking have been told that they should be
on the stage. If you look at Shakespeares directions, aside from the special effects (all those alarums and
excursions) they are almost completely limited to entrances and exits, which should tell you something about their
importance. Furthermore, lights go out, milk goes off, but actors exit.

8. Value terseness: Especially in early readings, excessive directions get in the way of the flow of the script. Dont
give unnecessary details: Charles picks up his favourite evening newspaper, the Oswestry Herald and Argus can
become Charles picks up a newspaper. Dont be tempted to put options into a direction: Cynthia grabs a blunt
instrument. This might be a poker or a candle holder or an ornament. If you want to discuss the options, do so in
production notes; for the direction, the blunt instrument is enough. John has spent five weeks teaching inorganic
chemistry to teenagers. Better to restrict your directions to things the actors can convey to the audience. (I love
the way that Value terseness is the longest tip.) Even essential directions should be stated as briefly as possible.
But

9. Dont abbreviate unnecessarily: Experienced actors will understand what you mean by DSL or USC, but not all
actors are experienced, and going through two levels of translation from DSL to Downstage Left and from
Downstage Left to over there will cause some to slow down. And if you think you will save significant
quantities of ink by writing DSL, then you are doing too much blocking, usurping the directors job.

10. Dont get your up and down back to front: Exit Stage Right The living room of Pullover House. There is a
table centre with a sofa and cocktail cabinet backstage. Whilst Im sure the actors will be very grateful for this
little luxury, the audience will not be able to appreciate the cocktail cabinet or sofa, as they will be out of sight
behind the set. Use Upstage and Downstage, Stage Left and Stage Right.
MR. N.V. SARMA
DR. VINOD INDURKAR
DR. SANYUKTA THORAT
DR. PARAG GHONGE
MR. DINKAR BEDEKAR
MR. RAMESH LAKMAPURE
MR. RAJA MUKHERJI
MR. BHAGWAT TIWARI
MR. NAKUL SHRIWAS
MR. SHANTANU THENGADI

PARTICIPANTS, AUDIENCE
RAHULDEV MUKHERJI
KUMAR MAUNDEKAR
ANIKET JADHAV
RAUNAK RAVAL

JUHI
VAISHNAVI

DR. DIPTI CHRISTIAN

MR. SALVE
LAXMIKANT SOWANE