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Position:Home>Theater & Acting> How can i make a great Drama Script for School?Question:i have two weeks to make a Drama script up and i can't think of any thing to do Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: i have two weeks to make a Drama script up and i can't think of any thing to do Make it about a girl who mom and dad died in a car accident living her as a orphan she didn't wanna end up in a orphange so she worked and lived on the streets and shelters. One day at her job she met a young boy who had everything he ever wanted but didn't appreciate it. And she taught him to appreciate what he has. look at shakespears plays and other good writers.they may inspire you!think of everything that has happened to you too.maybe a good script will come out of that! I would do a historical fiction, where the big plot "pay off" is a mirace of timing. ..Like the poor, desparing California farmer finds gold (as just 1 example) ... turning an impossible mound of trouble into a sudden happy ending! Or (a 2nd example) railway men suddenly show up, and offer to "buy a right of way" for the train that will bring prosperity to all the farmers. Or you could take a true historic incident, like the feared native tribe bailing out the starving Pilgrims in answer to their desperate prayers (a true heritage story). Etc. Start with the turning points in the plot, and build out from there, stressing good characer development. Pay special attention to rewriting the end (to satisfy the crowd) AND the beginning (to hook the audience's interest) a good, easy thing to do is to take a classic show -- say romeo and juliet (although that is a little cliche, i wouldnt pick that one) and modernize it. Is this just a project or will this actually be performed? If it is going to be performed, don't be afraid to make it edgy (y'know sex, drugs, rock and roll) because that's how Shakespeare shows were to the people back then. Even if the directors choose to tone it down its much better than having a dull show Drama comes from real life and it's often rhetorical or persuasive or slice of life. What out there in the world bugs you. What is your view and how can you empart it by a fictional effort. Drama is your chance to take a stand and present a view. If you're clever you'll make SOME people think or re-think. What issue out there bugs you. What enrages you and how can your create a story that shows your rage and justifies something about it. Drama is about conflict. It doesn't always have to be resolved, just showing the conflict is enough, sometimes. Drama usually drives home a point. Not necessarily one people like or approve of. But it draws a point. OK, let's take a real world situation. There is a Muslim girl who plays soccer and she is banned from playing because of her desire to wear the Hajib. Now. Make and issue out of this. Resolve it or don't resolve it. If you resolve it you have to JUSTIFY your resolution some how. It's a confrontation. It's a matter of politics It's a matter of principals It's a matter of beliefs It goes very deep You can use a lot of writing and stage techniques Ultimately you have to make a point of some type that affects the audience. That's where drama succeeds They have to leave the room TALKING about what they just saw. Debating Arguing If they do that, you DID something You AFFECTED them And that is the point of DRAMA If it doesn't affect the audience you failed How you take it is your business It's YOUR Rhetoric but make it GOOD Rhetoric PAINT the audience into a corner That is the entire key in a DRAMA Take a 15 year old girl who is pregnant and turn it into an issue of relevance. Abortion Birthing Dealing with the parents Dealing with the boy who is the father It doesn't MATTER if you resolve it Her falling to her knees and crying as an ending is SUFFICIENT IF you used every tool you can to lead the AUDIENCE to tears with her! They have to CRY with her They HAVE to FEEL the character If you do that you succeeded as an author DRAMA on stage, is about involving the audience. You have to touch the reader, the audience. You HAVE to make them CRINGE, SHUTTER, be IRRITATED, be ANGRY WITH YOU They CANNOT leave the room HO HUM If they do that, you did MELODRAMA A student shooter take over. A kid comes into a room with guns. There doesn't have to be heros Just Rhetoric You can GO TO BLACK and just hear a shot No ONE knows who or what was shot But they HAVE to remember your RHETORIC Your RHETORIC must CERTAINLY invovled the one with the gun. It can involved a teacher. One or more students. It must make a POINT It must RESOLVE HOW the resolve happens determins the EDGE between TV MELODRAMA and REAL DRAMA You can have RHETORIC with the staff of the school The Police and SWAT team But utliamtely YOU, the AUTHOR have to say something or make a point. Then you end it And that ending is ALL SO IMPORTANT True DRAMA is not easy The DRAMA is drawing the AUDIENCE in to what is happening and making them SWEAT If you don't make them sweat you didn't succeed! AND I'll say it again They HAVE to walk out talking about what they just saw. If they don't you are MEDIOCRE NOW go get an A+ or live with the fact you're just SO SO That's DRAMA The ONLY hint I can give you is THAT if it makes your cry, it might make them cry. If what you WRITE hurts YOU inside You did your job If it isn't accepted, then you're simply NOT in tune with the rest of the world. Earl D. needs a shrink. Good drama can come from what amuses you about humans, by things you find funny as well. Pain is not required for playwriting, and a play does not have to be agitation/propaganda to be effective. It just needs to hold attention and be entertaining. Two weeks is not enough time to make a good play. You haven't given us the parameters of your project. How long it has to be, how many people have to be in the cast. Any other things the assigment has to do? Go back and include all that in your question so we can help. As a playwright and teacher of playwriting, I have a bias against any teacher asking a student to do playwriting without having instruction on the process. Good luck! |