I have to write a 10-minute long one-act play for English class, so all of you helpful helpers out there, I am open to suggestions coz I have no clue what it should be about.

 

SO, Coldplayer, WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A DRAMA?

 

Rules.

 

1) Don't suggest copyrighted stuff.

2) When I say "What do you look for in a drama," answering "explosions and car chases and excitement zomg lazer fire pew pew pewwww! :wacky:" is cheating.

Drama?

Um.. someone really mad?

I wish I could remember my highschool English class.

Wait, what's wrong with pew pew pew?

explosions and car chases and excitement zomg lazer fire pew pew pewwww! :wacky:

@Alexa:It would be lame and give me a bad grade. And honestly I could never write anything like that.

 

I was kind of thinking of somehow doing something about messageboards and how people on them act compared to how they act in real life and then they all meet in real life but then I thought "I spend too much time on Coldplaying, that's a terrible idea" so I'm trying to sort of think of, you know, a better one.

Yeah, that forum idea sucks. No offense.

Yep it does. :nice:

MURRRDDERRRR

Maybe a story about a boy and a girl falling in love and the twist is that their families are rivals? :thinking:

Maybe a story about a boy and a girl falling in love and the twist is that their families are rivals? :thinking:

 

Add suicide and you'd have one hell of a story.:cool:

Teenager has schizophrenia.

Leaves his abusive home life.

 

 

 

Only to be abducted by aliens.

 

chaos unfolds...:thinking:

Or a med student who wants to commit suicide :blush:

Write a comedy.

 

How do you tell whether it's 10 minutes long anyway?

Ooh, exciting project! (easy for me to say, I don't have to write the damn thing)

 

As far as theater goes, the thing I look for the most is psychological realism, or just the believability of the characters. I often find that the main difference between a comedy or a tragedy depends on whether or not the character seems human, for example I recently saw a short play written by a student here that featured a mother obsessed with the weather channel, and would try to recreate those conditions in her own house. Everyone would laugh because she was acting so ridiculous, but as soon as she started showing signs of realistic emotions like depression, the crowd got quiet.

 

I hate that sort of manipulation, because instead of letting the audience understand that the funny moments are no less tragic than the 'emotional' scenes, they'll simply make the character more or less human as it goes along. They'll start off like a chicken with their head cut off, and by the end they defend their behavior by waxing philosophical, and its just unnatural.

 

So I guess I'm saying I like realistic characters. There's nothing wrong with comedy, but it should come more from dialogue then from distorting the tragic elements to seem funny (unless the play the isn't serious at all, in which case, release the geeks!)

 

In general I like characters and plots that are believable and relatable, things in plays and movies are usually way more exciting than real-life, to the point where it becomes shallow and superficial. For me, real-life is much quieter, and I don't think a play should be afraid of reflecting that. I think that if a playwright takes the time to portray a multi-dimensional, real human being in a believable plot, as opposed to a one-dimensional human being who is constantly in the midst of some absurd adventure or tragedy, people will become more attached and appreciate the resolve (or lack thereof) more.

Now, if it's an allegorical or metaphorical play, its great to have some complex, poetic dialogue, but if you're trying to portray real characters, the conversation should not be unnaturally clever compared to actual real-life interactions. A lot of plays lose me when characters go off on long shakespearean monologues that simply wouldn't occur naturally. Reality isn't nearly so eloquent, but many playwright's forget that and over load their plays with pretentiousness. The character shouldn't know they're in a play with a message. By no means should the message be shallow, but the audience should be able to pick up the message as a reaction to the characters, and not need to be told outright.

 

wow, sorry I didn't mean to type so much. I hope this sort of helps.

Teenager has schizophrenia.

Leaves his abusive home life.

 

 

 

Only to be abducted by aliens.

 

chaos unfolds...:thinking:

 

That's actually an awesome idea! Coz if you added in the uncertainty about he/she actually being abducted by aliens or not, it would add extra SUPER GREAT DEPTH :thumbsup: which would get me extra points

 

Plus I wanted to do my whole play on the bridge of the USS Enterprise but it's copyrighted so phooey. :sad:

*tl;dquote*

 

Hmm, well as helpful as that was it isn't actually helping me atm because I have no ideas about anything at all so far... but thanks coz I will keep that in mind.

That's actually an awesome idea! Coz if you added in the uncertainty about he/she actually being abducted by aliens or not, it would add extra SUPER GREAT DEPTH :thumbsup: which would get me extra points

 

Plus I wanted to do my whole play on the bridge of the USS Enterprise but it's copyrighted so phooey. :sad:

thank you. :D

 

reminds me of the wizard of oz though :confused:

we'll ignore the small tiny similarities.

thank you. :D

 

reminds me of the wizard of oz though :confused:

we'll ignore the small tiny similarities.

 

I think she was being sarcastic.

Well... a little bit.

 

But who knows, I am in such a pickle right now I may just go with it...

Well... a little bit.

 

But who knows, I am in such a pickle right now I may just go with it...

 

Use my depressed self and make it more miserable than it should.

Make her lose her dream, drop out of school, lose everyone she loves.

Also, killing her might help.

Why u so emo Alexa :sad:

 

ok... so... medical student schizo teenager... fails a medical exam, drops out of school, leaves home... ok this is just depressing, THEN GETS ABDUCTED BY ALIENS YAYYY that's actually just weird and random...

hmmm :thinking:

Why u so emo Alexa :sad:

 

ok... so... medical student schizo teenager... fails a medical exam, drops out of school, leaves home... ok this is just depressing, THEN GETS ABDUCTED BY ALIENS YAYYY that's actually just weird and random...

hmmm :thinking:

 

Cause life hates me.

You said you wanted drama.

well, the idea wasn't serious to begin with :laugh4:

Cause life hates me.

You said you wanted drama.

 

actually I could make that work, should I name the girl Alexa and EVERYTHING or what?