noonsun Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i'maveryneatMonster.' Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Drama? Um.. someone really mad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matter-Eater Lad Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 I wish I could remember my highschool English class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i'maveryneatMonster.' Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Wait, what's wrong with pew pew pew? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an angel Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 explosions and car chases and excitement zomg lazer fire pew pew pewwww! :wacky: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonsun Posted January 30, 2010 Author Share Posted January 30, 2010 @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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i'maveryneatMonster.' Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Yeah, that forum idea sucks. No offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonsun Posted January 30, 2010 Author Share Posted January 30, 2010 Yep it does. :nice: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Italian Plastic Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 MURRRDDERRRR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Maybe a story about a boy and a girl falling in love and the twist is that their families are rivals? :thinking: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matter-Eater Lad Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 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: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaLouiseSmyth Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Teenager has schizophrenia. Leaves his abusive home life. Only to be abducted by aliens. chaos unfolds...:thinking: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i'maveryneatMonster.' Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Or a med student who wants to commit suicide :blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an angel Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Write a comedy. How do you tell whether it's 10 minutes long anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tnspieler1012 Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonsun Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 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: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonsun Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 *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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaLouiseSmyth Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i'maveryneatMonster.' Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonsun Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 Well... a little bit. But who knows, I am in such a pickle right now I may just go with it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i'maveryneatMonster.' Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonsun Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 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: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i'maveryneatMonster.' Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaLouiseSmyth Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 well, the idea wasn't serious to begin with :laugh4: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonsun Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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