playwriting last session

ah, the bittersweet farewell.

okay, for our last session, we all had camp and were all sleep deprived but it was a good session.
there was a mad rush to hand in our 10 page "homework" but in the end, i would like to congratulate all the playwriting people for doing a fantastic job writing your scripts! YAY us!

we started of the session with a detailed examination of "LIV" the play that we all watched, including TC, that was not good. of course, it was not a well made play but an experimental piece where the focus was not on the script, but in the production. we commented on how it was messy and boring that people fell asleep. and we learned that it was because it did NOT follow the well made play structure and therefore, did not capture the audiences' attention.

what it did not have
1) it dd not keep the audience guessing, rather, everything was thrown for the audience
2) there was no exposition and climax
3) the directorial vision was sketchy

LIV, TC told us, was a "found text" and a "recounting reported speech that does not have a structure. it is a performative text, a "director's piece" where the script is only a supporting devise.

so, once again we went through what makes a good dramatic script,(everyone must remember ah!
1)don't tell, show- playwright gives clues, not spell things out for the audience, so that they are engaged.
2)wants- your character must have wants be it eating or bigger wants and it must show in their actions
3) cannot be episodic- domino effect to climax, if episodic, there are chuncks of dominoes missing making it(the story) very weird.

so, we went on to write a script with the LIV characters and situation, that includes their wants and following the well made play structure. but this failed halfway as TC re-read our recent SDEA piece and found it not up to standard and NOT a well made play. oh, the disappointment! so he gave us advice, such as asking us, what does Michelle want? to die? to live? and all that. back to the drawing board people.

then, after reading our submitted piece, he said that our individula pieces were better than the combined piece for the SDEA.

he commented on the good things in our scripts and also, ways to improve it.

Playwright's voice- where the playwright has an opinion and the resolution is key to tell the audience tour stand. this will make your play more interesting and an example is Waiting for Godot.

Mataphor- in the story, the metaphors must be clear and whatever you put on stage always means aomething to the audience so we must be careful of our intentions..

i would recommend that everyone read the scripts that we wrote. so how about we post our scripts in the blog? i'll start by posting mine.

Playwriting was fun and i shall miss TC's wit.