(upbeat music)
-: Hello, I'm Rachel Atkins
and I'm a playwright and a teaching artist.
And I'm here to teach you,
give you a series of lessons
that are going to help you to write your own play.
So, the first lesson we're gonna start
by looking at character point of view.
All you're going to need is,
something to write with
and something to write on.
It could be pen and paper,
or you could be typing on something,
you could even do it on your phone if you want.
So before you do any kind of writing,
including playwriting,
it can be helpful to do some brainstorming,
to get some ideas so that when you start to write your play,
you've got some things to get going with.
So the first thing we're going to do is
brainstorm some characters.
In a play a character is anyone that an actor can portray.
So it can be human, but it doesn't have to be
A character could be an animal,
a character could be an alien
or an imagined creature of some kind.
A character could even be an inanimate object.
Depending on what kind of play you're writing.
Characters could be, real people like the president
or your mother,
It could be a type of person,
like an astronaut or a bossy big sister.
They can be people you know from your real life.
They can be characters that you might think of
from books or movies,
or they can be things that you completely invent.
So what you're gonna start to do,
is brainstorm a list of characters,
three to five characters
that you might like to see in a play.
I'm gonna give you a short list to start,
but you should add on at least three more.
If you have the ability to pause right now,
pause while you make your list
and I'll pause for a moment
while you do some brainstorming of a list of characters.
(gentle music)
Now that you have your list of characters,
now you're gonna brainstorm another list.
Leave yourself some space on your character list
because as we're brainstorming other ideas,
you might think of more characters.
And you'll wanna be able to add on to that list.
The next essential element of the play,
are problems or conflicts,
a problem or a conflict is something
that the characters have to deal with.
And, every play needs one,
a problem or a conflict can be something really big,
like a war.
It could be something small,
like the jar of peanut butter is empty.
A problem can be serious, it can be silly,
it can be something real
that you've experienced in your own life
or that you've seen other people experience.
Or it could be something that you imagine that you make up.
The list of problems or conflicts that you brainstorm
can be related to any of the characters you just thought of,
but they don't have to.
As you're brainstorming your list of problems,
if it makes you think of new characters,
you should definitely write those on your list as well.
I'm gonna give you a list
of a few different problems to start,
but you should add on at least three more problems
or conflicts.
And I'll pause for a moment so that you can make your list.
(gentle music)
Great, So now you have a list
of potential characters for play,
you have a list of potential problems
or conflicts for your play.
Now a play is usually not about
just a boring ordinary time when nothing happens.
Plays are usually about,
times when something significant happens,
something out of the ordinary.
So now we're gonna be very in the storming
some important dramatic events
that might be what your play is about.
Again, these events could be something real
that you've experienced.
But they also can be imagined.
They can be serious, or they can be silly.
They can be things that are related
to any of the characters you just listed,
or any of the problems you just listed,
but they don't have to be.
The end, if while you're brainstorming these events,
if they make you think of any additional problems,
or characters, you should definitely add those
on to those lists that you've got.
We're brainstorming.
So there's no right or wrong here.
Any ideas that you come up with are good,
and any idea can potentially help you to write your play.
So the first set of events
that you're going to brainstorm
is you're going to think of some significant firsts.
For example, first date,
first day of school,
there I just gave two.
Now you're going to make a list of significant firsts.
Again, can be serious or silly.
They can be real things you've experienced or not,
it doesn't matter.
You're gonna make your list of firsts,
you're going to add on any problems
or conflicts or characters that your first
might make you think of.
And I'm gonna pause and show some up on the screen
for you to get you going,
but you should come up with at least three more firsts.
(gentle music)
Okay, so you have your list of significant firsts.
Now you're going to brainstorm a list of bests,
significant bests.
For example,
The best gift you ever got,
the best friend you ever had.
There might be some overlap
between some of your ideas for firsts
and some of your ideas for bests
and that's cool,
there can be some new ones as well.
Same as before.
Anytime you're brainstorming a new list,
if it gives you any ideas,
for firsts for problems for characters,
go ahead and add those onto the lists.
You're significant bests might connect to anything else
you've already brainstormed,
but they don't have to.
I'm gonna show you a list of a couple examples.
You should add on at least three more significant bests.
And I will pause while you make your list.
(upbeat music)
So you have your list of firsts,
you have your list of bests,
you're gonna make one more brainstorming list,
you're going to make a list,
of significant worsts.
So you had bests, you have to have worsts.
So, for example,
worst fight you ever had,
worst game you ever played.
Again, first, best and worse,
there's often a lot of overlap.
So you might think of some worsts
that are the same as your first or your bests,
or there might be some on those other lists
that work for this too,
but try to come up with some new ones.
Again, these can be serious, they can be silly.
They can be real things that have happened to you,
but they don't have to be.
They might relate to anything else
that you have on any of your other lists,
but they don't have to.
We're just brainstorming,
trying to get as many ideas out as possible.
So I'm gonna show you a list
of examples of possible worsts.
Please add on at least three more ideas of your own,
and I will pause while you write your list of worst.
(gentle music)
Okay, now you've done all your brainstorming.
Now you're going to do some writing,
using some of these ideas.
You're going to choose one event
from your first, best or worst list.
The event you choose
might have something to do with a character
on one of your on your character list.
It might have something to do with one of your problems.
It doesn't have to.
The event that you choose
might be something real that happened to you.
But it doesn't have to.
It could be something
that happened to somebody else you know,
or it could be something completely imagined.
You're going to choose one event,
and you're going to write a monologue.
From the point of view of the main character.
The person who this event happened to.
A monologue, is when one character
speaks continuously without interrupting.
Like, right now,
I'm doing a monologue because I'm just talking
and nobody is answering me.
When you have two or more people talking together,
that's dialogue.
We'll get to that in another lesson.
Today you're focusing on a monologue.
Your monologue can be what the character
is thinking to herself while the event is happening.
It could be her telling the story
of what happened after the event,
or it could be what she's speaking out loud,
during the event.
Whichever approach you choose,
the monologue should communicate
what the first, best or worst event is,
what the character did during that event.
And how they're feeling about it.
Your monologue should be about a paragraph long.
So five to 10 sentences
and I will pause while you are writing your monologue.
So again, what you're really thinking about
is the main character's point of view,
what they did,
and how they're feeling about whatever that event is.
I'm going to pause while you write your monologue.
(gentle music)
So you've written your monologue
from your main character's point of view,
about what happened during that first, best worst event.
Now, you're going to write a second monologue
from a different characters point of view
about the same event.
So you really wanna think about
someone who has a completely different perspective,
a completely different point of view about what happened.
Characters having different points of view,
having different perspectives in a play
is part of what makes a play interesting.
So we wanna practice,
expressing different points of view
different feelings, different ideas about the same event.
So your event that you wrote about in your monologue
might already have somebody else involved.
For example, if you wrote the monologue
about the worst fight that this character ever had,
your second character could be
the person they were fighting with.
But it doesn't have to be,
it could be a bystander or a witness to the fight.
It might be the character
who tried to stop the fight from happening.
It's up to you.
If your monologue and your event
didn't have another character already involved.
Then you get to use your imagination,
you might think about who else might have been there.
Remembering that your second character
doesn't have to be a human being.
For example, if your monologue
was about the first time someone drove a car,
the second character could be the car.
So again, it's up to you who that second character is,
but it should be somebody
whose point of view is really different
from the first character.
So you're gonna write the second monologue,
in the same way.
You can choose whether it's an internal monologue,
what the second character is thinking during the event,
or whether it's something that they are speaking out loud.
It could even be the character
who the first character is talking to,
if you wrote your first monologue,
so that character was telling the story
of what happened to somebody else.
The second character could be the listener
from that monologue,
as long as they've got a really different point of view.
So now you're gonna write the second monologue,
same instructions,
you're gonna write about a paragraph
and I want you to really focus on
expressing the same story of what happened
in that first, worst, best event.
How that character felt,
what that character did,
but really looking at the ways
that it is different from the first character.
And again, I'm going to pause
so you can write your monologue.
(gentle music)
Congratulations, you have written
your first set of monologues,
you've done your first playwriting lesson.
So now if you can,
find somebody to read them to
because the thing about plays
is that they are meant to be read and spoken out loud.
If you can find somebody else
who will listen to your two monologues,
I recommend that when you read them,
read one of them sitting
and read the other one standing.
Because you're working with different points of view.
And so you'll be using your body
to show different points of view,
as well as using the words of your monologue.
Again, my name is Rachel Atkins,
thank you so much for joining me
with this playwriting lesson
and I hope to see you again for more playwriting.
(upbeat music)