Shania MackPlaywriting Content and Resources Handout Education 3601

Annotated Bibliography

"Drama Activities for Kids and Teens." Drama Notebook. Drama Notebook, n.d. Web. 29

Jan. 2017. <https://www.dramanotebook.com/>. This website is membership

based and contains over 3, 00 different Drama activities, lesson plans, scripts and

theatre games created by Drama educators. With a subscription, you can find

downloadable playwriting activities, games, and lessons under the category

Storytelling & Playwriting.

Dunne, Will. The Dramatic Writer's Companion: Tools to Develop Characters, Cause

Scenes and Build Stories. Chicago and London: U of Chicago Press, 2009. Print.

Written by a published playwright, this book is a manual for writers that blends

condensed dramatic theory with specific action steps. It contains over sixty

adaptable workshop-tested writing exercises; many of which that could be

easily transferred to a Drama 20 classroom environment.

Jester, Caroline, and Claire Stoneman. Playwriting Across the Curriculum. New York:

Routledge, 2012. Print. This book acts as a guide to introducing playwriting

cross-curricularly in subject areas like secondary school English, Citizenship, and

Health. It also contains segments about teaching playwriting to students with

special education needs, ELL students, and adult learners. The book includes

several sample lesson plans alongside associated subject material. Much of it

covers specific, recently published plays, so that students will engage with

contemporary writing with their learning.

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Shania MackPlaywriting Content and Resources Handout Education 3601

Martini, Clem. The Blunt Playwright: An Introduction to Playwriting. Toronto, Ont.:

Playwrights Canada Press, 2006. Print. This book is designed to guide beginner

playwrights, and is written by the Calgarian playwright/professor, Clem Martini.

It examines dramatic structure, the creative process, and the role of creating and

building character in dramatic work. Part Eight of the book contains a small

repertoire of nine playwriting exercises that touch on these themes. Many excerpts

of this text would also be suitable to use in the Drama 20 classroom.

"Playwriting Archives." The Theatrefolk Blog: The Drama Teacher Resource Company.

Theatrefolk Inc., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2017. Run by a working, professional

playwright and an actor, this Drama resource blog publishes E-Books,

monologues, plays and podcasts for schools and student performers; and

additionally contains sample Drama activities, lesson plans, scripts and theatre

games. The Theatrefolk Blogs largest section is Playwriting: which hosts 720

different articles and classroom exercises.

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Shania MackPlaywriting Content and Resources Handout Education 3601

The Exercises

1. Short Play Outline1: This activity is intended to give students a base understanding of
how to craft a story using the dramatic principles of the protagonist, antagonist, objective,
setting, climax and resolution.

Short Play Outline

1. Once there lived a

2. He/she spent every day

3. He/she really wanted

4. But there was a terrible problem

5. He/she tried

6. But that didnt work

7. And then

1 Adapted from: "Short Play Outlines." Drama Notebook. Drama Notebook, n.d. Web. 30
Jan. 2017. <https://www.dramanotebook.com/drama-curriculum/playwriting-for-
kids/short-play-outlines-3/>.
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Shania MackPlaywriting Content and Resources Handout Education 3601

8. Until

9. And ever since that day

10. And that is why

2. The Incredible Shrinking Story2: This is an exercise intended to help the writer clarify
the big picture of their story and create unity within their text. In the first round, the
student will summarize their story in fifty words or less. In the second round, the student
will summarize their story in thirty words or less. In the third, fifteen; the fourth, seven;
the fifth, three, etc. until the play can only be summarized with one word.

Parts of this exercise could also be used to create a synopsis for a program (if the
students play or scene was to be produced by the school as apart of the Drama 20/30
course content)! Notably, these summaries could be used as a tool for assessment by the
teacher (Does the play actually reflect the students synopsis/meet the students set
expectation?).

3. Playwright Character Interview3: This exercise is specifically designed for ELL

learners. However, a Character Interview can also be a method of shaping or confirming
the characteristics/characterizations of a playwrights characters. To complete this
exercise, there needs to be a Questioner (A) and a Respondent (B). Both of these
students will have a base understanding of each others work and/or ideas. A must ask one
question to B at a time, and allow time for B to give a response. After each response, A
will summarize and paraphrase the response (without offering their personal opinion),
and ask for more clarification from B by saying Tell me more about The questions
below are as follows:

1. Choose one of your characters. Describe three things about them.

2Adapted from an activity on pages 277-79 of The Dramatic Writers Companion.

3 Adapted from an activity in pages 107-9 of Playwriting Across The Curriculum.
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Shania MackPlaywriting Content and Resources Handout Education 3601

2. Describe something that happened to your chosen character last week.

3. Explain your chosen characters objective. What is it? Why?
4. Explain one thing that your character really wants in life and why it is important
to them.

4. The Playwright as the Observer4: This activity is designed to bring attention to

character voice, and craft distinct, authentic dialogue. Allow students to divide and find a
public place where you can easily overhear entire conversations (ie. the cafeteria, the
library); or assign them this activity outside of class time. Have them sit down, listen and
write as much of the conversation down as they can. You can ask the students questions
like How are things phrased by different individuals? What are you able to tell about
them from their vocabulary?, How grammatical is the conversation? Do they finish
every sentence, or leave some sentences incomplete? and Why are these individuals
talking? What do they want from each other? After, you can have the students try to
craft a scene or a character inspired off of what they have heard.

5. Automatic Writing Prompts5: Choose a prompt from the list below to give to the whole
class (or distribute copies of the list and have them pick one)! Establish a time limit and
tell the students to write down as much as they can about the subject within the
timeframe. The objective of the automatic writing session is to keep writing for the entire
time without stopping.

What makes you happy? Mad? Sad?

What did you do last night?
Is TV bad for you? Why or why not?
Computers
My favourite/least favourite class ever
Jealousy
Friendship
Family
Fear
Dating
Peer pressure
Being lost
Things that drive me crazy
The perfect vacation
My favourite/least favourite holiday
Things that scare me
Things that make me laugh
Strangers
War/peace
Confidence
4 Adapted from pages 143-5 of The Blunt Playwright.
5 Adapted from: Price, Lindsay. "Playwriting Exercise: Subtext." The Theatrefolk Blog.
Theatrefolk Inc., 16 Nov. 2015. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
<https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/playwriting-exercise-subtext/>.
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