Elements of Drama Practice

How is drama different from other kinds of fiction?

• Drama can have only one setting. Other kinds of fiction can have many settings.

• Drama has a plot. Other kinds of fiction use monologues instead of plots.

• Drama has more characters than other kinds of fiction.

• Drama is written to be performed by actors for an audience.

What is the primary purpose of drama?

• to help readers visualize the text

• to tell a compelling story

• to allow actors to perform in front of a live audience

• to tell stories from the past

Which of the following elements are unique to drama?

• characters, stage directions, scenes

• conflict, setting, characters

• stage directions, scenes, monologue

• dialogue, plot, setting

What is the difference between dialogue and monologue?

• Dialogue is conversation between two or more characters. In a monologue, one character speaks alone.

• Monologue is conversation between two characters. Dialogue is conversation between three or more characters.

• Dialogue is conversation between two or more characters. Monologues appear only in novels.

• Dialogue is conversation between only two characters. In a monologue, one character speaks alone.

Why does a playwright include stage directions in a script?

• to provide information about the time period in which a play is set

• to provide information about how the dialogue in a play should be spoken

• to provide information about how the play should look to the audience

• to provide information about the setting, characters, dialogue, and appearance of a play

What is this an example of?

TIANA: Hey, did you get the job at the clothing store?

BETTE: I'll find out tomorrow.

KIT: If you get the job, will you get a discount on your own purchases?

BETTE: Yes! Twenty percent off!

• Dialogue

• Monologue

• Aside

• Soliloquy

What is this an example of?

JAMIE: Goodbye, Daniel.

(Jamie exits.)

DANIEL (to himself): Man, I am so glad he's gone! Sometimes it's just so hard to be around Jamie. It's like he doesn't understand that other people have feelings, too. I really want to talk to him about this, but I'm afraid of what he'll say. I don't know what to do.

• Dialogue

• Monologue

• Aside

• Soliloquy

What is this an example of?

OEDIPUS: I care not for thy counsel or thy praise;

For with what eyes could I have e’er beheld

My honoured father in the shades below,

Or my unhappy mother, both destroyed

By me? This punishment is worse than death,

And so it should be. Sweet had been the sight

Of my dear children–them I could have wished

To gaze upon; but I must never see

Or them, or this fair city, or the palace

Where I was born.

• Dialogue

• Monologue

• Soliloquy

• Aside

What is this an example of?

DANTE: If you are slow at this point, reader, to credit what I tell you, it will not be remarkable. For I who observed it, can barely allow myself to believe.

• Dialogue

• Monologue

• Aside

• Soliloquy

What is this an example of?

Scene 1

A park in downtown Atlanta. The paths are empty except for SALLY and JIM, walking hand-in-hand in the gloomy rain.

• Scene

• Stage Directions

• Dialogue

• Plot