We will discuss and implement the many elements of play writing, and all the details that must be thought of in order to make an artistic piece work onstage.

**Special Note: Act 5 appears to be 1 1/2 hours long. This is because we have reserved enough time for a potential three pairs of cold reads. Each pair will only be required to attend their own session, (but they are welcome to join in the fun if they'd like during other sessions).***

Act 1:  Turning Impossible into Possible - 
How do we get a 6 inch fairy on stage? Can we realistically create an underwater play?
How do I make a helicopter land onstage? We will discuss how it is important to write your story without restrictions, and find ways to adapt your story to the stage after the imagination has finished taking flight. Students adapting a story or fable already written will condense the story to four pages or less. Students writing original scripts will focus on the story, not the script at this point.

Act  2: What's in a Name? 
In this session, we analyze our characters' physical and intellectual traits. We create our cast list and decide on whether or not to use a narrator.

Act  3: Set the Settings 
In this class, we analyze the responsibilities of the playwright: to create a setting and provide set design ideas. We will analyze our plays and decide how to create, combine, and adapt our scenes for the stage. We will also discuss how to create "set-change scenes",  and ways to avoid lengthy blanks in action for scene changes.

Act 4: The Plot Thickens
In this class, we discuss how a book can take two pages to write something that takes two seconds on stage. Likewise, things that are quickly explained in a creative sentence may be harder to act out than one realized. We will analyze our scripts (yes, by now they are SCRIPTS) to determine whether or not our plot has held up with our adaptations.

Act  5: Take a Bow (Small Groups - Last day broken into separate times) 
In this session, we split into pairs or trios,  pop popcorn, invite friends and family, and do a cold read of each script created in class. Every person attending will play a character, and some will play two or three. We will record this session for posterity, but promise only to show OUR OWN plays to others if we want. (Each student pair will be assigned an hour outside of the ordinary meeting time so as to only require a maximum of 1 hour of reading time. However, all students are invited to hear any readings they would like within our class.)

Preparation for class:
*You may bring a story you have already written, choose a story to adapt to the stage written by someone else, or create one as we go. However, it would help to have a general idea of what you want to create:
1. Where and when does it take place?
2. What is a major event happening, or problem the characters are trying to solve?
3. Do you have any characters in mind? Can you describe any of them?