Stories High Session 2 - Playwriting Notes

Here's some general notes that I took for me from the latest class.

- Beat:
  - building blocks of theater/play/script
  - each beat moves the story forward
  - can be seen when different tactics or strategies are used to develop the protagonist's Action (want)

- If you have a block, look at the play's Action, Conflict, and Event

- Event: the moment when a character either gets what he or she wants,
or definitively does not get it; there are normally many smaller
events in a play, but the main event is the result of action and
conflict; an event may take many different forms, but is always some
sort of change. (from Sam's notes)

- Reading/Listening tips:
  - write down beats
  - what sounded good
  - what doesn't make sense
  - what information is revealed by the dialogue/action

- Stakes:
  - goals should be high to make the protagonist NEED to get their want
  - explore what would happen if the character DOESN'T get what they want

- EACH character should have an action!

- All characters need a sense of history.

- Characters:
  - General Qualities: ie. how would you/others describe them
  - State of mind: ie. if they are lonely, how does this drive their action
  - Speech and Act: what do they say and do to define themselves and their drive towards their action.