Republic of the Philippines

TAGUIG CITY UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Gen. Santos Ave., Central Bicutan, 01632 Taguig City

Sarip, Eden Harris E. 2nd Year/BSE-ENG

A2019

SPEECH AND THEATER ARTS:

- One Playlet or One Act Play

A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that
occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. In
recent years, the 10-minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the
one-act play, especially in writing competitions. The origin of the one-act play
may be traced to the very beginning of drama: in ancient Greece, Cyclops, a
satire play by Euripides, is an early example.

A one act play is about 20-30 minutes long, and a full length play is 60+
(though usually more like 90-120). One act plays often have a more contained
story than a full length play, and they can be more experimental or genre-
bending. --

Now, what are the characteristics of an one act plays ?

1. The story must revolve around, or focus on one event.

2. The action of the play should move fairly quickly.
3. The conflict should be clear to the audience.
4. The characters should be limited to two to seven, with one clear
main character.
 Republic of the Philippines
TAGUIG CITY UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Gen. Santos Ave., Central Bicutan, 01632 Taguig City

In a one act play, all elements that are in a normal play is usually
present too. There is a setting, a plot, a structure, characters, conflict,
theme, and the type of atmosphere present. In one act plays, there is
only one setting and the plot or conflict of the story is rather simple

Now if you want to create your own script regarding one act play? You
should first pick a story that has only one setting and a plot that is simple.
Greek Mythology can be a great example in writing a script. There are
self contained stories like the story of Cupid and Psyche, The Rape of
Europa (the story on how Hades kidnapped his wife Persephone).
If your not looking for a love story, then maybe the story on how the Big
Three ( Zeus, Poseidon and Hades) defeated their father Kronos can be a
great one act play. This is all based on your creative decisions. If you don’t
want existing literary works, you can create your own storyline that
revolves in a single setting and has a simple conflict with a simple
resolution.
Now remember, A good one-act play focuses on one main action or
problem; there's no time to get into complicated layers of plot. It's a good
idea to keep your play to one set and as few scenes as possible. A one-
act play is 9-12 pages with four characters or less.