What’s in a Script?

It starts with an idea, a spark, a new way of thinking. However, that’s not all it takes. That

is how it starts. When you have the idea, it’s only the beginning.

You put your pen to paper, or my case fingers to a keyboard.

However, past the main ideas your mind runs a blank. You have

done step one, so why is this so hard? Playwriting is no simple

task. You are trying to tell a story and create a show, not simply

present an idea. You need a title, characters and a story. The idea

is the starting point and we are trying to get to the ending point.

Plays and Musicals are how we keep theatre alive. What’s in a

script? The secret to keeping theatre alive and relevant. Playwriting is a process and I hope that

the process can be highlighted and you can see things that most people do not think of when it

comes to playwriting. What is not only in a script, but what comes before even the script.

NFI brings up the steps and the necessary beginnings to writing a play. Not only do you

need an idea, you need a plot. How does one action affect another action? How does one

character interact with the others? Before you can even start putting words together on the paper

you need to decide one key factor. NFI describes it as “You need to decide if you want your play

plot-driven, meaning the story pushes characters from scene to scene, or character-focused,

where characters’ actions direct the story.” How will your story flow? Are characters pushing

one another to make the next decision, or is the situation pushing the characters to make the next

decision?

The key components cannot be forgotten. In the show ‘The Father, The Daughter, The

Fox, and The Mother’ the playwright states that the first character they created was The Fox.
They created the show around this character and how we would get to their part. The playwright

knew that this fox would drive the plot, their guidance would push the story to its limits. The

playwright was inspired by Kearns High’s Production of ‘Cinderella’ to create The Fox. Plays

are inspired. Below is the KHS Production of Cinderella, and the scene that inspired The Fox

Writer’s cookbook discusses what it thinks are the key steps of writing plays. That is

deciding a structure. This is the most important part to many playwrights. Do you want to have a

one-act, a full length or a three act play? You also have to remember the location of where you

are going to be. You created this on a limited space of a stage. The stage you are using is your

space, and you must respect the space of everyone when writing a play. Let every director who

does this show still have their

creativity. Writer’s Cookbook states

“Go for locations that are easy to set

up and for people to visualize when

reading your script. The more

complicated you make your structure

and set design, the harder it will be for people to follow.” As a playwright, I can agree with this.
You need to not have too big of a world. You can have worlds of fantasy as well, but when you

make them inside this world of a play, you have to make them different than a real world. The

picture depicts ‘Following Wendy’ where in the stage direction of writing, the author asked that

the fantasy world be shown as different with lighting cues. It was a dark show, and even the most

lighthearted scenes in such a show showed the darkness of it. That is included in your play, the

theme. What you plan on making of the show and how it is to be portrayed.

Playwriting is not easy. You have ideas, and a plot, and you have decided the structure,

the world and how big it has to be but now you have to write it all down. What are these people

going to say? Rest assured when I say that it comes to you. As long as you have done the above

preparation of the lines, the words will come. It is okay to go back and write things again as new

things make sense. The world comes together perfectly. TCK publishing gives some very helpful

advice. “Your characters need to sound like real people—and especially like real people who

came from their era and circumstances.” The characters need to sound real, like this is the first

time they are saying this. This is not rehearsed for them, this is their first time to experience this.

The characters of fantasy are where you get to play. Characters based off of real people have to

sound like real people, but characters created in the imaginary world can sound like the world

they are from if it comes off right.

Playwriting is what creates theatre, it is what keeps it alive. It is the side of theatre that

makes theatre worth it for me. Playwriting is designed to be a challenge, however when the play

is made and you watch the characters come alive, it is worth it. It answers all the questions you

had, as it is no longer an idea, but a story. It is what is both in the script and outside of the script,

what comes before the script that matters. Playwriting needs everything you love about theatre to

be poured into your plays.

 Works Cited

Sullivan, Kate. “15 Tips for Writing Your First Play.” TCK Publishing,

https://www.tckpublishing.com/15-tips-for-writing-your-first-play/. Accessed 2 April 2022.

Adams, Kristina. “How to Write Your First Stage Play.” The Writer's Cookbook, 15 August 2014,

https://www.writerscookbook.com/stage-play-writing-ingredients/. Accessed 2 April 2022

“Writing a Play Script: Everything You Need to Know - NFI.” Nashville Film Institute,

https://www.nfi.edu/writing-a-play-script/. Accessed 2 April 2022

This final draft included the change to add more explanation to certain sections to highlight that

playwriting is world creating. How much goes into playwriting, and the theming of plays. I also

included a works cited page.