Lesson 4.

Conceptualization in Drama

Creative Writing
General Academic Strand | Humanities and Social Sciences
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When building a house,
you don’t immediately
hire people to build it.
You must first hire an
architect.

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The architect will
create a blueprint of
the house you
wanted. Afterward,
you can already build
the house.

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This idea applies to writing as well. Before undergoing
the actual writing, conceptualization occurs.
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In this lesson, you
will learn how to
conceptualize in
preparation for
writing drama.

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 Learning
Competency
Conceptualize a character/setting/plot for a
one-act play (HUMSS_CW/MPIj-IIc-17).

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Learning
Objectives
● Determine the elements essential in
constructing a one-act play.

● Be familiar with the types of productions.

● Plan a one-act play.

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 Drama Production Circle
Let’s
Begin
1. The class will be divided into groups of four.
2. Within your group, assign who will serve as the
director, producer, writer, and actor or actress.
3. Performing your assigned roles, brainstorm
ideas for what one-act play you want to create
a production for. Each member will answer a
question during the brainstorming.

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 Drama Production Circle
Let’s
Begin
a. What kind of play would you like to direct?
(director)
b. What kind of play would you like to produce?
(producer)
c. What kind of drama would you like to write
about? (writer)
d. What kind of role would you like to perform
in a play? (actor or actress)
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 Drama Production Circle
Let’s
Begin
4. After the brainstorming session, create a one-
paragraph synopsis of a one-act play you
want to produce with your group.

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 1. How did you decide which member would
Let’s take on which role?
Begin

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 2. What were the major considerations for
Let’s each assigned role?
Begin

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 3. What process did you undergo to bring the
Let’s insights of each member together for your
Begin
synopsis?

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Essential
Question

Why should a writer conceptualize prior to

writing a drama?

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 Conceptualization in Drama

Before doing the actual writing, you should first undergo

the conceptualization stage. In this lesson, you will learn
the three parts of this stage:
1. getting inspired
2. entering the prewriting stage
3. toward writing a script

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 Getting Inspired
Using a Stimulus

● One way of getting is inspired is

through a stimulus.
● It is something that evokes an
idea from the writer.
● It includes a picture, a visual art,
another literary writing, music, a
question, a social problem or
event.
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Getting Inspired

Cultivating the Idea

● After an idea comes to the

writer, it must be cultivated.
● You can do so by identifying
characters, deciding a setting,
and planning for a plot.
● One strategy is by using
questions or prompts.

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 Getting Inspired
Getting Help from Others

● Sometimes, you might want to get

the opinions of other writers.
● Pitch to them your idea for a
writing, as if you are pitching an
idea in front of producers.
● It helps you get feedback, which
leads to the decision if you want to
develop your writing or not.
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 Entering the Prewriting Stage
Developing the Characters

● Characters drive the story in

drama.
● Some strategies in developing
characters:
○ timeline
○ creating dialogues
○ character sketch

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Writing
Tip Rick Riordan, an American author famous for
character-driven young adult books, suggested
that filling out a biodata for the character is
helpful in developing who he or she will be in a
creative output.

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Entering the Prewriting Stage
Developing the Plot

● Like fiction, drama has plot.

● Some strategies in developing
plot:
○ ensuring that the plot has
its complete parts
○ developing the beginning
○ following Aristotle’s concept
of unity
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 Entering the Prewriting Stage
Developing the Setting

● The setting contributes to the

overall mood of drama.
● In drama, the setting should
be situated in a theater stage.
● One strategy is by sketching
what the stage will look like.

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Check Your
Progress

Why is it important to establish distinct

characters and a clear setting in drama?

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 Entering the Prewriting Stage

Let us read a sample one-act play, Facing

Death by August Strindberg.

Trace the characters, plot and setting in

the text.
Scan or click this!

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Entering the Prewriting Stage
Facing Death
by August Strindberg

● The characters and setting are listed

before the script.
● The setting in drama is based on
how the theatrical stage is supposed
to look like.
● It can be enclosed in parentheses or
brackets and/or italicized.

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Entering the Prewriting Stage
Facing Death
by August Strindberg

● The drama observes unity and

completeness.
● It is a story about a family’s struggle
after being bankrupt.
● At the beginning, the family of
Monsieur Durand is struggling both
from bankruptcy and from the death
of the mother of the family.
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Entering the Prewriting Stage
Facing Death
by August Strindberg

● The only way for Monsieur Durand

to get his family out of debt is for his
house to burn down and for him to
face death for his children to get
insurance money.
● In the end, he purposefully set fire to
the house as he faces his death.

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 Toward Writing a Script
Types of Productions

● tragedy
● comedy
● tragicomedy
● history
● musical drama
● slapstick humor
● melodrama

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 Toward Writing a Script

Let us read another sample one-act play,

Mr. Icky by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Identify what type of production it

exemplifies.
Scan or click this!

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Toward Writing a Script
Mr. Icky by F. Scott Fitzgerald

● The drama is a comedy.

● It has an absurd story and absurd
characters.
● It has comedic dialogues, jokes,
and references to other literary
works.

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Toward Writing a Script
Mr. Icky by F. Scott Fitzgerald

● The protagonist is a man named

Mr. Icky.
● He is a man full of wisdom, but
cannot quite connect to his
daughter and the time he is in.
● His conversation with a young
man, Peter, varies; but their
topics are strange and
incohesive. 32
Toward Writing a Script
Mr. Icky by F. Scott Fitzgerald

● His conversation with a young

man, Peter, changes topics often,
but these topics are strange and
incohesive.

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Check Your
Progress

Why should you have a clear idea of the type

of drama you wish to produce?

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 Toward Writing a Script
Final Steps

● Read different sources.

● Read dramas that fall under
the type of production you
want to produce.

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 Identification. Identify what is being described
Try This! in each statement.
1. It is a type of production that involves
singing and dancing incorporated into the
story.

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 Identification. Identify what is being described
Try This! in each statement.
2. This type of production involves loss or
death and results in an epiphany in the
character or characters.

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 Identification. Identify what is being described
Try This! in each statement.
3. It is a type of production that is funny and
that usually ends with a happy ending.

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 Identification. Identify what is being described
Try This! in each statement.
4. The story of this type of production is
based on a real-life person or event.

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 Identification. Identify what is being described
Try This! in each statement.
5. It is a type of drama that is full of
extremely intense emotions.

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 ● To get ideas for writing drama, a writer may
Wrap-
Up use a stimulus and cultivate that idea. He or
she can also use the perspectives and
opinions from other people to determine if
his or her concept is viable or good.

● When conceptualizing a drama, focus on

developing the characters, plot, and setting.

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 ● The types of production in drama are shown
Wrap- in the infographic below.
Up

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Wrap-
Up

● Reading approaches, handbooks, and samples

of drama can also aid a writer in
conceptualizing his or her work.

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 Conceptualize the drama that you want to write
about. Choose one of the activities below in doing
Challenge
Yourself so:

1. a play synopsis
2. a sentence outline
3. a graphic organizer

Make sure that you include in your

conceptualization the description of the plot,
characters, and setting of your drama.
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Bibliography
“GCSE Drama - Edexcel - BBC Bitesize.” BBC News. BBC. Accessed May 13, 2021.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/examspecs/zkvm2sg.

“Getting Started.” The Writers' Guide - Getting started. Accessed May 13, 2021.
http://www.thewritersguide.co.uk/starting.html.

Earnshaw, Steven. The Handbook of Creative Writing. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007.

Hamand, Maggie. Creative Writing Exercises for Dummies: A Wiley Brand. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley &
Sons, 2014.

Roberts, Edgar V., and Henry E. Jacobs. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson/ Prentice Hall, 2007.

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