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ERIC Number: ED239310
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1983-Mar-25
Pages: 8
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Teachers as Playwrights: Problems of Form, Voice, and Audience.
Donlan, Dan
When teachers experience the process of playwriting, it focuses their attention on the significant problems of form, voice, and audience that will confront their students. Teachers were assigned to overhear and record an argument, then use that argument as the basis for a one-act radio, television, or stage play. An argument can supply conflict, a protagonist, an antagonist, and fresh, real material; but the argument is only part of the basic dramatic structure. The writer must invent the rest through a combination of logic and imagination. Some problems encountered by the teachers when developing the "form" involved the locating and recording of an argument; then extending that argument to include exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Problems found when selecting the "voice" involved the decision to express an impartial or prejudiced attitude toward the protagonist and antagonist. Problems experienced when selecting the "audience" centered on the need to make the final product entertaining while addressing the limitations of radio, television, and stage. (JW)
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Practitioners
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A