In any script, great characters and an intriguing plot are what keep the audience engaged. Within the first few moments of your script, you should establish your characters' voices and announce the conflict that will drive the plot.
How can you use dialogue and stage directions to get your play off to a good start? Use the examples on the tabs below to learn how writers grab the audience's attention and begin building momentum in a play. As you read, imagine how you might apply these tips to your own writing.
Read the opening scene of Porcelain and Pink. At the very beginning, the curtains rise and the audience sees Julie, who appears to be naked, sitting in a bathtub. Julie's sister walks into the bathroom. As you read, look for clues that help you "hear" each woman's distinct voice.
LOIS: (Starting) Oh, 'scuse me. I didn't know you were here.
JULIE: Oh, hello. I'm giving a little concert—
LOIS: (Interrupting) Why didn't you lock the door?
JULIE: Didn't I?
LOIS: Of course you didn't. Do you think I just walked through it?
JULIE: I thought you picked the lock, dearest.
LOIS: You're so careless.
JULIE: No. I'm happy as a garbage-man's dog and I'm giving a little concert.
LOIS: (Severely) Grow up!
Question
What does the audience learn about the two main characters from this interaction?
A story's setting does more than provide a place for events to occur—it often affects the mood or the values of the characters as well. Playwrights rely on stage directions and (to a lesser degree) dialogue to convey details of setting. Read the very beginning of Porcelain and Pink. Note how Fitzgerald uses both the stage directions and the initial dialogue between the sisters to establish the time and place of the play.
[Room in the down-stairs of a summer cottage. High around the wall runs an art frieze of a fisherman with a pile of nets at his feet and a ship on a crimson ocean, a fisherman with a pile of nets at his feet and a ship on a crimson ocean, a fisherman with a pile of nets at his feet and so on. In one place on the frieze there is an overlapping—here we have half a fisherman with half a pile of nets at his foot, crowded damply against half a ship on half a crimson ocean. The frieze is not in the plot, but frankly it fascinates me. I could continue indefinitely, but I am distracted by one of the two objects in the room—a blue porcelain bath-tub. It has character, this bath-tub. It is not one of the new racing bodies, but is small with a high tonneau and looks as if it were going to jump; discouraged, however, by the shortness of its legs, it has submitted to its environment and to its coat of sky-blue paint. But it grumpily refuses to allow any patron completely to stretch his legs—which brings us neatly to the second object in the room:
It is a girl—clearly an appendage to the bath-tub, only her head and throat—beautiful girls have throats instead of necks—and a suggestion of shoulder appearing above the side. For the first ten minutes of the play the audience is engrossed in wondering if she really is playing the game fairly and hasn't any clothes on or whether it is being cheated and she is dressed.
The girl's name is JULIE MARVIS. From the proud way she sits up in the bath-tub we deduce that she is not very tall and that she carries herself well. When she smiles, her upper lip rolls a little and reminds you of an Easter Bunny. She is within whispering distance of twenty years old.
One thing more—above and to the right of the bath-tub is a window. It is narrow and has a wide sill; it lets in much sunshine, but effectually prevents any one who looks in from seeing the bath-tub. You begin to suspect the plot?
We open, conventionally enough, with a song, but, as the startled gasp of the audience quite drowns out the first half, we will give only the last of it:]
LOIS: (Starting) Oh, 'scuse me. I didn't know you were here.
JULIE: Oh, hello. I'm giving a little concert—
LOIS: (Interrupting) Why didn't you lock the door?
JULIE: Didn't I?
Question
What do the stage directions and dialogue reveal about the setting? How does the writer intend the setting to affect the audience?
Character interactions are a very effective way for the audience to learn a lot about the personalities of your characters. Writers often include sidekicks, mentors, and enemies to reveal a different side of the main character. Click the button to read an excerpt from The Juice. As you read, notice how the writer uses stage direction and dialogue to show how Gary and Ben feel about Frank.
The Juicebar door rings. Someone has entered the building. Frank looks at Gary.
FRANK
You didn't lock it?
GARY
Guess not.
FRANK
Well go see who it is then.
GARY
Why do I have to?
FRANK
I have to eat my pancakes. I only like them for the first few minutes after
they're made. After that, there's something strange about them. I don't
know what it is...
GARY
They get cold?
Frank thinks for a while.
FRANK
Yes. That's it. They get cold.
GARY
Well how long do you think we've been talking while that snowman is just
sitting there getting cold?
Frank and Gary stare at the snowman pancake.
FRANK
Ah, okay. We'll both go. I'll heat him up later. Heat him and eat him. I
hope he doesn't melt.
Frank laughs a little at his joke.
GARY
(while they exit)
You could just go to Breakfast for pancakes.
Ben sits behind the juice counter trying to make himself a juice smoothie. When Ben sees Frank and Gary, he gets a bit nervous.
GARY
Firrrrrst, you can't just come in here and make your own smoothies. It's
creepy.
FRANK
I mean, it's flattering that you like our juice selection so much. I
totally understand, it's incredible. But yes, you coming in all the time
without calling or texting beforehand at least...it's a little creepy.
BEN
...yea it is, isn't it?
Question
How does Frank interact differently with Gary and Ben?
Your play's exposition should establish the characters and setting and introduce the main action or conflict. The exposition should end with the inciting incident that pushes the main character into the action. Read this excerpt from James Kolditz's play Acceptance when Jeremy's mother and father are about to open a college admissions letter. As you read, notice how Kolditz uses dialogue and stage directions to communicate the importance of the moment.
DAD: I know what you think but we had an agreement and—
MOM: Oh, just read the thing.
(Beat. DAD nods.)
DAD: (Reading) "Dear Student,
The Committee on Undergraduate Admissions has completed its review of applicants to the class of 2023 at New York University. The Committee carefully considered the credentials provided in support of your application, and it is with regret that I—"
MOM: No. No please tell me you're joking.
DAD: (pauses, reading again more solemnly) "The Committee carefully considered the credentials provided in support of your application, and it is with regret that I must inform you that we are unable to offer you admission."
(DAD puts the letter away. MOM looks crushed. Lights fade.)
Question
How does the writer use this scene to introduce the plot?
Look back at the prewriting you did earlier in this lesson. Then open a new word processing document and write the first part of your play before continuing with this lesson.
