Assignments for the Final Scenes

ACTORS  (short paper)

Write a character study of your part in five “W’s”.  WHO are you? (background, education, age, ideals).  WHAT is at stake for you in this scene? (I.e., WHAT are you fighting for?)  WHERE is the scene taking place?  WHEN is this taking place?  WHY do you behave the way you do?  What motivates your character in this scene?  (Write your answers in the first-person singular!  For example, “I am a Greek princess.  My parents are dead.  There are only two important people in my life:  my sister Ismene, and my boyfriend, Haemon.”)

Learn your lines by heart.

DIRECTORS  (paper)

Write a paper on the dramatic shape of your scene:  beginning, middle, and end.  What is the dramatic “arc” of your scene? 

What does the playwright want the audience to feel?  What issues does the playwright want the audience to think about? 

Help actors to memorize by drilling them on their lines.  Help your actors to write their papers.

DESIGNERS  (drawings)

Create a ground plan and an elevation drawing of the stage for your scene.  The ground plan should show the exact arrangement of the furniture that you and your group intends to use on March 3-4.  The elevation drawing should show an ideal sense of the stage – the way this scene would look in a real production.

Fill in as an “understudy” if one of your actors is missing.  Help actors memorize.  Work with your Director on the ground plan.  Find meaningful props for your scene (i.e., rehearsal props, not expensive “real” props).