Making Good Life Choices: Write and Produce a Play

Goal: Students will learn about making good life choices and the consequences of drug misuse.

Class Time: Determined by teacher, but no less than 5 classroom periods.

Learning Objectives: Students build thinking and cooperation skills as they write and perform a drug misuse themed play that shares the consequences of good and bad life choices. Playwriting teaches students how to construct a plot, write dialogue, and tell a story through action.

Potential for Critical Assessment: Teacher may evaluate students’ participation.

Activity

Teachers lead class in writing and producing a play.

Play may solely be an in-class experience or acted out on stage for a larger group such as the school’s student body.

*A larger-scale production may be arranged by enlisting the participation of local fire, emergency, and police units. This option would require a theatre class teacher who could coordinate a production like this on a larger scale to perform before the whole school or broader community. For example, some schools have reenacted a DUI crash on their campus with local responders participating to great effect.

How to Write a Play:

Step 1: Come up with an idea. The play needs a plot and should be around 8-10 pages or longer. There’re limitless ideas for this play like:

• Friends gather for a birthday party at Jane’s house. One of the attendees has brought a bottle of pills she took from her grandmother’s house. She suggests that they all take one and see what it’s like.
• John and Mike are on the football team. They like to work out together and hope to take their team to the playoffs. Mike sees that John is getting so much bigger than him so quickly. John has also been really aggressive at times and Mike is concerned that John is using steroids.
• A group of friends are out hiking and one of them pulls out a marijuana joint.

Step 2: Determine a conflict. This is the problem that the characters will face. It will be central to the plot and will make the play more dramatic. The plot should proceed in the following way:

1. The beginning will introduce the characters and conflict.
2. Next, the characters try to solve the problem, creating “rising action.”
3. The rising action leads to a “climax,” or turning point.
4. Finally, a resolution sums things up in the end through “falling action.”

Step 3: For a single class, break your students into smaller groups. Have each group write a play in four acts using the above list as an outline. Each group will put on a play for the class.

For a larger production have the group write one play. The group will then produce a play for the school in the school auditorium.

Plays must include the following components:

• Setting: The setting of the play could be anywhere, including the past, the future, or in a vacuum.
• Scene Changes: Good times for characters to switch locations.
• Characters: The play should have anywhere from three to eight characters.
  • Each character wants something and has a goal or objective.
  • List each character and give a detailed description of each one. Even if the characters are animals they still have unique qualities. *Note that the more detailed the characteristics are the more depth the actors can give to their performances.
    • Examples of Character Details:
      • Name
      • Age
      • Physical appearance
      • Personality
      • Hobbies and interests
      • Fears
      • Secrets
      • Abilities
      • Motivations
      • Occupation
      • Relationships with other characters

• Dialogue: The dialogue should move the story forward. It should reveal the characters’ relationships with each other and their moods and personalities. Dialogue should be believable and sound real; there can be pauses and contractions, just like in everyday speech.
  • If possible, students should study real-life speech.
  • Students can also practice reading their dialogue aloud to see how it sounds.
• Format: Using correct playwriting format helps to put all these pieces together in an understandable way (see example below).
• Stage Directions: Messages in parentheses, aligned to the right margin, from the playwright to the actors and crew telling them what to do and how to do it.
  • They should be brief and written in the present tense.
  • They describe action and visuals, not inner thoughts.
  • List them at the beginning of a scene and anywhere else where action, props, or descriptions need to be explained for the cast and crew.
  • Write character names in all caps. Center and bold the names above each character’s lines.

Download this lesson plan for an example of a play script. 

Standards of Learning:

Common Core

9th-10th Grades

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.A
Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.B
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.C
Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.D
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.E
Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.

11th-12th Grades

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.A
Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.B
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.C
Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.D
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.E
Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.