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Starkey mentions how a play is not a screenplay and that nor a conversation or rant nor essay. In Sure thing by David Ives, I found it refreshing knowing background information on the writer of the play, characters in the play, setting and even an important note. We dont necessarily have dialogue but more of script of a dialogue being read by a reader. Sure thing is probably the most eye opening story ive ever read in my life, the fact that we can meet someone at a certain time in different scenarios and the possibility of had I said no or had I said yes or had I even approached the person, or the one that got away. The fact that there were so many possibilities based on decision making in this play goes to show we somewhat create our fate or destiny or the next path and chapter or step in our lives, the fact that we can decide in a split second what our next move is goes to show how much we ourselves can ruin or create our own lives. Trying to find Chinatown by David Hwang was an interesting yet boring script to read, but interesting because Ronnie was very rude and that made it interesting. The divine Fallacy by Tina Howe was very interesting, I had no idea what a stigmata was until reading this piece, I didn’t enjoy how Dorothy was somewhat living under her siblings shadow, that can be a depressing thought to process your whole life, but id o enjoy the ending where she basically transforms when she just removes her coat, and glasses. How she turns beautiful on page 260. Was her face not as pretty as her body? How much do glasses really hide in a persons face. I enjoyed victors change of view on Dorothy, smart and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Ruiz
Learning about how a ten minute play takes place had a lot more involved than I had ever considered. I really like how Starkey includes all the things that make a ten minute play different from regular screen play. Also by seeing what it is not I was able to gather some of the things that were important in including in these plays in order to meet the needs of a play. That you must include important dialogue to be able to tell a story to the audience because a scene cannot give the feel of the play, but the characters can. In the first play, "Sure Thing", we are given many different ways that a scenario could've played out. I personally really enjoyed reading this play because I thought it was really cool that every answer was different after every bell. It really gave me a sense of how the way you choose to ask a question can really make a difference on how everything plays out. In this particular piece, we were given many failed attempts at seeing these two together as well as successful attempts. This was a very interesting take on how the universe could plan things out, and I thought it was very clever to add a bell to signify when the alternate responses were happening. The second play "Trying to Find Chinatown", was very confusing to me and I also didn't enjoy reading the script. I can gather that they were trying to include cultural elements into this play, but I wasn't exactly sure as to why it was. There was a lot of Asians being talked about in this play hence why the title is related to Chinatown. In the last play, "The Divine Fallacy", I didn't understand what was going on. Dorothy was perceived as non important compared to her siblings, but towards the end she is suddenly seen as beautiful. This is what I thought was weird after pieces of stereotypical ugly clothing was removed all of sudden her beauty was exposed.
ReplyDeleteLianna Andrade
This section in the book talks about the 10-minute play, including its history. I find it interesting that the author states that the ten-minute play is not a screen play due to screen play scenes been considerably longer with the greater emphasis on the characters’ verbal exchanges. Due to the movie versions of plays I often found that term interchangeable in a sense because they both use props in line send a story but I never thought of them as separate entities. A play’s ambiguity as well as its use of dialogue separates it from other forms of writing. Creating a play, in my opinion, is a lot more intense than writing an essay or creating a short story. This is like constructing and deconstructing not only characters, but scenarios, emotions, thought processes, etc. In regards to Sure Thing, I found it very witty very sarcastic and very well thought out. A whole host of train of thoughts had to be considered in order for this back-and-forth to keep going. Because it is not only about writing dialogue but rather understanding the personalities of each character and how you want to conversation to end. In trying to find Chinatown, the author of the play uses the title is a double meaning- he creates a dialogue in the way that leads the reader or the audience to the climax of the story and I found that very interesting. The rest of the reading talks about the checklist that we review when creating our plays. Is there a conflict, is the ending satisfactory, are there complications, are the characters believable, is the dialogue good, etc.
ReplyDelete- Jose Montoya
In this reading of of Starkey’s “Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief”, the author discusses the practice and art of writing a ten-minute play. Starkey emphasizes that plays are not Screenplay, are not conversations, are not a rant, and are not essays in any way. He introduces us to David Rush, and warns us about writing a play. He also mentions the key elements of playwriting, which are structure, believable characters, convincing dialogue, theme, and the elements of production. In my opinion, I feel as though dialogue is the most effective, and helps with movement of a story. From the plays that we were presented, “Sure Thing” by Dave Ives was one that truly caught my attention, and peaked my interest. The noise of the bell, could represent the repetition involved i the story, like we saw with the dialogue between Bill and Betty. Each time the bell sounded, it seemed as though there was a pattern, Ives revealed more information about characters who had just met. Aside from the stories given, Starkey also gave the audience a page by page guide on how to write a play, and what you should include throughout your play.Authors are given the opportunity to complicate their characters, an element in which I admire the most.
ReplyDeleteValerie Jackson
In this next reading we are diving into the topic of ten-minute plays and understanding them and what make them different. In Sure Thing by David Ives, I liked the symbol of the bell and how it acted as a segue in changing the conversation to make it better and continue longer. I especially liked the change in the bells on page 247 with (many bells ring.)”. This shows the conversation was straying away from the resolution, but the bells were used in the way they were to show the play and conversation coming to a resolution. In Trying to Find Chinatown by David Henry Hwang. In The Divine Fallacy by Tina Howe, I liked what Benjamin and Ronnie’s characters stood for and what made them so different. Benjamin is someone brought up from Asian parents and considers himself ethnically Chinese without being racially Chinese. Ronnie is different where he doesn’t want to identify with his racial background and be limited to the Asian stereotype. In The Divine Fallacy by Tina Howe, I liked the character development of in Victor Hugo and how he came to appreciate Dorothy’s inner beauty at the end. This was shown on page 260 when “A great light starts to emanate from her.” You can see how ashamed he feels about not seeing it from the beginning a few lines down when he repeatedly says how “blind” he was. I’m kind of confused about the purpose of including Bach’s duet at the end of Howe’s play and would like to know more about what others think of this one line and interpret it themselves.
ReplyDeleteFaith Ortiz
This part of our creative writing readings is mainly about the process of writing ten-minute plays. We explore how it can be seen as difficult, however most of us hold a certain affinity for it which is somewhat comforting. Through careful interpretation of David Ives’ “Sure Thing”, David Henry Hwang’s “Trying to find Chinatown”, and Tina Howe’s “The Divine Fallacy”, we see how the developmental structure of writing is crucial to the end goal of your play. We can explore characterization in Ives’ and Hwang’s pieces in the playwright’s usage of Betty and Bill, while Hwang uses Benjamin and Ronnie. We see in Ives’ work that Betty has gone through a relationship before and it is constantly proven time and time again woven into the play. Their characters are quite distinct, while also showing underlying qualities that could have only been achieved through thoughtful consideration. A great literary tool, dialogue, can be found in Howe’s “The Divine Fallacy” when she continues to move her story along through short snippets of banter. We get the sense that Dorothy is unhappy with her appearance in just a few lines. Additionally, the scene quickly changes without warning due to the structure, which is a purposeful decision in Howe’s part. Utilizing Ronnie’s monologue especially, she included characterization as well, making sure to keep her conflict clear and concise throughout.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Campos
Didn’t think I was going to enjoy this section all that much and then the first play we read is David Ives, “Sure Thing,” and my mindset did a complete 180. That ten-minute play is genius because of the comedic approach he took. I could envision these two people at a café who just do not hit it off and then every time the bell rings they get a do-over, yet it takes a handful of tries to get it right before they realize that the other person isn’t so bad. I especially enjoyed the long paragraph of dialogue that either character spoke at one point because it showed a piece of themselves that would otherwise have been secret to the audience. This was a great play to have as the introduction into playwrighting.
ReplyDeleteI liked the juxtaposition of both of the men in David Henry Hwang’s, “Trying to Find Chinatown.” What is racial identity for someone who grows up in an adopted home? I can honestly say that I never truly thought about it. I have four cousins who are adopted, but they’re Hispanic so there were no obvious cultural shifts and questions. I think the dynamic of the characters flowed well and this play leads to a lot of questions for its audience.
As for “The Divine Fallacy” by Tina Howe I wasn’t really certain what I should be feeling as I finished reading. It was chaotic, and I didn’t like the characters all that much.
For the overall chapter, I enjoyed the emphasis on writer’s and their characters. Even though they are fictional you have to know them better than anyone by creating multiple layers as if they were someone you’ve known your whole life. It’s a difficult feat, but an added challenge I am willing to accept.
Kimberlee Salas
I like how Marsha Norman believes that playwriting is particularly suited to young adults. I feel like it truly is because it’s not like writing an essay. We don’t have to follow grammatical rules nor have to explain something and have evidence to back it up. While I know there is some rules to follow when writing a play, overall it seems like a fun thing to do. Personally, I’m bad at writing in general so I’m looking forward to this section because what if I’m good at writing plays…
ReplyDeleteMy favorite play was “Trying to find Chinatown” by David Henry Hwang. It was very comical and filled with imagery. I found it to be the most interesting play. I liked the amount of detail in it too. While reading this particular play, I got a sense of what playwriting is really about. All the things Starkey mentioned about playwriting and the guidelines to it, really help show what a good play consists of. The play “Sure Thing” by David Ives was confusing but I can see how it would make a good play. There was a lot of back and forth and that’s an interesting concept to add into the play to get the audience (or the reader) into it.
Ilene Guevara
I like how this chapter defines term words associated with ten minute play's. Before i read this chapter I thought a person who wrote plays was called a play writer but now i know their called playwright. I was informed of the truth of play's such as that they are not screenplays, conversations, rants or essays. I like how David Henry Hwang's "Trying to find Chinatown" used comedy in the conversation between the only two characters of the play. However Tina Howe's "The Divine Fallacy" was a bit chaotic and Howe's characters are not complex enough to captivate readers.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter starts off by saying that before starting this class, we as writers have written dozens of essays and maybe a handful of stories, but most of us have not written a play, which is true for me at least. I like how this chapter teaches that a play is not screenplay. If actors mess up in a movie, they just do a second take, but in a play, it's live. If someone messes up, that's it. It also says that plays spend more time getting to know the characters and that scenes tend to be longer in order to better understand the story and the characters. Plays are also not just rants. I thought of Al Pacino. Al Pacino has this sort of crazy vibe to me. He yells a lot and it's interesting, but the rant can only go on for so long before it becomes boring. One last thing I'd like to point out is that a play is not an essay. A play is meant to explain things. It's a story. It's meant to try to convince the audience of a particular point of view that is "correct." They value ambiguity, which is pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteSidney Carranco
This chapter talks about the different strategies to make an entertaining play by incorporating a lot of details and imagery, and how this type of writing is different from the rest. I personally find this type of writing easier to understand and lets the imagination run wild. In the first play called “Sure Thing”, the author David Ives uses symbolism right away with the bell and how it symbolizes the start over of a memory. Even though it doesn’t have a lot of details, the dialogue it has is enough to create the setting in your head. The second play called “Trying to Find Chinatown”, the language that the author uses during the rants of each character is difficult for me to understand and I had to read over it a couple of times. The vocabulary that David Henry Hwang uses for Ronnie makes it easy to imagine him and the type of bad mouthed person that he is. The last play called “The Divine Fallacy” was all over the place for me. For a moment it seemed like Dorothy might have had some type of mental health issue. The type of dialogue that is used in screen play writing creates vivid imagery and lets the imagination of the reader wander.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco Rosales
I liked the delineation between skits and plays on pages 239-240. “A play…points to deeper truths about the human condition.” The play “Sure Thing” by David Ives really cracked me up the more it kept going. I started to understand what the bell signified and really saw the difficulties of making a connection with someone socially. I would like to go back and actually count how many times the bell rang and the topic of conversation failed. Hilarious. The genre of drama in general is great for the three-dimensional story—that is the impression I got from the three sample plays in Starkey’s chapter. I particularly felt that the last play, The Divine Fallacy, could have worked as a short story, so the extra dimension of visuals on stage, with the light emanating from the woman’s body, would be incredibly dramatic and unexpected. Playwrights are thinking so outside of the box, juggling other elements of live action than novelists. In this way, I imagine playwrights would be better fiction writers, since they must be good planners, or the play will not make sense sequentially, scene-wise, etc. The only issue may be finding the actors to play the characters that the playwright envisions so well. I’m curious how successful this endeavor to find actors is for successful playwrights and whether or not that fact holds back their careers or the showing of their play.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Roeglin
There’s a certain beauty in brevity that can be observed from the plays in this weekend’s selection, though I think we can better observe this beauty with the first play “Sure Thing,” where play involves looping its events back to a previous point as a means of plot progression and satire for the audience to observe. The Bell is, of course, unacknowledged by any of the characters, and serves as a means of looping the events without a explanation needed to straighten confusion; this also happens to be a clever use of dramatic irony. This succinct format further elaborates the limits of fictional novels in their ability to plot out their events in concise, as plays are able to do so with ease.
ReplyDeleteWith the third play, however, there is quite the contrast, as the third play involves lengthy barrage of paragraphs in this heated debate between the two characters. What is noteworthy is the lack of description needed to convey each character’s expressions and tone, for plays are dialogue-heavy and rely on the actor’s ability to convey emotion into the dialogue. To put it simple: The third play’s strength is shown in how much “machinegun dialogue” is spoken as a means to describe. If this were a novel, a novel would employ descriptive language instead.
As for the second story, I am personally not much of a fan of it, though I think that really amounts much to the “outer beauty, inner beauty” thematic contrast poured into the dialogue. However, I won’t note much on the plot, but rather how the dialogue was accompanied with stage directions written in between parentheses. It’s brief, but descriptive notes are obviously not read when the actual play is performed, but they lend insight when one reads play format. Actions thought of first over dialogue second; in this case, we can better observe the brevity of dialogue and expression versus what descriptive language would be observed in a novel.
- Gary Tolar
In Starkey chapter he mentions how a play is different and it to be honest I never though how difficult of a play could be but after reading the chapter I was overwhelmed. It gave me a greater appreciation of how much time and effort is put into these plays even though if its 10 minutes. I liked that there was key elements given when writing the play it felt as if a diagram was given which I loved. Out of all the plays I enjoyed was “Sure Thing” by Dave Ives I liked how everything flowed in the play the dialogue was interest that I liked the symbolism of the bell.
ReplyDeleteAndi Rubalcava