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A narrative that is meant to be performed by actors in front of an audience. The plot and characters are developed through dialogue and action.

Act A larger division of a dramatic text that indicates a shift in location or the passage of time. Scene A smaller division of a dramatic text that indicates a shift in location or the passage of time.

Directions in the text of a drama that allow actors and directors to stage the drama and readers to “see” the action. They are typically italicized and will often explain how characters should look, speak, move, and behave. Example: BENEATHA Haylo… (Disappointed) Yes, he is. (She tosses the phone to WALTER, who barely catches it) It’s Willie Harris again. (from A Raisin in the Sun)

The audience is aware of something that the characters onstage are not aware of; works to build suspense in a text or drama.

When an individual says one thing but really means another (or, when a character says one thing, but the opposite is true).

A humorous scene, incident or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity. By providing contrast, comic relief serves to heighten the seriousness of the main action while helping audiences to absorb earlier events in the plot and get ready for the ones to come.

A conversation between two or more people.

A long, uninterrupted speech in the play that is spoken in the presence of other characters.

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An indirect reference to a famous person, place, event, or literary work.

An overstatement or exaggeration used for effect Ex. He weighs a ton; I’ve tried to call you a thousand times.

The act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side for the purpose of comparison or contrast.

A character who sheds light on another more important character by clearly implied comparison or contrast. (ex. Lennie and George.)

The use of a person, place, object, or activity to represent something more than itself. Example: A white dove is a bird that represents peace. The American flag represents our nation.

 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 Born May 19, 1930 in Chicago  Died of cancer at the age of 34  Daughter of a prominent real- estate broker and the niece of a Harvard University professor of African history  Major Works: o A Raisin in the Sun - first play o To Be Young, Gifted, and Black - based on her life

 Title is taken from “Harlem”/”Dream Deferred,” but it was originally titled A Crystal Stair from “Mother to Son”  First produced in 1959 – known as the “movin’ on up” morality play of the 1960s  First Broadway production written by an African-American woman and first by an African-American to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award  Made into a film (1961), a musical (1973), a PBS television production (1989), and a TV film (2008)

 Explores the struggles of ordinary people to achieve their desires  Story of the Youngers, a Southside Chicago family trying to survive in cramped quarters in the late 1950s.

 Family value systems  The concepts of beauty and identity  The relationships of and conflict between men and women, husbands and wives, the old and the young  Feminism  The concepts of value and money  Racism, judgment, and prejudice  The importance of dreams  The American Dream

 “That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement… a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” – James Truslow Adams  Where have we seen pursuit of the American Dream before?  What obstacles might prevent achievement of the Dream?