Drama Terms Notes D-d-d-d-d-unit!

Drama A literary work intended for performance by actors on a stage. Also known as a play. When it is written for a movie, it is called a screenplay.

Playwright Also known as the author or writer of a drama. Examples: William Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde

Act A major division of a play. Acts may be further divided into scenes. May be used to indicate a change in time or place.

Scene A division of an act or of the play itself. An act is usually made of several scenes.

Line What the actors speak on stage. Could also be called dialogue when spoken between characters.

Dialogue A speech between two or more characters. Example: MR. JONES: How are you? GABBY: I’m doing well!

Monologue A speech that is to be spoken by just one person. It can be spoken to another character or the audience.

Soliloquy A speech in which an actor, usually alone onstage, speaks his/her thoughts aloud. The actor is not speaking to anyone but her/himself. They are thinking out loud to themselves.

Prologue An introduction to a play. It gives you background knowledge of the characters and setting. Fresh Prince Prologue Theme

Stage Directions An instruction written into the script of a play, showing stage actions and/or movements of performers. Usually italicized. Example: KATHY: Hey! [runs across stage] Come back here! JACOB: [jumps over the bushes] Leave me alone!

Tragedy A type of drama in which the protagonist has really bad things happen to her/him. Usually, some or all of the main characters die.

Comedy A funny drama with a happy ending.

Props Object used in a play. Examples: costumes, buildings, weapons, etc.

Figurative Language Uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. This can be found in any type of literature. Just know that it shows up in dramas/plays. Examples: Similes, metaphors, hyperbole, symbolism, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, idiom

Dramatic Irony When the audience knows something that a character in the play does not.

Theme Life lesson of the play. It’s the main point the playwright is making. Examples: Love can make you either happy or sad. Exercise can save your life.

You Already Know! Dramas contain many of the same elements of other forms of literature! Examples: Conflict, protagonist, antagonist, climax (turning point), characterization, narrator, theme, figurative language Do you know all of these terms?