Playwriting: a serious guide

• A. Scenery and set design
• B. Conflict between characters who want different things
• C. Costume choices
• D. Musical accompaniment

• A. The character's favorite color
• B. The character's physical appearance
• C. What the character wants to achieve in a given scene
• D. The character's birthplace

• A. The printed program notes
• B. The stage directions written in italics
• C. The underlying meaning beneath what characters literally say
• D. The translation of a play into another language

• A. Denouement
• B. Exposition
• C. Rising action
• D. Epilogue

• A. Audiences cannot hear dialogue clearly on stage
• B. Dramatic action engages audiences more actively than exposition delivered through narration
• C. Stage directions are not permitted to describe events
• D. Plays must always be shorter than novels

• A. It makes the character easier for actors to memorize
• B. It drives the character's actions and creates dramatic tension
• C. It ensures the character speaks in complete sentences
• D. It determines the character's costume and stage design

• A. The want is what the character consciously pursues; the need is what the character requires for growth, often unrecognized
• B. The want is physical; the need is emotional
• C. The want is the character's job; the need is their family situation
• D. There is no meaningful difference between the two in playwriting

• A. Stage time is too limited to include any backstory
• B. Audiences trust what characters do more than what they say about themselves
• C. Exposition is prohibited in modern theatre
• D. Actions are cheaper to stage than dialogue

• A. A plot error that should be removed in revision
• B. A trait that conflicts with another trait, making the character feel complex and human
• C. A character who changes their name during the play
• D. A line of dialogue that contradicts the stage directions

• A. To include it all in the script so the audience understands everything
• B. To inform the character's choices and behavior in the present action, even if the audience never learns it
• C. To create a sequel play
• D. To satisfy the director's requirements for the program notes

• A. The stage directions that describe the setting
• B. The unspoken meaning, emotion, or intention beneath a character's spoken words ✓
• C. The printed program notes given to audiences
• D. The narrator's commentary on the events of the play

Why: Subtext is the layer of meaning that lies beneath the literal dialogue. Characters often say one thing while meaning another, and audiences infer the real feeling or intention from context, tone, and behavior.

• A. 'I am furious that you forgot our anniversary.'
• B. 'Nice weather for a funeral, isn't it?' said while the other character is arranging flowers at a dinner table set for two. ✓
• C. 'My name is Helen and I work at the bank.'
• D. 'Please pass the salt, and then we can discuss the budget.'

Why: The funeral remark, delivered in an unrelated context, hints at grief, resentment, or tension without stating it outright. Option A states the emotion directly, which leaves no subtext for the audience to discover.

• A. Using subtext so that characters' motives remain hidden
• B. Having characters state their feelings and plot points too explicitly, like announcing them ✓
• C. Giving characters distinct speech patterns
• D. Using pauses and silences to build tension

Why: Beginners often have characters say exactly what they feel or what the audience needs to know, which sounds unnatural and flattens drama. Real people usually avoid direct statements, and good dialogue trusts the audience to read between the lines.

• A. The dialogue is delivered in a whisper
• B. The dialogue is witty and clever
• C. The dialogue is too direct and obviously states the theme or emotion ✓
• D. The dialogue contains humorous puns about smell

Why: 'On the nose' describes dialogue that hits its point too bluntly, leaving nothing for the audience to interpret. It is one of the most frequently cited weaknesses in beginning playwriting.

• A. It allows the playwright to avoid writing dialogue altogether
• B. It creates tension and gives actors rich choices about how to play a scene ✓
• C. It makes the script shorter for production budgets
• D. It ensures every character speaks in the same voice

Why: When a character's words diverge from their desire, the scene gains conflict and complexity. Actors have room to interpret, and audiences stay engaged trying to understand what is really happening between the characters.

• A. The character's name in all caps ✓
• B. Stage directions in parentheses or italics
• C. The act and scene number
• D. The page number in the header

Why: In standard script format, character names are centered or indented and written in all capitals above their dialogue, making it easy for actors and directors to scan who is speaking.

• A. To provide the audience with the playwright's personal opinions
• B. To describe actions, settings, or effects that are not spoken aloud ✓
• C. To list the cast members and their biographies
• D. To indicate the page length of each scene

Why: Stage directions convey visual, physical, and atmospheric information, such as movement, setting, lighting, and sound, that the audience sees or hears but that is not part of the spoken dialogue.

• A. Beat
• B. Scene
• C. Act ✓
• D. Line

Why: Acts are the major divisions of a play, often separated by intermissions. Scenes are subdivisions within acts, and beats and lines are smaller units of action and speech.

• A. At the very end of the scene
• B. Beneath the character name and before the dialogue line ✓
• C. In the margin, separated from the text
• D. Replacing the character's name

Why: Parentheticals appear directly under the character name, before the dialogue, to guide the actor's delivery. They should be brief and used sparingly, since the dialogue should carry the intended meaning.

• A. Scene changes are required by all professional theatre companies
• B. They help the audience track changes in setting and time while keeping the story's progression clear ✓
• C. Scene changes make the script longer for publication purposes
• D. They allow actors to rest between every line of dialogue

Why: A scene change signals to the audience and production team that the setting, time, or focus has shifted, helping maintain clarity in the story's structure.

• A. A loud argument between two characters on stage
• B. A character's struggle to achieve a desire against an opposing force
• C. The moment the audience first learns a character's backstory
• D. Any scene in which the lighting changes suddenly

Why: Conflict is the engine of drama: a character wants something and meets opposition, which may be another person, society, nature, or the character's own inner doubts. Loud arguments are only one possible expression of conflict, not its definition.

• A. External conflict occurs only in comedies, while internal conflict occurs only in tragedies
• B. External conflict pits a character against outside forces, while internal conflict arises within a character's own mind or values
• C. External conflict involves the audience, while internal conflict involves only the actors
• D. External conflict is written in prose, while internal conflict is written in verse

Why: External conflict involves a character against another character, society, or nature, whereas internal conflict involves competing desires, fears, or moral choices within one character. Strong plays usually weave both together so that outer struggles force inner change.

• A. To introduce the main characters to the audience
• B. To provide a background explanation of the setting
• C. To bring the central conflict to its peak of tension and force a decisive turn
• D. To summarize everything that has happened so far

Why: The climax is the point of highest tension where the central conflict reaches a decisive moment, and the outcome becomes unavoidable. Exposition introduces characters and setting, while the resolution follows the climax and shows the consequences.

• A. The point where the playwright first reveals the central conflict
• B. The final scene in which the conflict is settled and the dramatic question is answered, at least in part
• C. A character announcing that the play is over before the final curtain
• D. Any moment where a character changes costume or location

Why: Resolution is where the consequences of the climax play out and the central dramatic question receives an answer. It does not always mean a happy ending; a tragic or ambiguous resolution can be equally effective if it settles the conflict's central tension.

• A. So that the audience will feel no tension about who wins
• B. Because a weak or cardboard opponent makes the protagonist's struggle seem less meaningful and the outcome less suspenseful
• C. Because stage directions require the antagonist to be physically larger
• D. Because critics only review plays with at least three villains

Why: When the opposing force is credible and has its own reasonable motives, the protagonist's choices carry real stakes and the audience cares about the outcome. A flimsy antagonist drains tension from the entire conflict and weakens the resolution.

• A. A happy resolution that rewards the protagonist
• B. A protagonist whose downfall results from a flaw or error and evokes pity and fear ✓
• C. A comic misunderstanding that is resolved by the final scene
• D. A focus on everyday domestic routines without major conflict

Why: Classical tragedy centers on a protagonist, often noble, whose fall is driven by a tragic flaw (hamartia) or error, prompting audiences to feel pity and fear, as Aristotle described in the Poetics.

• A. To create a sense of inevitable doom
• B. To generate complications that are untangled, usually ending in reconciliation or union ✓
• C. To reveal the inner psychology of a single character in depth
• D. To replace the need for any conflict at all

Why: Mistaken identity and misunderstanding drive the escalating complications of comedy, which are typically resolved in a happy ending such as a marriage or reconciliation.

• A. Its emphasis on quiet, philosophical reflection
• B. Its reliance on rapid action, physical comedy, and escalating absurd situations ✓
• C. Its avoidance of any dramatic irony
• D. Its focus on historical events and accurate period detail

Why: Farce relies on fast-paced plotting, physical humor, doors opening and closing, and increasingly improbable situations, rather than on subtle character study or reflection.

• A. Slow, leisurely exposition with little tension
• B. Suspense built through withheld information, ticking clocks, and rising danger ✓
• C. A cheerful tone maintained throughout the play
• D. An emphasis on rural pastoral settings

Why: Thrillers build suspense by controlling what the audience knows, using ticking clocks, threats, and escalating danger to keep tension high.

• A. Heightened, poetic dialogue that characters would never use in ordinary speech
• B. Dialogue and situations that resemble everyday life, with subtext and believable behavior ✓
• C. Frequent direct addresses to the audience explaining the plot
• D. Supernatural events that go unexplained

Why: Naturalism aims to represent ordinary life credibly, with dialogue that sounds like real speech and characters whose motivations are grounded in plausible behavior and subtext.

• A. Rewriting every line of dialogue to sound more poetic
• B. Reading the full script aloud or through to identify the overall structure and where the story loses momentum ✓
• C. Sending the draft to a producer immediately for feedback
• D. Adding new subplots to make the play longer and more substantial

Why: Reading the whole script aloud helps you experience it as an audience would, revealing pacing problems, structural gaps, and places where the story sags. Line-level polishing is more effective once the larger structure is sound.

• A. Removing all scene directions so the actors decide everything
• B. Eliminating lines that state emotions outright so the audience can infer them from what characters say and do ✓
• C. Moving the play's climax to the final page
• D. Shortening the script to under one hour in performance

Why: Strong drama often lets emotion live beneath the words. When characters announce exactly how they feel, the audience loses the pleasure of discovering it, so revision often means trimming explicit statements and trusting subtext.

• A. It lets you confirm the play is finished and ready for submission
• B. Hearing actors speak your dialogue reveals clunky phrasing, unnatural rhythms, and lines that don't land ✓
• C. It replaces the need for any further rewriting
• D. It shows you exactly how much the theater will charge for production

Why: Dialogue that looks fine on the page often sounds stilted when spoken. A table read exposes awkward rhythms, unclear lines, and moments where actors stumble, giving concrete evidence for revisions.

• A. Adding more stage directions describing the set
• B. Asking what each scene must accomplish and cutting any dialogue or action that doesn't advance character or plot ✓
• C. Extending each character's monologue to build atmosphere
• D. Increasing the number of characters on stage

Why: Every scene should change something, whether a character's situation, a relationship, or the audience's understanding. Identifying a scene's purpose makes it easier to recognize and cut redundant material.

• A. To make the script longer so it appears more professional
• B. To present the play in standard industry format so readers, directors, and actors can easily navigate it ✓
• C. To hide weak writing behind visual decoration
• D. To ensure the script can only be performed in one theater

Why: Standard formatting, including character names, stage directions, and scene headings, makes a script easy to read and signals professionalism. Readers evaluating submissions rely on clear, conventional layout.