Directing I

What is a Play?
 A blueprint
 Dramatic action, not a story, played out, find the triggers and heaps, track a play
forward and backward so as to recognize the pieces of dramatic action and how they
cause the next event to happen
 Interrupted silence, allow moments, silence is a vehicle to promote dramatic action

Play Analysis
 What is it?
 Types of analysis:
o Aristotle
 Character
 Action or plot
 Ideas
 Language
 Music
 Spectacle
o Kenneth Burke’s Pentad
 Act- What happened? What is its action? What is going on?
 Scene-Where is it happening? What is the background?
 Agent-Who is involved in
 Agency
 Purpose
o Hodge

Outline for the Hodge Play Analysis- Pilgrims Sheri and Musa…
I. Given Circumstances
A. Environmental Facts
1. Geographical location
a. Large city in America
b. Major bridge (THE bridge aka Brooklyn bridge,
represents cultures merging, immigrants coming from
Ellis Island to Brooklyn over the bridge, designed and
built by immigrants)
c. Taxi’s
d. Muslim Community (Mosque)
e. Diverse community
f. 24/7 diner
 g. Broadway street
h. Assuming in New York, probably Brooklyn, Brooklyn
bridge promenade
i. Locations-
i. Apartment
1. Ragged in appearance
2. Stairs (4 stories, he’s on the 3rd)
3. By a corner store
4. Terrible lighting, one bare bulb
5. Mattress on the floor, no bed frame
6. Second bed (Abdallah)
7. Window with street light
8. Bathroom, kitchen, and living room
9. No niceties
10. Weather- Not fall or winter, no one talks
about weather
ii. Diner
iii. Streets
iv. Taxi
v. Abdallah’s dream world
2. Date
a. Present
b. Uber is not mentioned
c. Written in 2011
d. Probably before 2016, because they do not speak of
TRUMP
e. Prolly not during Ramadan
f. When do mecca happen. It then.
g. 2014
h. 2 am (after her shift) begins
i. a month
j. ends at 2 am as well, makes it feel circular
3. Economic environment
a. lower class
b. living paycheck to paycheck
 c. Night shift skskskandioppandioop
4. Political environment
5. Social environment
6. Religious environment
B. Previous Action
C. Polar Attitudes
1. Protagonist
2. Antagonist(s)
II. Dialogue
A. Choice of words
B. Choice of phrases
C. Choice of images
D. Choice of peculiar characteristics (dialect, odd speech
patterns...)
E. The sound of the dialogue
F. Structure of lines and speeches
III. Dramatic Action
A. Titles of the units (phrase for each unit)
B. Units and verbs (verb assigned to each line)
C. Summary of action (verb assigned to each character for each
unit)
IV. Character—Discuss the following for each character in your
scene, as
well as the protagonist and the primary antagonist
A. Desire
B. Will
C. Moral stance
D. Decorum
E. Summary list of adjectives
F. Character-mood-intensity (heartbeat, breathing, tension...)
V. Idea
The development of the play
The title of the play
The essential action of the play
Philosophical statements in the dialogue
 A. Meaning of the title
a. Figurative meaning of pilgrimage
b. Self-discovery/exploration
B. Philosophical statements in the play (quotations)
a. Roots pg 79
b. Tayib says you cant be a foreigner in two places
C. What is the Idea (meaning) of the play
D. What is the purpose of this scene in the play
VI. Mood (Adjectives and/or images for each unit)
VII. Tempo (Graph and/or descriptive word for each unit)
VIII. Tone (A phrase that describes the play’s mood as a whole)