12.7

Teaching Point

They’re here.

Today I want to teach you that
playwrights develop characters
through their use of stage
directions. Stage directions can
reveal character’s motives,
attitudes, and feelings. When we
study stage directions closely,
we can tap into characters in a
way we were unable to through
dialogue alone. It’s not always
what they say; it’s how they say
it

EMPEROR: No. This is nothing
more than I deserve. I had a
true treasure, the real
nightingale, but since I cared
only for outward beauty, I lost
her. Now she is gone, and I will
never see her again.

EMPEROR: [With resignation
and a feeling of loss]

No. This is
nothing more than I deserve. I
had a true treasure, the real
nightingale, but since I cared
only for outward beauty, I lost
her. Now she is gone, and I will
never see her again.

EMPEROR: [with enthusiasm and gratitude] My
friend! Have you really come back? [Smiles.] I
feel stronger already. Listening to you sing
gives me the vigor of a thousand healthy men!
You shall have your place with me again. I will
smash this mechanical nightingale to pieces!

NIGHTINGALE: No, dear Emperor, the
mechanical nightingale did its best. Keep it
with you, because I do not want to live in the
palace. But I will come to your window every
day and sing for you.

EMPEROR: [in a friendly and kind voice] Little
friend, please forgive me, for I realize the error
of my ways.

Active Engagement

For this part of today’s lesson, please work with your performance groups and go
through that same process we did together. Take a line that has stage directions,
read it first without emotion. Describe to each other what you think is happening,
how the character is feeling, who the character is. Then, re-read the line with the
playwright’s stage directions and compare. Consider these questions:
●What do I know about how the character is feeling?

●Is the way the character says the line surprising -- is it in line with who he
really is?

●How do the stage directions advance the story or action?

Share

Stage Directions Reveal:

-Character’s motivations

-How characters are feeling

-When characters change

-What characters want

-How characters are complicated

-Possible hidden feelings and
motivations

​https://forms.gle/JYGuKbsyRDLf8tkM6

TIP: Use your example poems from class. For example: "The Look of Words", "Happiness Epidemic".

​​Work on publishing your flash draft poem on Google Slides. Finished?

Write another!

Wyant's Class:

After publishing: Annotate your own poem and come up with a STAAR question for figurative language.