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Drama Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Actor | a person who performs in a play, movie or tv program |
Plot | the action of a play |
Script | the written form of a play |
Screenplay | the script for a movie including descriptions of scenes and some camera directions |
Act | a group of two or more scenes that form a major division of a play |
Scene | smaller divisions within in act, usually happening in a particular time and place |
Chorus | a group of actors who speak together with one voice and describe or comment on the main action of the play |
Cast | a list that tells who is in the play, it may describe the characters and how they are related to one another |
Comedy | a play, movie, or TV program that is funny and has a happy ending |
Conflict | a struggle between opposing characters or between opposing forces |
Dialogue | the conversations that characters have with one another which helps to reveal the characters, plot, and theme of a play |
Monologue | a character speaks when alone on the stage, apart from the other characters and the other characters are unaware of what is being said |
Aside | a remark spoken by a character in a play that the other actors on stage are not supposed to hear |
Flashback | the insertion of an earlier event into a story, play or movie |
Farce | a comic play with an unlikely plot and characters exaggerated for humorous effects |
Melodrama | a drama characterized by exaggerated emotions and conflicts between characters that can have a happy ending |
Playwright | the person who wrote the play, author |
Foreshadowing | the use of clues or hints suggesting events that will occur later in the plot, helps the reader or audience anticipate the outcome |
Irony | a technique that involves surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions or contrasts |
Verbal Irony | occurs when words are used to suggest the opposite of their usual meaning |
Situational Irony | occurs when an event directly contradicts what is expected |
Dramatic Irony | occurs when the audience or readers knows something a character does not know |
Playbill | the poster announcing a theatrical performance or program |
Poetic Justice | a literary outcome in which bad characters are punished and good character are rewarded |
Setting | the place and time frame in which a play takes place, usually described in a note or stage direction at the opening act and the beginning of each scene |
Set | the scenery constructed for a play |
Prop | a moveable article that is not part of the play's scenery or costuming |
Stage Directions | usually in italics, this tells the actors how to speak their lines, how to move, act, and look, also tells the director how to stage the play |
Theme | a message about life or human nature that is the focus of the story |
Tragedy | a serious play having an unhappy ending |
Tragic Flaw | a character trait that leads one to his/her own downfall or destruction |
Speech Tag | in the script, the character's name, which helps a reader keep track of who is speaking |