Playwright’s Vocabulary and Glossary.

CHARACTER:   A person in a novel, play, or movie.   

A part played by an actor.   A character wants something(s).   Characters have goals and objectives:  An actor must convey these wants, goals, and objectives to the audience.

DIALOGUE:   A conversation between two or more characters as a feature of a play.   A discussion between two or more people or between groups.

CONFLICT:   An incompatibility between two or more opinions, principles, or interests.   Obstacles that get in the way of a character achieving what he or she wants.   What the characters struggle against.

SCENE:   A sequence of continuous action(s) in a play separate from another set of continuous actions.   A single situation or unit of dialogue in a play.   The pieces of scenery used in a play.

STAGE DIRECTIONS:   Messages within the play manuscript from the playwright to the actors, technicians, and others in theater telling them what to do and how to do it.

SETTING:   The place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where  the action in a play takes place.   

BIOGRAPHY: a character’s life story that a playwright creates.

BACK STORY:   The part of the character’s life not revealed by the playwright, but can be inferred by the actor gathering his/her characters personality, character, et cetera to enhance his or her performance.

MONOLOGUE:   A long speech by one actor in a play or movie, or as part of a theatrical or broadcast program.

BEAT or PAUSE: a hesitation in a scene or dialogue, typically lasting a specified length: i.e. slight, long, a count of three, a pregnant pause, et cetera.

PLOT: the structure of a play, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement.   The main events of a play devised and presented by the playwright as an interrelated sequence to create the story or stories.

BLURB/EXPOSITION:   The beginning part of a plot that provides important background information.   The part of a play in which the background to the main conflict is introduced.

RISING ARCH OF THE PLOT:   The ascendant part of a plot, consisting of complications and discoveries that create conflict.

CLIMAX:   The highest point in a plot: the orgasm, so to speak.   The most intense, exciting, or important point or culmination of the action.

FALLING ACTION:   The series of events following the climax of a plot. 

DENOUEMENT: the final resolution of the conflict in a plot.   The final part of a play or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained made clear or resolved.