Class project - create a short comedy play

The class will be split into two groups.

Students need to perform the following roles:

Script writers
Director
Actors
Costume and staging ideas
A technician to do lighting, special effects and sound
A narrator

The story must have

a time (day, night, past, present, future, winter, spring etc)
- could you even add a flashback?

a place (more than one if possible)
- think about atmosphere - a jungle, an airport, inside a train, a prison, at the beach, in the snow, Mars (how can you convey these places - through props and sounds?)
- a writer friend of mine said you should always set your story in a strange place, that way, even if the action is mundane, at least it's happening somewhere interesting.

a hero / heroine
- find the flaw and play it up

a villain
- find the flaw and play it up

make sure you have at least three distinct (and named) characters with motivations

throw in some amusing incidental characters as a side plot

more than one plot line, make these meet up from time to time

dialogue

plenty of incongruity - don't hold back

an inanimate object or animal with human qualities (this character could say ironic things - it could be a computer or a bag or a spider)

a build up (let the story unfold slowly, even put in some things that conceal the real plot)

a conflict (what's the basic problem behind the drama?)

at least one plot twist (something isn't it seemed to be perhaps)

a change in the relationship between the characters (a shift in alliances?)

a climax (something dramatic - a sword fight, a tragedy, a revelation)

a resolution (wrap it up with a final joke or twist)


It must be 5-10 minutes long.

Characters:

Think about types (stupid, hyper-cautious, clumsy, day dreamer, femme fatale, manipulator, innocent, smelly, spoilt brat, superficial, conniving, overly sensitive etc) and opposites (old and young, wise and foolish, short and tall, nerdy and cool, brave and cowardly etc)


It could be on a theme. Choose one...

Secrets
Revenge
Getting a job
Work
Unrequited love
Greed
Power struggles
Adventure


Devices that can help in creating drama and suspense:

A destination (the characters are going somewhere perhaps, or one character is going to be executed or discovered to be not what they seem)
A race against time (adds suspense every time)
A simple motivation of one or more characters that keeps getting thwarted (maybe they're trying to get out prison)
An unexplained object (a "UFO"). Put this is a conspicuous place so the audience thinks "why is that there? How does it relate to the story etc). Then let this object come into the story in a creative way.

It could have a key comic scene (a gag) - this is almost like a play within a play

here are a couple of examples:

Marx Bros speech scene

Down By Law

Most of all...

Have fun