The Play:

1. What did you think of the play? Likes, dislikes? Why? (Provide a minimum of 2
likes and dislikes.)

2. On the surface level, what is the play about? What’s this play really about below
the surface, what’s going on underneath it all? (Why did this playwright write this
play? What did the playwright want us thinking about/talking about after we
saw/read the play?)

3. Who is the main character in this play? Why do you believe this? What makes the
main character the main character in a play?

4. Where is the play set? Why do you think the playwright chose the setting(s) they
chose?

5. What are the problems/potential problems of this play? What could be difficult
for the audience to hear/understand/experience, or difficult to stage? What
creative errors do the directors, designers, actors need to be cautious of making?

The Scene:

1. What does your character want throughout the course of the play? What about
their situation are they trying to change?

2. What’s in their way of creating that change? This question is twofold, What
outside of them is in their way (other people/situations)? What about who they
are is possibly holding them back? What’s their character flaw?
3. What does your character want in this scene? What’s in their way?

4. Stakes/Urgency: What happens if your character doesn't get what they want in
this scene? And why do they need it now? (If you need to create circumstances
that aren’t officially in the play in order to heighten the drama, have at it, just
make it plausible to the story and who you believe your character to be.)

5. Every scene in the play changes something or someone in order to move the story
forward. Why is this scene in the play? What does it do to move the story
forward? What impact does it have on the play as a whole? What do we gain by
including this scene? (For this question consider the scene as a whole, the entire
conversation between the two characters, not just the cut of it we’re doing for the
demo.)

6. Every scene in the play should also change the character in some way, leave them
in a different place than where they started the scene? What specifically changes
for your character because of this scene? How could they be different because of
this conversation?

7. In relation to the prop scene teaching objective: What activity have you chosen to
do throughout the scene? Why is your character doing it?

8. Moment Before: What happened before this scene starts in the script? How does
that event affect your character? What state are you in to start the next moment
because of the moment before ?
 9. With a minimum of 5 sentences, describe the relationship between these two
characters? What do they think of each other? Why do they need/turn to each
other?

10. Describe the character you’re playing. What’s your impression about who this
person is? What do you like about them? What do you not like about them?

11. What drives this character? What need/pursuit makes life worth living for them?
There are universal needs we as human beings have and universal questions we
all ask (need for connection/community, love, identity, success, power, approval,
autonomy/freedom, meaning, justice, etc). What universal need is at the top of
this character’s list? What drives them throughout the play? Another way to
phrase this would be, What does this character fear more than anything? My life
would be meaningless/worthless if…

Relationship to Nouns/Point of View

Human beings are thinking machines. It is rare we don’t have a thought inside our head
at any given moment. We have an opinion on just about everything, whether we speak it
aloud or not is a different matter. Your characters are no different. Below is a list of
nouns in your scene. I want you to think about what your character’s personal opinion is
on the subject and why do they think/believe that? Also consider, when appropriate,
what is your character’s opinion on the subject in relation to the other character they’re
speaking to? An example on that last question from Gloria is: Does Miles actually think
Dean is a buddhist, based on what he’s seen/heard in the office? Does Dean actually
think Miles believes him to be a buddhist?

With 3-5 sentences, describe your character’s relationship to the following nouns
(person, place, thing, idea). There’s a list for those doing Gloria and then a list for those
doing Seared. Fill in the list appropriate to your play and write to your heart’s content,
using the play as the foundation for your opinion. When we’re back in person I may ask
you why you think X, and you should use clues in the script to justify your
choice/opinion.
GLORIA
What’s your character’s relationship to:

● Gloria (the character)

● Miles’ Headphones/music

● Dean’s book

● Buddhism

● Being/becoming a writer

● The future

● Miles as an intern/employee/work ethic

● Richard

● Your current job: Working in Magazines/Publishing Industry

● If you’re playing Dean: Tell me more about the time in your life you worked in a
buddhist monastery and the person you were dating at the time? Give me details
Dean doesn’t say to Miles. Paint a fuller picture for me.
 ● If you’re playing Miles: Dissect your two paragraphs on page 35. What are your
thoughts on each of the after college options (Grad School, J school, waiting,
writing, editing, working in magazines)? How do you feel about going abroad and
teaching english? What draws you to Africa?

SEARED
What’s your character’s relationship to:

● The Restaurant/Food

● The salmon dish Harry has created & the name it’s been given

● Harry’s general assholery

● Harry’s Scallop dish

● Harry’s Cooking in General/the experience of cooking (for Harry) or eating (both

● The restaurant’s menu

● Veganism
● Emily

● The Financial State of the Restaurant

● Farmed Salmon