 A play can appear on a stage or on the page.  Whether serious or funny, its job is the same. It tells a story through the words and actions of its characters.

 The play’s story unfolds in sections called scenes.  A scene is a short section of a play, movie, or television program.  Scenes in a play are similar to chapters in a story. Scenes and chapters share many common elements:  Characters  Events  Settings  Plot with a problem and solution  A new scene usually begins for one of the following reasons:  The location has changed.  The time period has changed.  A new character is introduced.  A new event takes place.

 Most plays are written to be acted out.  People, called actors, are the ones to act out the plays. In a play, actors portray characters.  Characters can be human or non-human.  The character in a play who tells the story is the narrator.  Playwrights have many techniques for making their characters come alive.  One technique is having a character talk in a distinctive manner or style.  The characters speak in lines of dialogue.  Dialogue is the words spoken in conversation by the characters of a play.

 Stage Directions are descriptions of the action or how a character feels.  Stage directions, which appear in parentheses and italics, tell the actors how to say their lines or what action should happen on stage.  Example:  McGrew (Chuckles)  This tells the actor playing the part of McGrew that he should perform the action of chuckling.

 The four main characteristics of plays are:  They tell a story that is written to be acted.  They include characters, setting, and plot.  They tell their stories mainly through the movements and dialogue of their characters.  They are written in scenes as dialogue, with stage directions.

 Now that you have become an expert on the characteristics of plays, I hope you will take the time to act a few out. You never know what sort of story you might unfold!