Perform a Play in Various Languages
Senior 3 · Music
Perform a Play in Various Languages
4 lessons
Lesson 3 of 4
Steps to create a play and the roles in a production
25 min
Many hands behind one play
The audience sees the actors, but a play is made by a whole team: someone wrote it, someone decided where every actor stands, someone found the jerrycans and the toolbox, someone switched on the light at the right moment and someone sat in the wings with the script, ready to whisper a forgotten line. This lesson sets out the steps from an idea to a performance, and the jobs that a class can share.
Definition
Production: the whole process of preparing and performing a play, and the team that does it.
Rehearsal: a practice session. A read-through is the first rehearsal, where the cast reads the script aloud sitting down. A dress rehearsal is the last, a full performance in costume with props, lights and sound, but without an audience.
Blocking: deciding and recording where actors stand and move during each scene.
Casting: choosing which actor plays which character, often after an audition in which actors try out short pieces.
Steps to create a play
- Choose a theme and an idea. What do you want the audience to think about? Water and neighbours, honesty, peer pressure, the environment.
- Research and plan the plot. Talk to people who know the topic; draw the plot mountain; list the characters and their languages.
- Write the script in proper layout, then read it aloud and improve it.
- Cast the roles, by audition or discussion, and give out the crew jobs.
- Read-through: everyone hears the whole play and asks questions about characters and words.
- Blocking and rehearsals: work scene by scene, then run whole acts; learn lines by an agreed date.
- Technical and dress rehearsal: add props, costume, lights and sound; run the play exactly as it will be performed.
- Perform for an audience.
- Evaluate: discuss what worked and what to improve, using audience reactions and the director's notes.
Key roles in a production
| Role | Main job |
|---|---|
| Playwright | writes the script |
| Director | leads the artistic side: interprets the script, guides the actors, decides the blocking and the overall look and feel |
| Actors (the cast) | learn their lines and moves and bring the characters to life |
| Stage manager | runs rehearsals and performances: keeps the prompt book with all blocking and cues, keeps time, and "calls" the cues during the show |
| Set designer | plans and builds the scenery |
| Props manager | finds, prepares and looks after every object the actors handle |
| Costume and make-up | dress the actors so the audience knows who they are, where and when |
| Lighting and sound | light the stage and play music and sound effects on cue |
| Prompter | follows the script during the show and quietly gives a line to an actor who forgets |
| Front of house | publicity, tickets, ushering and looking after the audience |
In a school production one person often does two jobs, but every job must have a named person, or it will be forgotten on the night.
Worked example
Worked example: plan three weeks of rehearsal. A class prepares a 20-minute play in three scenes and has three rehearsals a week.
| Week | Rehearsals | Goal by the end of the week |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | read-through; block scene 1; block scenes 2 and 3 | everyone knows where they move; crew lists of props and costumes made |
| 2 | work scene 1; work scenes 2 and 3; first run of the whole play | lines learned; props collected |
| 3 | run with notes; technical rehearsal; dress rehearsal | ready to perform |
The plan works backwards from the performance date and puts the line deadline before the technical rehearsal, so that the last rehearsals are about the whole show, not about remembering words.
Video: "Working in Theatre: Stage Manager", Center Theatre Group. It explains how a production stays the same from one night to the next, and who the actors call when they are running late. Compare the job shown with the stage manager row in the table above.
Tip
Keep a prompt book. One copy of the script, kept by the stage manager, with every move, prop and lighting cue written in pencil beside the lines. If anyone is absent, the show can still go on.
Warning
Common mistakes. (1) Spending most rehearsals on scene 1, so the ending is under-rehearsed. (2) Adding props and costumes only on the night: actors need to practise with them. (3) Leaving the crew without a named leader, so cues are missed.
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Practice
- What is a read-through?
- What is the difference between the director and the stage manager?
- Who gives a forgotten line to an actor during a performance?
- Why is the dress rehearsal important?
- Put in order: dress rehearsal, casting, writing the script, blocking, evaluation.
- Your class has 25 pupils and a play with 8 characters. Plan who does what, naming at least six crew roles.
- After the performance, the audience at the back could not hear two actors. Which step deals with this, and what would you change next time?
Show answersHide answers
- The first rehearsal, where the cast reads the whole script aloud together.
- The director leads the artistic side (interpretation, acting, blocking); the stage manager organises and runs rehearsals and performances and calls the cues.
- The prompter.
- It is the only full run in costume with props, lights and sound before the audience, so problems can be found and fixed.
- Writing the script, casting, blocking, dress rehearsal, evaluation.
- Model: 8 actors; director; stage manager; prompter; 2 set builders; 2 props; 2 costume and make-up; 2 lighting and sound; 3 front of house; 2 understudies; 1 playwright or script editor (who can also help the director).
- Evaluation. Next time: practise voice projection in rehearsal, have someone check from the back of the room, and position the actors further downstage or facing the audience.
Remember
- Idea → plot → script → casting → read-through → blocking and rehearsals → technical and dress rehearsal → performance → evaluation.
- The director shapes the art; the stage manager runs the show.
- Every job needs a named person.
Sources and credits
- Lesson text, flowchart, tables, worked example and practice: written by Ganzaa.
- Video: "Working in Theatre: Stage Manager", Center Theatre Group, embedded from YouTube.