Control No:

_______________

SLK FOR CREATIVE WRITING

Quarter 4, Week 3

I. PRELIMINARIES

Competency Conceptualize a character/ setting/ plot for a one-act play

(HUMSS_CW/MPIj-IIc-17)

Objectives After answering this Self-Learning Kit, the students are

expected to:
 determine the features of a one-act play;
 conceptualize a script that can be staged for a one-act
play; and
 perform and record your one-act play.

Topic/
Subject Reading and Writing a One-Act Play
Matter
Textbook Creative Writing
Materials Answer sheet, pen, bond paper, construction board (colored)
Copyrights Creative Writing
(Louyzza Maria Victoria H. Vasquez, Gabriela Lee)
Total Points 100
Date June 8-12, 2021

II. CONTENT MAP

One Act Play Features

Stage Play Script Writing

Performance

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III. CONTENT NOTES

A one-act play is a short piece of drama that has one act, as distinct
from plays that occur over several acts. It may consists of one or more scenes, but
does not exceed on one act. During the 20 th century, it dominated its popularity in
public and is regarded as a modern genre of literature. However, there are certain
documentaries that marked how a one-act play was written and staged throughout
the 18th and 19th centuries, such as in “The Curtain Raisers” or “The After Pieces.”
But, speaking of its originality it is easier to trace it back to the ancient history of
drama, in ancient Greece through the work of Eurupides’ “Cyclops” a satirical kind
of play.

What is the difference of One-Act play from the full length play?

A one-act play differs from a full length play since the former contains
only a one act, but can be performed in more than one scene and these scenes
can be shorter in length. Yet, the full length play can be performed in more than
one act and each act has several scenes.

Features and Elements of a One Act Play

Elements Descriptions
 Character  Is the central element to any dramatic play.
Characters are referred to as actors (male)
and actresses (female). Character is grouped
into three kinds: the antagonist (villain or kontra-
bida), protagonist (the hero/heroine or the
bida) and the foil or sidekick (friend of the
protagonist).
 Characters can be made of three things:
appearance, attributes, and aspiration.
 Voice and  Voice is the way how the writer tells the story
Dialogue while the dialogue is referred to the direct speech
of characters in a work of fiction such as the
drama. The dialogue in drama characterizes the
characters and set up the plot of the drama.
 Plot  It is the line that holds all of the scenes of the
drama together. Plot are series of events that lead
the protagonist on a journey.
 Theme  It is the main message of the play. Every one-
act play has a theme regardless of how short
as it may appear.
Features of the One Act Play
 There are no breaks on the action and the script is written in a concise
manner.
 Few characters are compared to Full length plays
 There is a single- setting (most of the time)
 The action begins at the beginning of the play.

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 Writing in Scenes and Acts

A scene is a unit of action. It is not tied to a single setting. A dramatic scene

is predicated on what happens not where it happens. For example, a teacher and
student is having a heated argument inside the classroom. This argument lead to
the student’s walking out of the classroom. Suddenly, the Principal gets inside the
classroom and asks the teacher what was the incident all about. In this scenario,
the events mentioned earlier happen in one setting only but it has two scenes. The
first scene is the conversation between the teacher and the student and the
second one is the teacher and the principal.
In many plays, the setting remains the same for long stretches of time and
only the characters come in and out of the same setting. This is the case in the
first act of the play, “Pygmalion”, which all takes place in Covent Gardens.

An act is basically a sequence of scenes. A play can have between one

and five acts, depending on how the writer structures the story. Each act in turn,
while they can have have a limitless number of scenes, runs to about 30-90
minutes depending on the story. Acts are helpful way for writers to structure their
story. The classic structure of drama has a five-act structure that moves from
exposition through climax to resolution. Modern playwrights have simplified this
five-act structure to just three acts.

1. Set-Up (Act 1) - In this act, you are introduced to the world of drama,
including the characters and their motivations. You will also see exciting scenario
that will lead to the second act.
2. Conflict (Act 2) - You will see the transition and the rising of the events
from Act 1 leading to this act. Conflict in character’s desires or intentions come in
conflict with each other, creating tension which drives the drama to its final act.
3. Resolution (Act 3) - The characters’ build up of conflict in the second act
will be placed to resolve. This is the stage where final confrontation happens
between the opposing forces of drama. In the final scenes of this act, you see the
outcome of the conflict and how it has changed the characters in the drama.

A scene description describes the scene taking place on stage. There are
two kinds of scene descriptions, namely : (1) the first kind of scene description
shows where the scene is taking place and (2) the second kind of scene
description shows action happening on stage and is usually happen in the middle
of the scene and tells the actors and production crew where to go and what to do.

The acting cues are similar to descriptions on the sense that it gives
description. However, acting cues and descriptions may differ in such a way that
acting cues tell the actors and actresses how to read their lines whereas the
descriptions tells them to what to do.

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 How to Write a One Act Play

A good one-act play focuses on one main action or problem; there’s not
time to get into complicated layers of plot. It’s a good idea to keep your play to one
set and as few scenes as possible. A one-act play is 9-12 pages with four
characters or less.

Theme
• Ask yourself, what is the play about? Revenge? Self-discovery? Romance?
• Your mind needs to be clear about the theme
• Characters, plots need to point to and support the theme

Plot
• Different in one-act play from a full-length play. In a one-act play, there is only
time for one significant event
• Determine the place for hero, where all can be won or lost
• Events leading to this can be included without being shown to audience
• The events that follow must be inferred or understood by the audience

Character
• There is not much area to develop all the characters – limit-four
• The hero or the protagonist’s character needs to be more developed and focused
on
• The antagonist can be developed to show conflict
• Some other characters can also be a little bit developed to move the story
forward

Dialogue
• Economy is the key aspect here.
• Each line must be crafted carefully to focus on the theme, the incident and the
character of the protagonist
• The dialogues need not be terse, but concise and full of meaning
• Dialogues irrelevant to the plot, must be altered or omitted immediately

Sample One Act Play Script

ACT ONE Scene 1

A stage in a small edgy big city theater. There are two chairs CS [center
stage]. The THEATER DIRECTOR, a young, edgy, big city guy is sitting in one of
them. The PLAYWRIGHT enters. Like all playwrights, this character is so
charismatic some of the spotlights implode trying so hard to compete with intense
light as PLAYWRIGHT walks toward other chair.

THEATER DIRECTOR: Do you know how to write dialogue in format?

PLAYWRIGHT: Haven’t a clue.

THEATER DIRECTOR: You center the name of the character talking and put the
name in caps…That’s short for capital letters.

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 ACT ONE Scene 1 (continuation)

PLAYWRIGHT: Is that right.

THEATER DIRECTOR: Then you write the dialogue without quotation marks.
Then you space and do the same thing with the character talking back.

PLAYWRIGHT: And being confrontational? Talking back and giving the first
character a hard time? I mean if I were to start arguing with you? If I were to get
loud? (Shouts) If I were to be a very…

PLAYWRIGHT: Misunderstood kind of character who won’t…BEHAVE!

THEATER DIRECTOR: That would make for conflict and interest and good
theater.

PLAYWRIGHT: So if I just have people saying nothing much about anything…? If

they just talk about what interests me and nothing much happens, it’s not so
good?

THEATER DIRECTOR: (Snoring. Wakes up) …huh? Right! Yes. You’ll put
everyone to sleep if your characters have no conflict.

PLAYWRIGHT: What if I want to write some action that happens without any
dialogue going on?

PLAYWRIGHT: (Leaning toward DIRECTOR) What if, like, my friends..? They all
like talk like this? Can I, like, write dialogue like…you know…like they really talk?
(Beat) [This means you want the actors to wait a second as though they are
thinking or need a little time to react. If you want them to wait a longer time, use
(Pause).]

DIRECTOR: Please do. Although with only a few lines of dialogue, you could
make your friends sound intelligent. You could also place them in the last century
or a thousand years in the future and you can also set them down in any kind of
place you’d like.

PLAYWRIGHT: Like a cave? Or a racetrack? Or a funeral? Or the middle of the

ocean? DIRECTOR Assuming they can swim. (Pause.)

PLAYWRIGHT: I can do anything.

DIRECTOR: Exactly. Just put it in the right format and we’ll believe every word

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IV. ACTIVITIES

Day 2. Activity 1: Determining the features of a One Act Play

Date: June 9, 2021 10/10

HP Score: __________

Directions: The following descriptions tell about writing a One Act Play. Write T if
the statement is true and F it is untrue. Place your answers on the answer sheets
provided by your teacher.

_______ 1. The acting cues are similar to descriptions on the sense that it gives
description.
_______ 2. A scene description describes the scene taking place on stage.
_______ 3. A scene is a unit of action. It is not tied to a single setting.
_______ 4. A play can have between one and five acts, depending on how the
writer structures the story.
_______ 5. A one-act play is a short of piece of drama that has one act, as distinct
from plays that occur over several acts.
_______ 6. A one-act play does not differ from a full-length play since they both
contain only a one act.
_______ 7. In Act 2 set-up, you are introduced to the world of drama, including the
characters and their motivations.
_______ 8. Theme is the line that holds all of the scenes of the drama together.
_______ 9. Resolution is the stage where final confrontation happens between the
opposing forces of drama.
_______ 10. Characters can be made of three things: appearance, attributes, and
aspiration.

Day 3. Activity 2 : Conceptualizing the script for a One Act Play

Date: June 10, 2021 25/25

HP Score: _________

Directions: Below are the steps for you to follow in creating a Character Sketch
that could be useful in composing a one scene act.

Step 1: Cut-out one celebrity figure or movie character that you really admire
the most. Place this at the center on your short size of bond paper.
Step 2: Write five adjectives to associate with your character.
Step 3: Think of some dialogues that you think may express the feeling of the
character that you selected.

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Day 4. Activity 3 (Output Making) : Writing a One Act Script.
50/50
Date: June 11, 2021 HP Score: _________

Directions: Write a script for One Act Play. You may choose a theme from the
given choices. The finished script will be rated in accordance to the rubric
indicated below for your reference.

Option A: Poverty is not a hindrance to success

Option B: Love is blind that only neighbors can see.
Option C: The family that prays together, smiles forever.

RUBRIC FOR 10 points 5 points 1 point

MEMO WRITING (Excellent) (Good) (Needs
Improvement)

CONTENT The content quality The content quality Does not show any
QUALITY shows wide research shows little research sign of wide
and use available and little primary research.
primary sources. sources available.
CLARITY OF The paper is original, The paper is original The paper contains
PRESENTATION neatly arranged with but is not neatly plagiarized items.
no grammatical error arranged. It has few The text is very
and the text is very erroneous grammar. unclear with several
clear. misspelled words
and faulty grammar.
Follows the accepted
STYLE AND standard formatting Follows the standard Does not follow the
FORMAT guidelines. formatting guidelines standard formatting.
but it seems over
the length.
Broad and fluent Vocabulary somet
LANGUAGE range of vocabulary. imes No control of word
USE used choice and word
inappropriately; 3-4 forms.
instances
of wordiness or
colloquialisms.

V. EVALUATION

Day 5
Date: June 12, 2021 Date: ________ HP Score: 15/15

Directions: Read and comprehend each statement carefully. Choose your

answers by writing the letters of your choice on the space provided in your answer
sheet.

1. Is the central element to any dramatic play.

A. Character B. Plot C. Voice D. Dialogue

2. Is the way how the writer tells the story.

A. Dialogue B. Speech C. Voice D. Scenes

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3. This character plays as the hero/heroine or the bida in any fiction.
A. Antagonist B. Foil C. Protagonist D. Spy

4. These are series of events that lead the protagonist on a journey.

A. Climax C. Literature
B. Characterization D. Plot

5. This is a kind of playwright that have simplified the five-act structure into three acts.
A. Modern Playwright C. Conventional playwright
th
B. 18 century drama D. 19th century drama

6. Is referred to the direct speech of characters in a work of fiction such as the

drama.
A. Voice B. Theme C. Dialogue D. Heading

7. It can be performed in more than one acts and each act has several scenes.
A. Full length play C. One Act play
B. Short length play D. Two Acts play

8. Is basically called as a sequence of scenes.

A. Clues C. Act
B. Scenes D. Scene descriptions

9. It dominated its popularity in public and is regarded as a modern genre of

literature.
A. Full length play C. One Act play
B. Short length play D. Two Acts play

10. Is/are considered as helpful way for writers to structure their story.
A. Clues C. Act
B. Scenes D. Scene descriptions

11. Is/Are similar to descriptions on the sense that it gives descriptive details.
A. Acting cues C. Dramatic descriptions
B. Scenes D. Scene descriptions

12. In this act, you are introduced to the world of drama, including the characters
and their motivations.
A. Back-up B. Set-up C. Resolution D. Conflict

13. You will see the transition and the rising of the events from Act 1 leading to this act.
A. Back-up B. Set-up C. Resolution D. Conflict

14. This is the stage when characters’ build up of conflict in the second act will be
placed to resolve.
A. Back-up B. Set-up C. Resolution D. Conflict

15. This refers to the manuscript written by a playwright.

A. Script B. Dialogue C. Scene D. Act

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VI. ANSWER KEY

No answer key provided.

VII. REFERENCES

Book

Vasquez, L.H., and Gabriela Lee (2018) Creative Writing. Manila, Philippines. Rex
Bookstore, Inc.

Virtual Sources

Features of One-act Play. Retrieved from URL link.

www.academia.edu34117520/Features_of_one_act_play

How to Write a One Act Play. Retrieved from URL link.

www.whartoncenterassets.com/tcoh/pdfs/1819/YPF/YPF-sample-script.pdf

Prepared by:

Name: MAYET C. DELGADO, MA Literature

School: BULACAO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Contact No: N/A
Date Submitted: 5/24/2021

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Control No:
__________________
__________ SLK FOR CREATIVE WRITING
Quarter 4, Week 3

Name: _________________________ Year & Sec: _________ Date: ______

VIII. FEEDBACK NOTES

Directions: After answering the evaluation section, write your feedback about the
lesson found in this Self-Learning kit. Also, ask your parents to provide their
feedback.

Learner’s Feedback
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
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_________________________________________
_________________________________________
________________________________

Parent’s Feedback
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
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SLK 2 FOR READING AND WRITING SKILLS

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 SLK FOR CREATIVE WRITING
Quarter 4, Week 3

IX. ANSWER SHEET

Activity 1: Determining the features of a One Act Play

ACTIVITY NO. 1

1. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________
3. __________________________________________
4. __________________________________________
5. __________________________________________
6. __________________________________________
7. __________________________________________
8. __________________________________________
9. __________________________________________
10. _________________________________________

Activity 2 : Conceptualizing the script for a One Act Play

9.
10.

Insert the image of your

favorite TV or Movie
actor/actress

Adjective 1 Adjective 2
Adjective 3

Adjective 4 Adjective 5

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Day 4. Activity 3 (Output Making) : Writing a one-act Script. (50/50)

Chosen Title: ______________________________________

Characters: _____________________________________________________________________

Act 1- Scene 1

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