Playwright Discovery Award Teacher's Guide - The John F. Kennedy ...

PLAYWRITING EXERCISE 2 continued
PART 6 To Summarize Your Discoveries
Notice that with every “What If...?” we build more dramatic tension, so that by the end of our exercise,
we have created a compelling set of given circumstances for our play:
Main Character
A seventh grade girl who is blind.
The Dramatic Problem
She has lost an important section from her unique Braille textbook right before her final exam and has
ventured out in the middle of a strong storm to find it.
Her Need
She must find a way to get the textbook section back in time to study, or find a way to survive without
it—and, of course, she must come back safely out of the storm.
The Stakes
If she doesn’t get an A on the exam, she will fail the course. Not only that but she’ll have to go to summer
school if she doesn’t want to repeat seventh grade, and that means her family’s long-planned trip will be
cancelled. And of course, by going out in the middle of the heavy thunderstorm, she, like anyone, risks
serious injury.
The Ticking Clock
It’s already night, and the exam is first thing the next morning. That means she has very little time to
retrieve the book, or find some other solution. Of course, the other problem is that the fierce storm is
destroying the book, so if she doesn’t find it soon, it will be unusable.
To create more characters, come up with an image and sound or physical indicator of a disruption
and begin asking, “What If...?” Remember to think about how a disability enhances the character and
complicates the situation but isn’t the sole issue. •
24 ACT II: PLAYWRITING