• the central chain of events in the play

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• particularly as those events are the central character's attempt to achieve and an important goal

• The giving of information about past events

1. Plot
2. Character
3. Idea/Thought
4. Language/Diction
5. Music/Sound
6. Spectacle

• The ordering of the incidents in a play

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• Parts of Plot

1. Exposition
2. Point of Attack-playwright begins the plot
3. Action- with discovery and reversal
4. Complication- the opposing or entangling of the action--common kind is conflict--can be either caused or accidental
5. Rising Action
6. Crisis- a turning point in the action
7. Dέnouement

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  Kinds of Plot

1. Casual Plot (linear/climactic)- the incidents all can be seen to lie along a line of casualty from beginning to end (linear)- and climactic is used because such can build to a climax. Climax refers to an audiences response to plot and not to a part of the plot.--2 major types: single line of development, and multiple lines of development
2. Episodic Plot- the incidents in this do not follow one another. They are usually followed by the exploration of an idea

DέNOUEMENT

• the declining action

Kinds of Characters

• Protagonist- the central figure in the main action
• Confidant(e)- a character in whom the protagonist or another important character confides
• Antagonist- In a play with conflict, the character who opposes the protagonist
• Raisonneur- the authors character. One who speaks for the author directly giving their morals or philosophical ideas. Usually not the protagonist.
• Foil- One who sets off another character by contrast: comic where the other is serious, stupid where intelligent, shrewd where naive.

1. Tragedy
2. Comedy
3. Tragicomedy
4. Melodrama- a work of apparent seriousness with issues cast in terms of extremes
5. Farce- a comic work whose aim is laughter

• "seeing place"

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• A body of artistic work in which actors impersonate characters in a live performance of a (scripted) play

• "Hearing place"

• A contract between theatre artists and audiences, an agreement to do things a certain way for the good of all

• Removal from observable reality

• "truth seeming"

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• the elimination of events that could not reasonably be expected to happen in real life

• where the actors enter
• underground tunnel system

• path or road that separates the audience from the playing space

• a movable platform capable of being rolled or rotated out of the skene to reveal the result of an offstage action

• some sort of crane that allowed people and things to "fly" in and out

• Imitates "action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude"

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• Takes "the form of action, not narrative"

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• Produces "pity and fear and the catharsis of such emotions"