| action | (1) An event that changes the status quo in the plot of a play; (2) something done by a character; (3) what a character does to overcome an obstacle to achieving his objective; a part of the Stanislavsky System of acting. (6-91)
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| characters | (1) The second in Aristotle's ranking of the six elements of theatre, which he described as "the agent for the action"; (2) a fictional being in a playwright's script. (6-91)
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| cinematic structure | The arrangement of the plot of a play that presents flash-backs and subjective scenes in other than chronological order. (6-88)
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| complex plot | A plot that interweaves more than one story, that includes "subplots." (6-88)
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| contextual structure | The arrangement and sequence of scenes in a play that is determined by their relationship to a central theme instead of by a chronological or cause-and-effect logic. (6-89)
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| continuous linear plot | A plot with a linear structure that unfolds without any gaps in the chronology of events. (6-88)
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| crisis | The moment in the unfolding of the plot when a change happens that leads inevitably to the resolution of the dramatic question; also called the "turning point." (6-92)
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| description | The portions of a playwright's script that are not dialogue. (6-91)
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| dialogue | The speeches the characters say; the playwright's primary material. (6-91)
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| dramatic question | The question posed early in a play's plot that keeps the audience interested until it is answered at the plot's resolution. (6-92)
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| episodic linear plot | A plot with a linear structure made up of a sequence of scenes that have time lapses between them. (6-88)
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| falling action | The portion of the plot that follows the crisis. (6-92)
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| inciting event | The moment in the plot when the dramatic question is asked; it marks the end of the introduction and the beginning of what is often called the rising action. (6-92)
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| introduction | A term used in play analysis to describe the first scene or scenes of a play in which characters are introduced, exposition is provided, and the status quo is established. (6-91)
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| linear structure | Description of the plot of a play that progresses without flashbacks to jumble the chronology; the action progresses "along a line." (6-88)
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| meaning | The single dominant idea expressed by the plot of a play. (6-96)
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| plot structure | The major action of the story that is told and that takes the audience on a journey from the status quo at the beginning to the changed circumstances at the end of a play; Aristotle described plot as "the life and soul of the drama." (6-87)
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| resolution | The moment in a play's plot when the dramatic question is answered. (6-92)
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| rising action | The segment of the plot between the point of attack and the crisis in which events complicate the plot and heighten suspense. (6-92)
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| scene | A short segment of the plot of a play. (6-91)
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| simple plot | A plot without any subplots. (6-88)
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| stage directions | The playwright's written instructions. (6-94)
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| status quo | The stable situation at the beginning of a plot, before the dramatic question is asked. (6-91)
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| theme | An intellectual idea examined in a play. (6-96)
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| turning point | The moment in the unfolding of the plot when a change happens that leads inevitably to the resolution of the dramatic question; also called the "crisis." (6-92)
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