Creative Writing

CHAPTER14

The Believable One-Act Play

In This Chapter

• Stage matters
• Making the play work
• Spoken audio
• Unspoken audio

Full-length plays that have a three-act format can last for more than 2 hours. By contrast, one-act plays are essentially short plays telling a complete story. They are enacted against the backdrop of a single scene and may last for about 30 to 60 minutes.

A budding playwright can get acquainted with the basics of playwriting by learning to write a one-act play. The format and content of the play is largely determined by audience, so it helps to know the target audience in advance. However, if you don’t know for sure, you can ...