Journal Entry #2 (Drama) Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson by Rich Orloff, Page 1823 Central Character: The Teacher, the person whose class on playwright gets interrupted by the two characters in the play he is using to demonstrate playwriting. He is thought of as condescending and a “control freak” by the other two characters. He is also the protagonist.
Other Characters: The Good Samaritan is the character in The Teacher’s example play who is trying to talk The Jumper down from the roof of a building. Ironically, The Good Samaritan is the one who first interrupts The Teacher. The Jumper is another character in The Teacher’s example play who is about to commit suicide in the example play. Both The Good Samaritan and The Jumper are antagonists.
Scene: The play takes place on top of the rooftop of a tall building in a city with The Teacher attempting to teach a lesson on good playwriting, using someone about to jump off of the rooftop and someone who runs in to help as the example characters.
Major Conflict: After The Teacher pauses and rewinds his
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The Teacher repeatedly pauses and rewinds the action, causing frustration to The Jumper and The Good Samaritan. The characters eventually start ignoring The Teacher’s clicks to pause when they get into a heated argument with each other. The Good Samaritan then takes out a clicker of his own to pause The Teacher, who is raging at the two characters to stop. The Good Samaritan and The Teacher proceed to argue, with The Jumper trying to divert the attention of the play back to himself. At the climax, The Jumper shoots and kills The Teacher, though it has little effect of either of the characters. The contemplate whether the turn of events was “good playwriting or bad playwriting” and then go to “grab a brew”