Students will take a scene from a story in Half Mammals of Dixie by George Singleton and compose the scene for a play.

Singleton, George. The Half Mammals of Dixie. Harvets, 2004. Print.

Casting

(Minimum of two paragraphs) (Minimum of 100 words per casting)

Students should select three actors to fill at least two roles in a story from Half Mammals of Dixie.  Students must write a paragraph for each actor explaining how that actor will play the role the student has cast him or her.  The student may make reference to previous roles the actor has played.  Actors may be currently living or dead. For instance, a casting of Tommy Lee Jones for the role of Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth might look something like this.

Macbeth - Tommy Lee Jones: Jones is a large, swarthy man, who, while intelligent, often plays roles that are more earthy or straightforward rather than complex and sophisticated. This lack of sophistication coupled with brute strength seems suited for the role of Macbeth. Macbeth is a character who is dogged and determined, who is slow to begin but persistent once he has begun. This bulldog determination can be seen in Jones' character role in The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals. This strength of will and non-sophistication is also seen in Jones' role in Space Cowboys., where he played a retired astronaut who sacrifices himself to save the rest of the crew. Macbeth's ambition and dogged pursuit of his destiny suits Jones movie persona and his refusal to allow anything to divert him from his task. Jones also can couple this strength of character with melancholy as can be seen in his performances in Men in Black, especially in Men in Black II and Men in Black III. Jones's portrayal of Hawk in Space Cowboys, who is dying of pancreatic cancer and sacrifices himself to save the rest of the crew is similar in tone to Macbeth's realization of the futility of his actions as seen in the "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy and his acceptance of his destiny. While Hawk's body is seen on the surface of the moon facing the earth, suggesting that he has achieved his goal of reaching the moon, his death also parallels Macbeth's death, which occurs off-stage. While Hawk's death represents a final triumph, Macbeth's death reveals the danger in unchecked ambition.

Scripting

(Minimum of 450 words including description of setting, dialogue, and character glosses)

Students must script a section from the short story chosen. Students should write a detailed script for the section chosen.  Include

Description of setting

This description should appear in italics with actor roles capitalized: Students may use description included in the text; however, they must document all details used following MLA documentation guidelines.

Example from Tennessee William's play Triflers opens in new window: [The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of JOHN WRIGHT, a gloomy kitchen, and left without having been put in order—unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the bread-box, a dish-towel on the table—other signs of incompleted work. At the rear the outer door opens and the SHERIFF comes in followed by the COUNTY ATTORNEY and HALE. The SHERIFF and HALE are men in middle life, the COUNTY ATTORNEY is a young man; all are much bundled up and go at once to the stove. They are followed by the two women—the SHERIFF's wife first; she is a slight wiry woman, a thin nervous face. MRS HALE is larger and would ordinarily be called more comfortable looking, but she is disturbed now and looks fearfully about as she enters. The women have come in slowly, and stand close together near the door.]

Dialogue

Students should copy dialogue from the short story (documenting the dialogue using MLA documentation), or students may create believable dialogue for the section chosen.

Character glosses (Director’s notes)

Students should include within the script short descriptions, gestures, or indications of tone within the dialogue to indicate how the lines are said, or what the character is doing while saying the lines.  These glosses appear italicized in brackets and are included within the dialogue.

Example of character gloss from Trifles: SHERIFF: (unbuttoning his overcoat and stepping away from the stove as if to mark the beginning of official business) Now, Mr Hale, before we move things about, you explain to Mr Henderson just what you saw when you came here yesterday morning.

Students may include details from the text but must document all details used following MLA documentation style.

Resources

The following video will help you to review the elements of drama for how you will script your stage directions: