3.5: Unit Assignment
- Page ID
- 375465
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Director's Concept
Now that you have written your three-page morality-play adaptation, your next step is to think like a director. For this assignment, you will write a one-page, double-spaced Director’s Concept that articulates your artistic vision for staging your fellow student’s play. Your concept should communicate how you understand the story and how you would bring it to life onstage for a contemporary audience.
Requirements
1. Dramatic Action (What happens in the play?)
Provide a clear and concise statement of the essential action of the play. This is not a summary of every plot point, but a distilled explanation of what drives the story forward.
- What motivates the characters?
- What central conflict or moral struggle structures the action?
- What changes between the beginning and the end?
2. Central Unifying Image (How do you imagine the play onstage?)
Identify a visual, metaphorical, or conceptual image that captures the heart of your production. This image should unify your staging choices and give the audience a way to understand the play’s world.
- Is your unifying image tied to a symbol from the original parable, myth, or story?
- Does it come from your contemporary setting (a school hallway, a smartphone screen, a corporate office, a protest line, etc.)?
- How does this image illuminate the play’s moral argument?
3. Directorial Approach (How will you direct the play?)
Explain your approach to performance, staging, and actor–audience relationships. Consider:
- Will the style be presentational, poetic, realistic, satirical, or allegorical?
- How will you work with actors to convey moral choice and transformation?
- Will you incorporate conventions of medieval morality plays (asides, allegorical characters, direct address, episodic structure)? How will they be adapted to a modern context?
4. Background and Relevance (Why this play for this audience at this time?)
Connect the moral of the original story and the contemporary issue it’s addressing. Your job here is to show that your production is purposeful, not accidental.
- What is the moral or ethical lesson the adaptation explores?
- What modern problem, challenge, or question does the play respond to?
- Why is this story meaningful right now, and to whom is it speaking?
5. Technical Elements (What should the audience see, hear, and feel?)
Describe how you imagine the design elements supporting your concept. You do not need to draw sketches; instead, use vivid language to show the aesthetic world. The goal is to demonstrate how your staging choices reinforce the story’s themes and the morality-play structure. Consider:
Set
- What environment does the play occur in?
- Is it literal (a bedroom, a street corner) or abstract (a fractured moral landscape)?
Lighting
- What emotions, transitions, or moral turning points should lighting emphasize?
- Bright, stark, shadowed, warm, neon—why?
Costumes
- How do costumes reflect each character’s symbolic or allegorical identity?
- How do they place the play in the contemporary setting?
Sound / Music
- Would sound help establish tone or highlight moral tension?