D R A M 1 3 1 0 : I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E A T R E ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CRITICAL REPORTS During the course of the semester you are responsible for writing two typed 3-4 page critical reports. These papers are critiques of a film and play that you watch, and should be written in the first person (example: I felt that the actress playing Olivia captured the part perfectly, with small gestures with her hands, showing Olivia’s tendency to be fussy.) When writing about plot, please keep the synopsis down to a few (2-4) sentences, no more than paragraph. You can use plot points, however, to emphasize a point about pacing, character development, lighting, costumes, etc… (example: When Wesley becomes enraged at finding his ice cream eaten after dreaming about it all day, the lights go red, and shift to under lighting, denoting that he’s really ticked off.) Papers must be: 1. Handed in at the BEGINNING of class. Late papers will be reduced by 10 points off for every class they are late. This includes turning paper in after class has started. AND 2. Three to four FULL pages typed. Papers less than 3 full pages will receive 10 points off immediately. HELPFUL HINTS -This report is not about summarizing the story. You should assume that the reader is familiar with the subject matter in question and any story synopsis should be confined to NO MORE THAN A FEW SENTENCES. -You can earn an additional 5/10 points extra credit per paper for utilizing the Writing Center. Papers must have any suggested corrections completed. -Please make sure that you ITALICIZE or UNDERLINE the play or film titles. The general outline can be the following, based on the 6 Aristotelian points of dramatic criticism (theme, plot, characters, language, music, spectacle), and Critical Perspectives (social, human, aesthetic/artistic, and entertainment values): 1. Give a short introduction of the film/play you are critiquing. A. WHAT IS BEING DONE? What is the production attempting to do? Is the production meant to criticize society or an individual? Is it meant to provide commentary or call to action? Educate or entertain? What are the characters attempting to do? (Use Theme and some Plot, Social and Human significances here.) B. HOW WELL HAS IT BEEN DONE? Has the creator of the work reached their goals? Have the performers and director brought the work to life? Have the characters done what they set out to do? (Use Character, Language, Music, Spectacle here with Aesthetic/Artistic points here.) C. IS IT WORTH DOING? Is this kind of production valid? Is it meaningful or significant to you…to others? (Use Entertainment value here.) FILMS FOR THE MOTION PICTURE CRITICAL .

1. D R A M 1 3 1 0 : I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E A T
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CRITICAL REPORTS
During the course of the semester you are responsible for
writing two typed 3-4 page
critical reports. These papers are critiques of a film and play
that you watch, and should
be written in the first person (example: I felt that the actress
playing Olivia captured
the part perfectly, with small gestures with her hands, showing
Olivia’s tendency to be
fussy.)
When writing about plot, please keep the synopsis down to a
few (2-4) sentences, no
more than paragraph. You can use plot points, however, to
emphasize a point about
pacing, character development, lighting, costumes, etc…
(example: When Wesley
becomes enraged at finding his ice cream eaten after dreaming
about it all day, the
lights go red, and shift to under lighting, denoting that he’s
really ticked off.)
Papers must be:

2. 1. Handed in at the BEGINNING of class. Late papers will be
reduced by 10
points off for every class they are late. This includes turning
paper in after class
has started.
AND
2. Three to four FULL pages typed. Papers less than 3 full
pages will receive 10
points off immediately.
HELPFUL HINTS
-This report is not about summarizing the story. You should
assume that the reader is
familiar with the subject matter in question and any story
synopsis should be confined to
NO MORE THAN A FEW SENTENCES.
-You can earn an additional 5/10 points extra credit per paper
for utilizing the Writing
Center. Papers must have any suggested corrections completed.
-Please make sure that you ITALICIZE or UNDERLINE the
play or film titles.
The general outline can be the following, based on the 6
Aristotelian points of dramatic
criticism (theme, plot, characters, language, music, spectacle),
and Critical Perspectives
(social, human, aesthetic/artistic, and entertainment values):

3. 1. Give a short introduction of the film/play you are critiquing.
A. WHAT IS BEING DONE?
What is the production attempting to do? Is the production
meant to criticize
society or an individual? Is it meant to provide commentary or
call to action?
Educate or entertain? What are the characters attempting to do?
(Use Theme and some Plot, Social and Human significances
here.)
B. HOW WELL HAS IT BEEN DONE?
Has the creator of the work reached their goals? Have the
performers and
director brought the work to life? Have the characters done
what they set out
to do?
(Use Character, Language, Music, Spectacle here with
Aesthetic/Artistic
points here.)
C. IS IT WORTH DOING?
Is this kind of production valid? Is it meaningful or significant
to you…to
others?
(Use Entertainment value here.)
FILMS FOR THE MOTION PICTURE CRITICAL REPORT
The critical report for a motion picture MUST be an Academy

4. Award nominee or winner
for Best Picture, Director, Actor, or Actress from the last 3
years (2016-2018). The
following films are what you can choose:
2018: Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out,
Lady Bird, Phantom
Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards
Outside Ebbing, Missouri,
Roman J. Israel, Esq., I, Tonya.
2019: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody,
The Favourite, Green
Book, Roma, The Post, A Star Is Born, Vice, At Eternity’s Gate,
The Wife, Can You Ever
Forgive Me?, Cold War.
2020: Pain and Glory, Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood,
Marriage Story, Joker, The
Two Popes, Harriet, Little Women, Bombshell, Judy, Ford V.
Ferrari, The Irishman, Jojo
Rabbit, 1917, Parasite.
I will consider other films outside this list, but you must request
an alternate movie
to me BEFORE writing and submitting your paper. Otherwise, it
must be from this
list, or I will not accept the paper.
What to consider:
Location and Film: What movie did you see? Where did you see
it? (Home, Theatre,
Drive-in, etc.) Who directed it? What was the genre of the film:
Sci-fi, Western, Kung
Fu, Adventure, Comedy, Horror, Mystery, Romance, etc.

5. Plot and story: What was the overall story and conflict of the
film? (A brief plot
summary-see hints below)
Characters: Did the actors help in the direction of the end
result? Discuss the few key
characters that you think influenced the flow of the film and the
actors that
played them.
Cinematography: What was the primary look for the film?
Bright scenes, dark shadows,
muted or colorful moments? How were the camera angles used
to illustrate the story?
Were the important scenes shot in wide sweeping shots or close
cuts?
Design Elements: Was the set design elaborate or simple in the
key scenes? Discuss
aspects of the costumes and makeup if they were significant to
the telling of the story.
What about the music? Did it lend to the feel of the film?
Overall impressions: Is this a film that was successful in telling
a story without too many
plot holes? Is this a film you would watch again or recommend
to a friend?
GRADING FOR FILM CRITICAL REPORTS
The film report is worth 50 points. For each day it is late 10

6. points will be deducted from
the final score.
The reports will be graded on the following scale:
0-10 points – Correctly following the instructions for the
assignment.
0-10 points – For the structure of the report.
Did the report have a good beginning, middle, and end?
0-10 points – The report will focus, with specific examples from
the material on these
elements: acting; directing; scenery; costume/makeup;
lighting; sound.
0-10 points – For the content of the report.
Did the report have a good combination of subjective
responses?
Did the report answer the question, why?
0-10 points – For the grammar and spelling of the report.
Was the report clear and free of run-on sentences and
grammatical errors?
Was the paper checked for spelling?
CRITERIA FOR THE PLAY CRITICAL REPORT
You can write your report on any live theater/stage presentation
that you attend during
the 2020 Spring semester. PLEASE BRING A PROGRAM OR

7. TICKET STUB FROM
THE SHOW.
What to consider:
Production: What was the name of the production and where did
you see it?
Time Frame: When and where did the play take place (within
the script)?
Conflict: What was the plot and major conflict in the play?
Tone: What was the dominant tone? Light, serious, moody,
comical?
Acting: Choose two or more character and describe their roles
in the play. Where the
actors cast appropriately and did they do their jobs conveying
the characters they were
playing?
Set Design: Did the set (or lack of) contribute to the overall
production?
Costumes: How about the use of costumes and make-up?
Lighting: Was there special lighting used or special effects?
Sound: What about sound effects and music?
Conclusion: What was your overall impression of the

8. production?
Did you go alone or with a friend? What were the general
responses from the audience?
Were they engaged: laughing, clapping, sighing? Or did they
remain passive and
unresponsive?
GRADING FOR PLAY REPORTS
The play report is worth 100 points. If a student writes an
additional theatre critical report
it is worth up to 25 extra credit points. For each day it is late,
20 points will be deducted
from the final score.
The reports will be graded on the following scale:
0-20 points – Correctly following the instructions for the
assignment.
0-20 points – For the structure of the report.
Did the report have a good beginning, middle, and end?
0-20 points – The report will focus, with specific examples from
the material on these
elements: acting; directing; scenery; costume/makeup;
lighting; sound.
0-20 points – For the content of the report.
Did the report have a good combination of subjective
responses?
Did the report answer the question, why?

9. 0-20 points – For the grammar and spelling of the report.
Was the report clear and free of run-on sentences and
grammatical errors?
Was the paper checked for spelling?
Writing About Poetry
Writing about poetry can be one of the most demanding tasks
that many students face in a literature class. Poetry, by its very
nature, makes demands on a writer who attempts to analyze it
that other forms of literature do not. So how can you write a
clear, confident, well-supported essay about poetry? This
handout offers answers to some common questions about
writing about poetry.
What's the Point?
In order to write effectively about poetry, one needs a clear idea
of what the point of writing about poetry is. When you are
assigned an analytical essay about a poem in an English class,
the goal of the assignment is usually to argue a specific thesis
about the poem, using your analysis of specific elements in the
poem and how those elements relate to each other to support
your thesis.
So why would your teacher give you such an assignment? What
are the benefits of learning to write analytic essays about
poetry? Several important reasons suggest themselves:
· To help you learn to make a text-based argument. That is, to
help you to defend ideas based on a text that is available to you
and other readers. This sharpens your reasoning skills by
forcing you to formulate an interpretation of something
someone else has written and to support that interpretation by
providing logically valid reasons why someone else who has
read the poem should agree with your argument. This isn't a
skill that is just important in academics, by the way. Lawyers,
politicians, and journalists often find that they need to make use

10. of similar skills.
· To help you to understand what you are reading more fully.
Nothing causes a person to make an extra effort to understand
difficult material like the task of writing about it. Also, writing
has a way of helping you to see things that you may have
otherwise missed simply by causing you to think about how to
frame your own analysis.
· To help you enjoy poetry more! This may sound unlikely, but
one of the real pleasures of poetry is the opportunity to wrestle
with the text and co-create meaning with the author. When you
put together a well-constructed analysis of the poem, you are
not only showing that you understand what is there, you are also
contributing to an ongoing conversation about the poem. If your
reading is convincing enough, everyone who has read your
essay will get a little more out of the poem because of your
analysis.
What Should I Know about Writing about Poetry?
Most importantly, you should realize that a paper that you write
about a poem or poems is an argument. Make sure that you have
something specific that you want to say about the poem that you
are discussing. This specific argument that you want to make
about the poem will be your thesis. You will support this thesis
by drawing examples and evidence from the poem itself. In
order to make a credible argument about the poem, you will
want to analyze how the poem works—what genre the poem fits
into, what its themes are, and what poetic techniques and
figures of speech are used.
What Can I Write About?
Theme: One place to start when writing about poetry is to look
at any significant themes that emerge in the poetry. Does the
poetry deal with themes related to love, death, war, or peace?
What other themes show up in the poem? Are there particular
historical events that are mentioned in the poem? What are the
most important concepts that are addressed in the poem?
Genre: What kind of poem are you looking at? Is it an epic (a
long poem on a heroic subject)? Is it a sonnet (a brief poem,

11. usually consisting of fourteen lines)? Is it an ode? A satire? An
elegy? A lyric? Does it fit into a specific literary movement
such as Modernism, Romanticism, Neoclassicism, or
Renaissance poetry? This is another place where you may need
to do some research in an introductory poetry text or
encyclopedia to find out what distinguishes specific genres and
movements.
Versification: Look closely at the poem's rhyme and meter. Is
there an identifiable rhyme scheme? Is there a set number of
syllables in each line? The most common meter for poetry in
English is iambic pentameter, which has five feet of two
syllables each (thus the name "pentameter") in each of which
the strongly stressed syllable follows the unstressed syllable.
You can learn more about rhyme and meter by consulting our
handout on sound and meter in poetry or the introduction to a
standard textbook for poetry such as the Norton Anthology of
Poetry. Also relevant to this category of concerns are
techniques such as caesura (a pause in the middle of a line)and
enjambment (continuing a grammatical sentence or clause from
one line to the next). Is there anything that you can tell about
the poem from the choices that the author has made in this area?
For more information about important literary terms, see our
handout on the subject.
Figures of speech: Are there literary devices being used that
affect how you read the poem? Here are some examples of
commonly discussed figures of speech:
· metaphor: comparison between two unlike things
· simile: comparison between two unlike things using "like" or
"as"
· metonymy: one thing stands for something else that is closely
related to it (For example, using the phrase "the crown" to refer
to the king would be an example of metonymy.)
· synechdoche: a part stands in for a whole (For example, in the
phrase "all hands on deck," "hands" stands in for the people in
the ship's crew.)
· personification: a non-human thing is endowed with human

12. characteristics
· litotes: a double negative is used for poetic effect (example:
not unlike, not displeased)
· irony: a difference between the surface meaning of the words
and the implications that may be drawn from them
Cultural Context: How does the poem you are looking at relate
to the historical context in which it was written? For example,
what's the cultural significance of Walt Whitman's famous elegy
for Lincoln "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" in
light of post-Civil War cultural trends in the U.S.A? How does
John Donne's devotional poetry relate to the contentious
religious climate in seventeenth-century England? These
questions may take you out of the literature section of your
library altogether and involve finding out about philosophy,
history, religion, economics, music, or the visual arts.
What style should I use?
It is useful to follow some standard conventions when writing
about poetry. First, when you analyze a poem, it is best to use
present tense rather than past tense for your verbs. Second, you
will want to make use of numerous quotations from the poem
and explain their meaning and their significance to your
argument. After all, if you do not quote the poem itself when
you are making an argument about it, you damage your
credibility. If your teacher asks for outside criticism of the
poem as well, you should also cite points made by other critics
that are relevant to your argument. A third point to remember is
that there are various citation formats for citing both the
material you get from the poems themselves and the information
you get from other critical sources. The most common citation
format for writing about poetry is the Modern Language
Association (MLA) format.
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HCC - Comp 2
Poetry Argument Analysis
For this essay you will analyze a poem based on a specific
aspect that you want to work from (ex: structure, theme, tone,
language, imagery, POV, stream of consciousness, characters)
and how that contributes to the whole work. Keep in mind your
introduction will need an attention-getter, the text you are
working from, and your thesis statement (this is what you are
arguing). This paper will have a persuasive tone because you
are trying to convince someone that your view is valid. Keep in
mind that there is no right or wrong, but valid and invalid. You
want to present an argument that is believable and well
supported with evidence. Also, remember to use the text as
evidence and incorporate an article from the library database to
help support your point. Remember to quote the passages
exactly as the author states them, and do not misrepresent what
the author might be trying to say.
Poems to choose from:

14. OPTION 1
You may pick any of these outside poems.
“One Art” p591; “The Tyger” p593”; “How Do I Love Thee?
Let Me Count the Ways” p595; “I Heard a Fly Buzz-when I
Died” p602; “Annabel Lee” p639; “My mistress’ eyes are
nothing like the sun” p645; “ I Hear America Singing” p652
(Page numbers are incorrect)
OR
OPTION 2
You may pick any poem from our class textbook. Check with
the Instructor to confirm your poem.
Paper Requirements:
Proper Heading (Student’s Name, Professor’s Name, Class,
Date) and Header (Last name pg #)
3 to 4 FULL pages or longer (Note: The 3rd page is not the
Works Cited page)
Double spaced
12 point font
Times New Roman
1 inch margins
1st and 3rd person Point of View
No Contractions
Works Cited Page