Definitions about the different genres (kinds) of plays and other words about plays.

Click on My Vocabulary to write in the drama words you want to put in your dictionary.

• A play is a story that people act out.
• A screenplay is the script (story) for a movie or television show.

There are different kinds of plays. The fancy name is genres.

• A comedy is a funny play.
• A tragedy is a very sad play. Most of the characters die.
• A history is a play about things that happened in the past. Many plays that Shakespeare wrote about England are histories.

Different kinds of characters in a play have different labels.

• hero – the person who the play is about. Usually he or she is a good person.
• villain – the bad guy or bad girl. The villain often causes the problem the hero needs to solve.

Playwrights write what the characters say. This is called dialogue. Playwrights can use words in different ways.

• Most playwrights have their characters talk, use words, just as you and I do. This is called prose. The short stories that you read are in prose.
• But some playwrights like to have their characters talk in poetry. This is called verse. Shakespeare’s plays are in verse.

      

Copyright © 2002 by Arizona State University and the Arizona Board of Regents.