Advanced Playwriting: Entrances & Exits

Video Transcript

"In this segment, we're going to talk about how to write entrances and exits. Now we playwrights are so busy dealing with the dialogue and the story line and the characters that sometimes we forget the importance of entrances and exits. Now when the play begins, lights will come up and your characters, some of the characters will be on stage, and at the end of the scene, lights go down and they move on to the next scene. But while the lights are up in all of that time you're bringing your characters on and off through entrances and exits. Now the important thing with both entrances and exits is to know where the character has come from and where the character is going. It might be a very important plot point, you have the visitors who are finally leaving, this family is so tired of them, and they're finally exiting, or it could be just a simple exit to go out and clean the pool. Now a step further than knowing just where they're exiting to or where they're entering from is to know why. Why they're entering and what they're feeling. So you have a fellow coming home from the store with groceries, but what if you have a fellow coming in with a big bouquet of flowers, and he's got wine and cheese and we can see that he's all excited about a romantic evening and there's his wife and he looks over and there's the in-laws that have come over to visit. So maybe he, just see him drop these flowers and his face drops. Or instead, let's say that the man instead of rushing to get those flowers quickly stops by his accountant's office first and realizes that he's in serious financial troubles and that he is not even going to be able to afford the mortgage. So instead of going by to get those flowers and the wine and cheese, he goes and picks up a little fast food to take home with him. And now he walks in and there's his wife and he looks over and there's the in-laws, but the in-laws have come to loan them some money. So his attitude will be totally the opposite. And so a lot of times, a lot of the major emotions are based on where that person has come from and where they're going. Now a lot of reasons for character to enter and exit will be obvious as your play progresses, but sometimes there might not be an obvious reason. You just have to get several characters together to talk and so you need to get rid of some people. So there you need to think and try to be creative about how to move certain people off to get them off stage quickly, and to give it a reason, it doesn't look like you just made something up, but something that fits in with the play itself. Now with your play you're creating an illusion of an entire world on this stage. And what's important is to extend that illusion that life is not only on the stage, but it's off stage where the person has come from and where they're going to. And a lot of times this is done with lines spoken as characters are leaving. You have the man of the house insults the maid and storms off and she yells after him as she's leaving. Well, the yelling doesn't stop just when they leave the stage, it continues on. And the same thing for characters entering. You might hear off stage, you might hear griping and complaining and then they walk in and then the scene begins and that just adds so much more reality to it. And the way you'd write that, is for instance, you'd have Margaret telling Ray, 'Ray, you've got to fix that trim' so what you'd do is you'd write Margaret's name, and under it in parentheses the stage direction "off stage", "Ray, you've got to fix that trim" and then in direction below that you'll say, Margaret and Ray enter and then the dialogue will continue from that point. So remember entrances and exits are a very important part of your play so you make sure that those are not overlooked."