What is a MEMORY PLAY?

Consider . . .• How/Why do memories arise?• Why do you remember some things and forget

others?• Do you control your memory?• Do your memories come in order?• Do you remember full days? years? even full

hours?

warm-up• Choose a memory of one of the following topics:– A happy event– A traumatic event– A “panoramic” account of a particular time (e.g., 3rd grade,

last summer)– A return to a favorite place of your childhood– A weekend afternoon spent with family members– An intense conversation with a parent– The first encounter you had with someone you used to know

• Close your eyes and call up the memory.

warm-up• With your eyes still closed, scan your specific memory from

these points-of-view:– What are the sensory experiences embedded in the memory? Is

your chosen memory mainly visual? Are you experiencing any audio recall? Tactile? Olfactory? Sense of taste?

– What dominates the memory? Is it details of the environment? Could it be the personalities of a person or people? The dialogue? The impact of the experience on you at the time it occurred?

– Is your mind making cross-current connections from the past to present? For instance, are you weighing what kind of a person you were or how you looked then in relation to the person you are now and how you look in the present?

warm-up– Are all faces in your memory equally dominant? Or are one or two

faces the main center of the recall– almost larger than life—and others subordinated in the background?

– Do you remember all the names of people surfacing in the memory? Or do the names of just one or two who appear in your mind stream come to you?

– Is your memory in color or black and white? If in color, are some colors more vibrant than others?

– Is there any special focus in your memory on a real object; for instance, a painting, a piece of furniture, a car, a swing on the playground?

– Does something in the initial memory start you thinking about a whole new memory? What do you think triggered the new memory?

warm-up• Open your eyes and record, in free-style

writing, specifics from your memory based on the “scan” we just did and from any other aspect in your recall.

Consider . . .• Does the mind operate memory separate from its processing

of extrinsic (outside) experiences? From decision-making? From planning for or anticipating the future?

• During intense concentration– something emotional, traumatic, difficult– does the mind work differently?

• How “selective” is memory? Do you only remember good things?

• Do you recall things exactly as they happened?• Were your memories linear? If not, what would the path of

your memory look like?• How can calling up memories affect you?

What is aMEMORY PLAY?

• Although they can be structured differently, memory plays usually begin with a recollection, a monologue delivered by the main character. The protagonist remembers an important moment in his or her life, and then the story of the past unfolds on stage.

• CLIP• In some memory plays, the narrator/protagonist comments

throughout the play. (Think of the adult Ralphie in A Christmas Story or Kevin in the television series The Wonder Years).

• In other memory plays, such as the Tennessee Williams classic The Glass Menagerie, the protagonist narrates at the beginning, becomes a fully involved character during the bulk of the play, and then segues back to the role of the narrator to offer final reflections about his memory.

SHARE YOUR MEMORY• Your partner is the person sitting next to you.• If no one is sitting on your left, wait for Ms.

Bishop to make you a match!• Take turns with your partners sharing your

memory. You may read what you wrote or just explain the memory. If it is too personal to share, you can just say so.

YOUR MISSION: write your own memory play

1. With your partner, choose how you will do this assignment:

1. Option 1: Work TOGETHER your partner to write ONE play. Choose one the two memories you have brainstormed as your play’s topic.

2. Option 2: Work ALONE to write a play based on the memory you called up earlier.

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES:• You will write only ONE ACT. Your plot will

therefore need to be something small. Narrow your memory to a specific instance if needed.

• Begin with a paragraph or two describing how the “stage” is set up. What is the scenery? What props are needed? How do you want the lighting? Any costume requirements?

• Write in the style of a play (speaker, dialogue, action in italics)

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES:• Begin the act with a narrator (the protagonist) who speaks directly to the

audience and begins to “remember” the memory itself. The narrator should then join the action of the plot. – You can decide if you want the narrator to “break” and make comments to the

audience throughout the play OR to segue back into the role of the narrator at the end of the play.

• Feel free to fictionalize to protect yourself, others in the memory– or even if you just want to make the story more interesting!

• Stop occasionally while you’re writing (esp. if you’re writing alone) to see how the dialogue sounds. Aim for artistic realism. That means you want the people to sound like real people, not caricatures . . . But without being boring the way real people are when they talk!

YOUR MISSION: write your own memory play

• The timeline– A DAY: you have . . .• The rest of class today• Most of class on Friday 12/7• The last 30-40 minutes of class Thursday 12/13 (in the

library).• DUE: END OF CLASS THURSDAY, DEC. 13

YOUR MISSION: write your own memory play

• The timeline– B DAY: you have . . .• The rest of class today• Most of class on Wednesday 12/12• The last 30-40 minutes of class Friday 12/14 (in the

library).• DUE: END OF CLASS FRIDAY, DEC. 14