Learn About Drama Dramas are stories that are meant to be performed for an audience. Like short stories, dramas have characters, a setting, and a plot. The conflict drives the plot.

An important characteristic of drama is its use of dialogue to tell the story. Plays are mostly dialogue, or conversations between characters. Dialogue, not description, moves the plot forward. The writer does not use “he said” or “she said,” but presents all dialogue in a script for actors to say aloud.

Practice Together

Study a Script Read the passage below. In drama, you learn about events through the characters’ dialogue:

In a short story, the writer might describe the event like this:

Compare both versions of the same event. What is different about them? What is the same? Use a Venn Diagram to record your notes.

Try It!

Analyze Drama Work with a partner. Choose a scene from the play to rewrite in the style of a short story. With the class, discuss the difference between the two versions.