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 a
MEMORY 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