Crimes of the Heart/Open Scenes Project

Today, we'll spend the first chunk of the period reading a play called Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley. We'll start by going down to the library to get our books. Once we're all settled, we'll read some of the play as a class.


Then, we'll pair up to begin working on a project with "open scenes". Open scenes are scripted scenes that feature a conversation between two people, much like any other script, but these scenes have very little context. The conversations could take place between a variety of people and for a variety of different reasons.

Your job is to beef them up!

You and your partner will be given a scene. You'll have time to begin working in the lab. You can do anything you like with the scripts, except remove words. This means you can:

• add setting description
• add stage directions
• add more dialogue
• add music or costumes

These scenes are, in their current form, pretty boring. Do what you can to make them interesting. Keep in mind that these will eventually be performed, so make them unique!