by Will Dunne
Character arc. Mrs. Muller’s dramatic journey has been short-lived—one scene—but powerful, taking her from concerned parent responding to a call from the school principal to formidable defender of her son’s well-being.
■ TOPDOG/UNDERDOG
Booth (a.k.a. 3 Card)
First impression. We meet Booth in scene 1 as he sits alone in his room practicing to be a three-card monte dealer. The stage directions tell us, “His moves and accompanying patter are, for the most part, studied and awkward.” This is the image of a man who has a grand plan but lacks the skill to make it work. The first words out of his mouth are the lines he hopes will one day enable him to con gullible players out of their money: “Watch me close, watch me close now: who-see-thuh-red-card-who-see-thuh-red-card? I-see-the-red-card. The-red-card-is-thuh-winner.” These opening words are hyphenated to suggest the wooden quality of their delivery and sometimes spelled phonetically to indicate the dialect being spoken. As Booth struggles to get it right, we witness a key character need that will explain much of his behavior throughout the play: how badly he wants to win and how ill equipped he is to do so.
Final impression. The image of Booth that ends the play is a stark contrast to the one that began it. Having just killed his brother, Booth goes to retrieve the money-filled stocking that he lost to Lincoln in three-card monte but crumples to the floor instead. This is a man who has lost everything: his last remaining family member, his only friend, and his means of achieving his dreams. The stage directions describe him sobbing and hugging his brother’s body as the money stocking, no longer important, lies beside him. He has no words to express his grief. His final line is only “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Ironically, this echoes a moment in scene 2, when the same line is used to express not grief but laughter as the brothers drink whiskey and happily count out the cash that Lincoln has brought home.
Character arc. As a result of the dramatic journey, Booth moves from success that is imaginary to failure that is deadly real.
Lincoln (a.k.a. Link)
First impression. As the stage directions indicate, Lincoln makes a striking entrance in scene 1. In addition to wearing whiteface, carrying Styrofoam containers of Chinese takeout food, and being inebriated, “He is dressed in an antique frock coat and wears a top hat and fake beard, that is, he is dressed to look like Abraham Lincoln.” When we first meet him, therefore, he not only bears the president’s name but also resembles him. As the play unfolds, we will discover that he is an Abraham Lincoln impersonator at an arcade, an “Honest Abe” who has given up his criminal past to seek legitimate work with a regular paycheck. When his startled brother pulls a gun on him, Link’s opening line is a defense of why he wore his costume home: “I only had a minute to make the bus.” He will later acknowledge that this excuse is not entirely true, suggesting that he secretly enjoys looking like Abraham Lincoln.
Final impression. The final image of Lincoln is a tragic one. His body is being held and hugged by his weeping brother, who has just murdered him. Prior to this, the last line out of Link’s mouth was simply “Don’t.” It is the final protest in his long-standing battle with Booth for topdog position. With Lincoln dead and Booth left alone with nothing, not even his dreams, both have ended up as underdogs.
Character arc. Link’s dramatic journey takes him from the artificial life of impersonating Abraham Lincoln to the actual loss of life at his brother’s hands.
■ THE CLEAN HOUSE
Lane
First impression. Dressed in white and facing the audience, Lane launches her role in the play with a complaint: “It has been such a hard month.” We soon discover that her problem is not a life-or-death issue but, rather, a cleaning woman who has stopped cleaning. Lane’s attitude is summed up by her conclusion: “I’m sorry, but I did not go to medical school to clean my own house.” She is thus introduced as one who has an elitist view of the world and a need to control those around her.
Final impression. Lane last appears in her living room, holding an enormous yew tree. She has just kissed her husband, Charles, on the forehead and relieved him of the tree so that he can be near his deceased lover, Ana. Lane’s final line in the play is a response to Charles’s question, “Will you hold my tree?” She says, “Yes.” This final affirmation, combined with her forehead kiss, signals her willingness to forgive Charles for betraying their marriage vows. It also suggests her determination to go on with her life.
Character arc. Lane evolves from a controlling elitist with petty problems to a woman who can accept the messiness of life, forgive others for their shortcomings, and begin to develop meaningful relationships.
Matilde
First impression. Dressed in black, Matilde begins the play by telling the audience a dirty joke in Portuguese. The playwright leaves the choice of jokes open but suggests one that would give these opening words to Matilde: “Um homem tava a ponto de casar e ele tava muito nervosa ao preparar-se pra noite de núpcias porque ele nunca tuvo sexo en la vida de ele . . .” (“A man is getting married. He’s never had sex, and he’s very nervous about his wedding night . . .”). Matilde is thus introduced not as a poor cleaning woman who hates her job but as a comedian who has mastered her craft. This is soon followed by another direct address to the audience, in which Matilde reveals in English why she wears black: she is in mourning for her parents who loved humor and who died last year in Brazil.
Final impression. As the play ends, Matilde is again directly addressing the audience. This time she is accompanied in her mind by her parents, who act out Matilde’s imagining of her birth. It centers around an unheard joke that is whispered by her father into her mother’s ear and causes her to laugh so hard that Matilde pops out. This magical moment is deepened by the fact that, in Matilde’s imagination, her mother, who has just given birth, is portrayed by Ana, who has just died. The stage direction states that there is “A moment of completion between Matilde and her parents.” Then she tells the audience, “I think maybe heaven is a sea of untranslatable jokes, / Only everyone is laughing.” This final image and line are reminiscent of the play’s opening, when Matilde tells us an untranslated joke.
Character arc. Matilde’s dramatic journey begins with her attempt to use humor to numb the pain of losing her parents and ends with her acceptance of her parents’ deaths and her acknowledgement of life as a mystery that produces both laughter and tears.
Virginia
First impression. Like Lane and Matilde, Virginia enters the play by facing the audience, but her opening line makes it clear that she has a unique perspective on cleaning: “People who give up the privilege of cleaning their own houses—they’re insane people.” She is thus introduced as the opposite of Lane, who has just complained about having to clean her own house since her maid won’t. We later learn that Virginia and Lane are sisters and that they have little in common. Virginia here appears to be one who has nothing to do but clean. She later explains, “I know when there is dust on the mirror. Don’t misunderstand me—I’m an educated woman. But if I were to die at any moment during the day, no one would have to clean my kitchen.”
Final impression. When we last see Virginia, she is praying with Matilde over Ana, who has just died. Lane is about to enter with a bowl of water to wash Ana’s body. Virginia’s last words refer back to her apple-picking expedition with Ana, Charles, and Matilde on a happier day: “Ana. I hope you are apple picking.”
Character arc. Virginia starts out as one who substitutes cleaning for a life not lived and ends up as one who has found meaningful tasks that enable her to connect with others, particularly her sister Lane.
Charles
First impression. We first see Charles at the end of act one as a silent figment of Lane’s imagination, kissing and worshipping Ana. We next see him at the start of act two in a surreal hospital setting performing surgery on Ana and optionally singing “an ethereal love song in Latin / about being medically cured by love.” In act two, scene 3, we finally meet the �
�real” Charles as he begins to address the audience: “There are jokes about breast surgeons . . .” This lighthearted introduction leads him to confess his love for the cancer patient on whom he has just performed surgery: “When I first met Ana, I knew: I loved her to the point of invention.”
Final impression. We last see Charles in his former living room with the yew tree he has brought back from Alaska for Ana’s cancer treatment. He has just learned that Ana died while he was transporting the tree. His final words reflect a recognition of his folly and are directed to Lane, who has kissed him on the forehead: “Thank you. Will you hold my tree?” When she does so, he moves in grief toward Ana’s body.
Character arc. Charles enters the play as a great lover and ends up alone, as one who has lost his soul mate. This tragedy is heightened by the fact that he could have spent more time with Ana if he had accepted the messiness of her impending death and not gone to Alaska in vain.
Ana
First impression. Our first two images of Ana are passive. In act one, scene 14, she appears as a figment of Lane’s imagination, being worshipped by Charles. In the surreal surgery scene that starts act two, she is being operated on by Charles. Ana has no dialogue here but may optionally sing “a contrapuntal melody.” She emerges from the surgery in “a lovely dress.”
It is not until act two, scene 2, that the real Ana appears in direct address to the audience. Her first words—“I have avoided doctors my whole life”—begin the revelation of her powerful but baffling love for Charles, her doctor. In reference to the surgery he performed on her, she touches her left breast and says, “I think Charles left his soul inside me, / Into the missing place.”
Final impression. Our last image of Ana is also passive. Her dead body lies in the living room, with Matilde and Virginia praying over her and Lane washing her with water. Prior to this, Ana’s last words were to Matilde in Portuguese: “Matilde. / Deseo el chiste ahora” (“I want the joke now”). It was a request for the perfect joke that she knew would kill her because of the choking laughter it would induce. In a play where characters can literally die laughing, it was a cancer patient’s request for euthanasia.
Character arc. While Ana is a vibrant and uncompromising woman who changes everyone around her, she begins and ends the play as a character who is acted upon. She thus moves from being worshipped in life by Charles to being nursed through death by Lane, Matilde, and Virginia. On the physical plane, she journeys from life to death.
ANALYZING YOUR STORY
As basic tools of a dramatic storyteller, visual images and words can play a key role in defining character arcs of action. For each of your onstage characters, consider the following questions:
FIRST IMPRESSION
• What do we see when the character enters the story? Describe his or her opening image.
• What are the first words out of the character’s mouth?
• Think about the character’s first impression. What does it suggest about him or her? List two or three insights that we might gain as a result of this introduction.
• Given what you want to accomplish, how appropriate is the character’s first impression? If it’s not appropriate, how might you improve the opening image or words?
FINAL IMPRESSION
• What do we see when the character exits the story? Describe his or her final image.
• What are the last words out of the character’s mouth?
• Think about your character’s last impression. What does it suggest about him or her? List two or three insights that we might gain as a result of this conclusion.
• Given what you want to accomplish, how appropriate is the character’s final impression? If it’s not appropriate, how might you improve the final image or words?
CHARACTER ARC
• Think about the beginning and end points of the character’s dramatic journey. How would you sum up his or her overall transition in the story?
• What are the most important ways in which the character has changed?
• In what important ways has the character stayed the same?
• Do you see the character’s transition as a good or bad change, and why?
• If the quest is completed, what action or lesson most contributed to its success? If the quest is not completed, what are the chief reasons for its failure?
• What has the character gained from the dramatic journey? What has the character lost?
STORY ARC AND MAIN EVENT
Just as each character in a dramatic story has an arc of action, the whole story has an arc that results in a main event and reflects the step-by-step transition that occurs in the world of the characters from the beginning of the story to the end.
The main event is the single most important thing that happens and is typically caused by someone pursuing an important goal and either succeeding or failing to achieve it. In Paula Vogel’s The Mineola Twins, for example, twin sisters overcome thirty years of opposition to unite. In David Auburn’s Proof, the daughter of a brilliant but mad mathematician proves that she is the author of an important mathematical proof attributed to her father. In Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, an ambitious lawyer’s attempts to conceal his Pakistani heritage and Muslim roots lead to the downfall of his career and marriage.
From a technical point of view, the main event is a structure to reveal and change character. As we watch the main event unfold, scene by scene, we learn who the characters are and see how each is affected by the dramatic journey. In stories with a single protagonist, the main character and main event are intrinsically bound: each defines the other. In stories with more than one protagonist, the principal characters may all experience the same main event but in different ways. Or each may encounter a separate main event in his or her own story line.
■ DOUBT: A PARABLE
Story arc: Certainty to doubt
Because Doubt is driven by a single protagonist, Sister Aloysius, the arc of action is closely tied to her individual character arc and quest.
First impression. As the play begins, we are introduced to a world governed by certainty. Though Flynn may be exploring the topic of doubt in his sermon, he wears liturgical vestments that reflect his high office and addresses the congregation from his place of authority: the church pulpit. When we first see Aloysius, she wears the commanding vestments of her religious order and sits in her place of authority: the principal’s office. Her initial action is to write in a ledger with a fountain pen as she conducts school business. This is a rigid world in which the hierarchy of power is clearly delineated and the rules precisely defined.
Final impression. By the end of the play, Aloysius has succeeded in having Flynn removed but also paved the way for his promotion to pastor in another parish. She is left with unanswered questions that may be related to what she has done, Flynn’s guilt or innocence, his future activities in the new parish, the integrity of the Catholic church and school system, her future within this system, and more. Such uncertainties are embodied by the final image: Aloysius on a garden bench, with James comforting her as she admits, “I have doubts! I have such doubts!”
Story arc. As Aloysius pursues her campaign to drive Flynn out of the parish, the world of the story shifts from certainty to doubt.
Main event: A woman’s belief system is shattered
Aloysius’s obsession with banishing a suspected child predator leads her to question her belief system. Doubt thus evolves from the theoretical subject of a priest’s sermon to a robust force in the real world that can overwhelm even a strong-minded woman. It is a force that finally enables Aloysius to share her true feelings and for the first time in the play make a personal connection with someone else. The main event of the story, then, is not the ousting of Flynn but rather the result of that campaign: the undoing of the certainties that have defined Aloysius’s rigid worldview and kept her emotionally insulated from those around her.
■ TOPDOG/UNDERDOG
Story arc: Hope to despair
In Topdog/Underdog, two protagonists drive the play by competing for the same goal: to be topdog. The overall arc of action equally encompasses the dramatic journeys of both characters.
First impression. As the play begins, we enter a lonely impoverished world made bearable by the hope that things will get better. The opening image is of Booth alone in his seedy room practicing to be a three-card monte dealer. His movements and patter indicate that he is not good at throwing the cards, but he has the hope that he can overcome this challenge and become a rich card hustler. Booth is soon joined by his brother, Lincoln, an Abraham Lincoln impersonator, who works at an arcade where customers with phony pistols pretend to assassinate him. He hopes to retain this job so that he can keep earning an honest living and avoid the dangers of swindling people out of their money.
Final impression. The play ends with Booth wailing as he hugs his brother’s dead body on the floor of the same room. A nylon stocking containing a wad of money lies beside him. In his quest to be topdog, he has reenacted the crime that his father invited years ago by naming one son after Abraham Lincoln and the other after John Wilkes Booth. As a result, death has separated the brothers permanently and left Booth without family. Money—once a dominant force in their lives—has become irrelevant. There is no hope for the future.
Story arc. As the brothers go to increasing lengths to compete for topdog status, the world of the story shifts from hope to despair.
