ABSTRACT
This chapter gives playwrights new insights on the crucial role of subtext on stage and provides innovative improvisation-based techniques for developing subtext for dramatic realism. Realism challenges playwrights to find ways to reveal the inner life of characters who are unlikely to voice their true feelings in public. When a Shakespearean soliloquy or farcical aside does not work with the world of the play, how can the playwright communicate important aspects of a character’s truth? This chapter offers an array of options that can be discovered through improvisation. Working with both written exercises and embodied improvisations, playwrights increase their facility for crafting multi-layered scenes. A well-constructed subtext not only enhances actors’ ability to play a role with depth and nuance but also engages the audience in active interpretation of the subtle clues discernible in gestures, silences, and action. An improvisational approach also brings realism to life, making the text feel spontaneous and new when actors speak it.
