Following workshops presented by the then, California Playwrights Project, I adapted what I’d learned into this set of notes used for writing one-act plays based on literature students already have read.  I first used ideas as the culminating activity for a unit on mythology and adapted the assignments another time for more general short story unit.  That first unit is described in an article, “An Audience of Ones Peers” published in 1999 in California English, the journal of the California Association of Teachers of English.  Feel free to adapt or adopt the ideas to fit your teaching situation.

Here is a set of Teacher Notes for Writing a Play and the student handout – Writing a One Act Play

Consider having your students publish their final drafts ​on your class website or in a loose-leaf binder to be displayed in the school library OR collaborate with the drama teacher to have the drama students select one or two of the scripts and give a lunchtime drama reading.  When my middle school students wrote plays, the drama classes chose two to perform during one of the advisory meetings for the 8th grade.  What fun!