Chapter LI: Part II

_A year later. Things have changed. The home is better. All are happy
tonight. The father has had steady work and so they are to have a good
Christmas this year. The boys are doing well. The family all go to
church now and it has made a difference in them all. The children have
gone to bed with joy tonight. Dan Howard tells his wife what a help
she has been to him through thick and thin. While they stand talking
they hear the carol singers from the church, singing outside their
home. The Minister comes in and is made very welcome. While they
exchange greetings the Christmas Carol is sung and the beautiful
illuminated star shines out in the night._

The following may be full of dramatic suggestion for its writer, but if we mean by scenario a document which, when handed to a manager or actor, is to arouse his enthusiasm because it tells him interestingly just what a proposed play will do, this is not a scenario at all.

THE ETERNAL TRIANGLE: A NIGHTMARE

[Diagram of stage]

_Dramatis Personae_

_Sylvia Macshane, the actress._
_Norman Pritchard, the manager._
_Laddie Benton, the poet._
_The Imp_, sentinel at Ventilator X-10, Hell.

SCENE: _Room in a well-furnished apartment, New York City. Large
round-topped window back right, matched by large semicircular mirror
over fireplace back left. Mirror space later serves as Ventilator
X-10._

SCENARIO

_I. Curtain rises on crimson sunset in room of apartment.
Actress and Manager in jealous love scene.
Enter the bone of contention--the Poet.
Quarrel scene--Poet crushed.
By accident Actress drinks Poet's suicide potion.
Poet strangles Manager, Actress smashes chair on Poet.
The lamp is knocked over.
Black darkness accompanied by shrieks._

_II. In red glow of semi-circular opening appear Imp and two mutes.
Humorous talk of their job, guarding this ventilator of Hell.
The Poet's face appears, followed by Manager's and Actress'.
Both Heaven and Hell have refused them admission.
Explanations by Imp--they are not truly dead.
Renewed quarrels--Actress shows she loves neither one.
She returns to earth.
They pursue her.
Imp is ordered to close ventilator.
Black darkness again._

_III. Moonlight in the apartment.
Actress, Poet, and Manager where they fell on the floor.
They arouse--each believes the others ghosts.
Explanations--light;--the men's quarrel renewed and dropped forever.
Poet and Manager plan to make a play of the nightmare.
Actress is wildly jealous of their new-found friendship.
She cajoles each--then quarrels ferociously with each.
They are proof against her and prepare to go.
She demands a part in the play, gets it, and stamps off to her room.
Poet and Manager depart cheerily planning._

Obviously _General John Regan_ is offered not as a scenario, but a summary. All the other so-called "scenarios" are planned only to suggest to the writer or somebody fully acquainted with the content of his mind on the subject what, in broadest terms, may be done with the material. They are all too broadly referential, too vague, to be of real use to a manager or actor looking for a play to produce.

What, then, is the work a real scenario should do? It must show clearly just what is the story, slight or complicated, which the play is to present. It must make the reader understand who the people of the play are, their relations to one another, and anything in their past or present history which he must know if the play at the outset or in its course is to produce upon him the effect desired by the writer. It must tell him where the play takes place--that is, what the settings are, and in such a way as to create atmosphere if anything more than a mere suggestion of background is desirable. It must let the reader see into how many acts the play will break up, and into what scenes if there be more than one setting to an act. Above all, it must make perfectly clear what is the nature of the play--comedy, tragedy, tragi-comedy, farce, or melodrama, and whether it merely tells a story, is a character study, a play of ideas, a problem play, or a fantasy. Proportioning and emphasis as already explained in chapters V and VI will, if rightly understood, bring out correctly in a scenario all these matters of form and purpose.

A good scenario begins with a list of the _dramatis personae_, that is, a statement of the names and, broadly, the relations of the characters to one another. If the ages are important, they may be given. Without a list of _dramatis personae_ a reader must go far into the scenario before he can decide who the people are and what are their relations to one another. As the following scenario shows, he may easily guess wrong and is sure to be uncertain:

SCENARIO. _As the curtain rises Nat is seated at the right of centre
table, planning an attack upon a fort of blocks with an army of wooden
soldiers. A drum lies on the floor beside him. Enter Benny, a bag over
his shoulder. They salute each other and throughout use frequent
military terms in their talk. Benny has just returned from the village
and he gives an account of his trip and his purchases. Mention is made
of the probable war with Spain. Benny then surprises Nat with a letter
from Harold, which proves to contain an announcement that war has been
declared and that Harold has enlisted. The two are proud and delighted
at the thought of their hero. They recall his former discontent on the
farm, the day of his departure to seek his fortune in the city, his
statement that he was "no soldier"--now so gloriously disproved.
Harold enters in the midst of their preparations for dinner. He is
gaunt and shabby and has a nervous hunted air. He receives their
plaudits sullenly. He explains that he is away on a week's furlough
and answers their questions concerning the regiment and his plans with
nervous impatience...._

In this next so-called scenario who is Professor Ward? What is his relation to Phronie? What is her age? What is the age of Keith Sanford and what are the relations of each of these to Professor Ward himself? A good list of _dramatis personae_ would clear all this at once.

THE EYES OF THE BLIND