The Entertaining Speaker - The Dramatic Talk

In September 1996, Clara was working through the advanced manual, The Entertaining Speaker. and asked for suggestions for speech #4, "A Dramatic Talk"? The thread was Dramatic Talk

JohnF replied
The project calls for a 10 - 12 minute dramatic speech including narration and dialogue among the characters. You can draw material from your own experience, from your imagination, or something you have read.

Dramatic experiences from your own life can include items along the line of 'I discovered my house was on fire,' to 'The boss called me into his office and gave me S***,' to 'I was invbolved in a bad traffic accident,' to . . . . Whatever you chose, pick something and bring out the dramatic aspects of the story.

Using your imagination means, to me, creating something quite new. In essence, writing your own piece of fiction and then telling it in a way that is dramatic.
If you use something that you've read, pick a story that you particularly enjoyed and that has dramatic effect. Edgar Allan Poe, for example, wrote a very chilling story about being buried alive. Talk about drama!!

I think with this one, it helps to keep in mind that the Entertaining Speaker is also a good storyteller.

Nosmith used material from these two books when I was working on the Storytelling and Interpretive Reading manuals:
The Actor's Scenebook. Scenes and Monologues from Contemporary Plays. Edited by Michael Schulmana and Eva Mekler. Published by Bantam Books.

The New Women's Theatre. Ten Plays by Contemporary American Women. Edited by Honor Moore. Published by Vintage Books.

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