¶ … Soap Opera" by David Ives

• the Theme -- When a man can't find love from real women, he turns to his idealized woman -- a washing machine, who in his mind is perfect.

• The Protagonist -- Manny, Repairman with a washing-machine fetish who must maintain the order of everythiing

• The Antagonist -- The Maypole. She taunts him because he's never been able to fix her

• The Dramatic question -- What in the world is this repairman doing in a French restaurant with a washing machine? Which will he choose, Mabel or Maypole?

• The Climax -- True love! Manny chooses Mabel!

• The Conclusion -- Happy ending between Manny and Mabel

• Symbols -- The washing machine -- a stand-in for every woman the repairman has known; something that makes things clean and comforting (the hankerchief); .

• The Mode of drama -- High romantic comedy with an extended central sight gag

Play Two: "Tattoo" by Jane Martin

• The Theme -- Justice

• The Protagonist

• The Antagonist

• The Dramatic question

• The Climax

• The Conclusion

• Symbols

• The Mode of drama

Play Three: "The Sound of A Voice" by David Henry Hwang

• The Theme -- Human love and lonliness

• The Protagonist -- Man -- a warrior who has arrived to kill the local hermit, who has been stigmatized as a witch; Yokiko -- the hermit, whom Man is supposed to kill

• The Antagonist -- his job -- to kill her

• The Dramatic question -- Will Man do the duty he has been sent to perform?

• The Climax -- Yokiko challenging the Man about his sneaking out on her. He confesses his love. She tells him to kill her but he cannot. She warns him what will happen if he leaves her.

• The Conclusion -- The man does not leave. He comes back in and unrolls his sleeping mat, but Yokiko has hung herself.

• Symbols -- the shakuhachi flute, which is Woman's beauty; the tea, which is her affection for him; the flowers Woman tends, which symbolize her care for her place and Man's fear that she will trap him; Woman's colorful robes are the world she creates, and her possible supernatural origin

• The Mode of drama - tragedy