three-act play
Drama's standard structure
A three-act play is a dramatic work divided into three major sections: setup, confrontation, and resolution.
This structure dominates Western theater and screenwriting, establishing characters and conflict in the first act, developing complications in the second, and resolving them in the third.
The screenplay followed classic three-act play structure.
- dramaTheatrical art or turmoil
- dramatic structureNarrative progression blueprint
- curtainFabric hung for privacy
- stage directionsInstructions within a script
- stageRaised performance platform
intermission · climax · plot twist · dress rehearsal · tragedy · comedy · script · act · third act · scene · dialogue · resolution · conflict · protagonist · antagonist · character arc · denouement · theatrical
- play typesdrama, comedy, tragedy, farce, melodrama
- theaterstage, onstage, auditorium, Hamlet, scripts
- theater termslimelight, directing, upstage, drama, performers
- scriptsalphabet, Latin alphabet, Roman alphabet, Greek alphabet, Hebrew alphabet
three-act playone-act play
Uninterrupted short drama
monologue · vignette · skit · epic drama · sketch
three-act playimprov comedy
Unscripted comedic theater
happening · performance art · mime · experimental theater · immersive theater
three-act playscreenplay
Film's written blueprint
novel · short story · film · radio play · prose fiction
three, play, thrice, thirds, thirdly, threefold, acting, actors, actress