Inciting Incident Examples

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > STRUCTURE > SHAPE > DIAGRAM > INCITING > TECHNIQUES > EXAMPLES >

'The play is in the novel, it's just hidden. . . . If one is to be lucky in the task of adaptation, first find a novel that has a real play in it, for it's not so much the skill of the adapter as the skill of the novelist that creates success.'

-- Frank Galati

Here's some of what's been happening with these . . .

• Beth Henley's CRIMES OF THE HEART [on I-1]
  CHICK says something "awful" has happened.

• David Henry Hwang's M. BUTTERFLY [on I-1]
  The lights come up on the Diplomat in a prison cell.

• Ntozake Shange's FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/ WHEN THE RAINBOW IN ENUF [on I-1]
  The LADY IN BROWN tells us of a woman "never havin been a girl."

• Edward Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? [on I-15 !]
  GEORGE warns MARTHA not to "start on the bit."

• Wendy Wasserstein's THE SISTERS ROSENZWEIG [on I-2]
  TESS says her mother won't let her go back to the United States.