Basic Directing: Simultaneous Stage Direction

Stage directions happen one at a time. If you want to have two characters perform an action together, say entering together, you need to merge the two directions together with an “AND.” There are more examples of this in our Example Script: Simultaneous Direction.

Example:

@HAYES enters from left to screen left AND ANGIE enters from left to screen right.

You can chain several actions together (more than just two).

Example:

@SARAH is dance1 AND BOB is drink_sip AND SAM is cry_weep

You can also make one character act while another is speaking. This is done with the command “starts.”

Example:

@HAYES starts cry_sob

ANGIE (talk_cover_mouth_awkward)

Oh Hayes, why are you crying?

This will make Hayes start crying, then have Angie speak, so he is crying while she talks.

            *IMPORTANT*

• To be recognized correctly, the merged directions must be on a single line.

• Giving the same character multiple, simultaneous directions is problematic. For example, @HAYES is cry_sob AND HAYES walks to screen right will break in the script and create an error.