Read the script in its entirety. Is is preferable that you read the entire play in one sitting so that you can really experience the plot, the characters and the theme in their entirety.
Write down the given circumstances of the play in a notebook. Given circumstances include anything and everything in the play that is a fact. They include all geographical locations, dates, seasons, times of day or night and what is occurring socially, politically and economically. Given circumstances also include any facts about the characters such as their ages, their genders, how they look physically, their likes, dislikes, religious beliefs and relationships to one another.
Write down, in list form, every action of the play from beginning to end. If the fist scene of the play is about a man named George meeting a woman named Ellen at a bar, buying her a drink and asking for her phone number, you would write:
1. George meets Ellen in the bar for the first time.
2. George buys Ellen a drink.
3. George asks for and receives Ellen's phone number.
This is done for every actionable plot point in the play. Then go back through the play and write down any previous plot points as well. For example, if George tells Ellen that he lost his mother at age 5 to cancer, then at age 7 his father remarried, write:
1. George loses his mother to cancer at age 5.
2. When George is 7 years old, his father remarries.
Previous plot points are also called exposition.
Write down attitudes and belief systems of all major characters. If George is always trying to make people happy at the expense of his own happiness, write:
George, to his own detriment, is a "people pleaser." If he believes there is never any excuse for lying, write:
George has high moral standards with regard to truth and lies.
Identify and write down the play's rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. The rising action is the initial inciting conflict of the play and any secondary or tertiary conflicts that may arise. The climax is the major turning point, good or bad, that changes the course for the protagonist. The falling action is the moment after the climax when we see the reaction to the change in course. The resolution is how the story concludes. The resolution is often referred to as the dénouement.
Find the theme of the play, and write it down. The theme can be moral, political, social or ethical and is often the main point the playwright is trying to make to his audience.