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How to Indicate That a Character Speaks From off the Set

Playwrights format their scripts in a very particular structure in order to provide consistency and easy note-taking for actors, directors and themselves. When a character must speak from offstage, that instance should be indicated by sandwiching the direction between the character's name and the dialogue to be spoken.

Instructions

    • 1

      Type the name of the character speaking in all capital letters and centered justified (or at a 3.5-inch margin from left).

    • 2

      Indicate a dialogue direction -- instructing an actor on how to deliver a line -- in parenthetical form just below and half an inch to the left of the speaking character's name (or at a 3-inch margin from left). If an actor should deliver his line from off the set, a standard direction would be "(offstage)."

    • 3

      Type dialogue on the following lines, left justified.

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