Read an article on an Hispanic historical event, such as a recounting of the story of Elfego Baca, a legendary New Mexico gunfighter. Elfego Baca appointed himself sheriff of Socorro county in 1884, hoping to restore order to Frisco, a town in the county.
Make notes of Baca's exploits as Socorro county sheriff -- he arrested a cowboy for gunfighting and shooting up Frisco. After the cowboy's arrest, his comrades wanted him released, something Baca was not going to do.
Make a note to include the standoff that took place when Baca holed up in Geronimo Armijo's house. More than 80 cowboys attacked, shooting over 4,000 rounds into the house. Baca killed four cowboys and wounded eight. After a 36-hour standoff, he walked out of the house, unharmed.
Study playwriting and manuscript formatting elements. These include the title page, cast page, act/scene headings, "at rise" descriptions (with character names, dialogue and stage directions) and transitions.
Lay your play out on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Set the top, bottom and right margins at one inch, and the left margin at 1.5 inches. Begin the page numbering on page two in the upper right hand corner -- in the header. The cast page is the only page that is not numbered.
Continue Baca's story with his trial for murder after the shootout, at which he was acquitted. Upon regaining his freedom, Baca landed a number of public offices. He became a U.S. marshal in 1888, serving in this office for two years. After resigning his position, he began studying law, gaining admission to the New Mexico Bar and joining a law firm in Socorro. He practiced law in El Paso, Texas from 1902 to 1904.
Lay your play's title page out with serif font. Include the title of the play and the playwright's name, single-spaced or double spaced. Include your address and email address, right justified at the bottom margin, without wrapping over to page two.
Study Baca's life, including his service as the official representative of the Victoriano Huerta government during the Mexican Revolution. Baca was indicted for criminal conspiracy when the Mexican general Jose Ines Salazar escaped from prison. He was later acquitted of those charges. Include Baca's unsuccessful run on the Republican ticket for Congress after New Mexico gained statehood.
Lay out and write up your cast page, using the standard page margin. Capitalize every character's name -- you may also write them in bold font. Create a one-half inch hanging indent for character descriptions that wrap to a second line. Provide your characters' ages and genders. Provide brief background information about who the characters are.
Resume your study of Baca's life as you work on your play. He was again charged with murder after shooting Celestino Otero, an old enemy. Again, he was acquitted. His reputation was large enough that he went through "Wanted" circulars in Socorro and surrounding counties and sent letters to every felon demanding that they surrender. Six of the most deadly felons in New Mexico came to Socorro and surrendered to Baca. He died in 1945 at the age of 80.
Include each "at rise" description of the new setting, who appears in the scene and what happens. Describe the setting of the scene.
Set up stage directions with the directional terms left, right and center stage. Include character names, capitalized at a 2.5 inch tab stop, with that character's dialogue immediately underneath his name.