NARRATOR：

Listen to part of a conversation between a student and his theater professor.

MALE STUDENT：

Hi, Professor Davis. Sorry I missed class yesterday. I was just getting over a cold.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

That's alright, Andrew. Feeling better now?

MALE STUDENT：

Oh, yeah. Fine. Um, I had a question, though. For the midterm, um, how much do we need to know, like, about the different acting styles?

Since the last few chapters have been on writing our own material—scripts and stuff—well, will the exam be about that, or about stuff from the earlier chapters? Like um—

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

[interrupting] Oh! Andrew, before I forget—and, uh I will get to your question, but-now don't leave without taking the tickets for tomorrow's field trip.

I have a last-minute meeting, so I can't make it after all.

But since you helped organize the trip, I'll let you hand out the tickets... I've got everything you need right here.

MALE STUDENT：

Sure, no problem.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

And... uh, you don't need directions to the theater—you've been there before, right?

MALE STUDENT：

Yup.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Good.[pause, remembering] Oh! Oh, also... please remind everyone about the reception afterward—it'll be an opportunity to ask Alan Altman about his acting in the play—which, uh, we can discuss in class next week.

MALE STUDENT：

OK, I'll tell them. It's really something!—I mean, I know our acting professors must be in plays all the time, but it isn't every day you get to see one right here in town.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

[contradicting] Oh, you might be surprised. There's a calendar on the main bulletin board listing all the local productions that faculty are involved in.

MALE STUDENT：

Well, it seems like Professor Altman's a really popular actor. I just read his bio in the local paper.

I know the critics, uh, always praise him, but I had no idea he was such a commercial success too!

And—and—it said he just won an award last year!—[trying to remember] for,... uh, playwriting, wasn't it?

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Well, there is a general playwriting category, but actually, his award was for script adaptation—he adapted a novel into a play.

MALE STUDENT：

[doesn’t understand the term] Script adaptation...?

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Oh, it's a very specialized skill—writing a play based on some other written work—novels, short stories...

Now we've been studying original plays, which are pretty much based on the writer's imagination. But think about adapting a script...

MALE STUDENT：

[considering the concept] Yeah... seems like it might be easier, like to start with something that's already written.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

[disabusing him of his notion] Well, actually... Think about it: transferring that material to a whole different genre. From narration to live dialogue.

Imagination is a part of it, sure, but it also requires a lot of technical knowledge—about theater production... acting... and so on.

So Professor Altman, for example: he took a novel and made it into a play, dealing with all the different conventions that plays have—you know, like limitations of scene changes... and, uh...—well, it'd be a good thing to ask him about at the reception tomorrow.

MALE STUDENT：

Yeah, sounds like an interesting topic.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Oh—and before I forget—the packet with the tickets has a list of the students' addresses.

Since the van is picking you up first, you can direct the driver to the other students' dorms.

MALE STUDENT：

Sure, that was the plan.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

OK; good. Now, about the midterm...