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creations will touch the hearts of men. For remember always that whatever of worth you may accomplish will depend upon your own individual growth, as how much that is great in you will be the measure of the greatness in your work.
It is not difficult to gain an understanding of what drama really is. An impression prevails that it is something apart from everyday life, something far off and unusual. Many new writers think they must go far afield for situations to put into a play. If you have had this belief you must at once rid yourself of it, if you intend to do any real work. You must understand that drama is with you always, in the home, on the street, in business, in the factory, wherever there is human experience. It is a poor corner of life that yields no drama. But it is not to be found for the asking. The student of trained observation must search for it. There is drama wherever there is a soul struggle. At every turn, life thrusts before us the conflicts of duty and desires, of passion and self-restraint. For drama is conflict — always conflict.
DRAMA AND ACTION
Those nearest you may be living big drama. They may be struggling against oppressive conditions, or revolting against injustices or misunderstandings or the prejudices, the follies or evil influences of those who surround them. The conflict with whatever limits or belittles one is drama. Whatever he does in such struggles is drama put into action. And there is no photodrama without action.
We do not wish to bewilder the student with too fine an analysis, but he must not confuse action with the word act. Nor must he confuse action with mere movement. The relative values of the things which these two words, action and movement, represent will be discussed in a later chapter. But here we must define the difference between the words act and action.
Most students of drama have been influenced by Aristotle's definition, that drama is imitation. Since Aristotle's day we have learned much about life. We have coined a new word of great significance — psychology — which is influencing all of our modern thought and social relationships. Imitation sees only superficial things — a facial expression, a significant turn of the head, a flash of the eye, a twist of the body — the dramatists of
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