Proof

The dialogue format is different from a short story, where the author describes and narrates, but it still draws the reader into the action. The only description comes in brief notes, so a lot depends on the actor (when it is performed), and on small sentence details (when it is read): question marks, exclamation points, ellipsis, italics, dashes, etc. These small details animate the dialogue, because they indicate how the characters are delivering their lines. For example, when Robert says to Catherine, "After midnight..." (pg. 5), the ellipsis helps get across that he is a father, that he is concerned about his daughter, that he wants to talk and waits for an answer. In a short story the author may directly describe the two characters, but that intrusion into the dialogue can be trimmed by punctuating effectively. When Catherine is on the phone with the police, her sentence is cut off with an em dash, and it stops the reader short, so that the dramatic moment is captured: "Yes, I'm at 5724 South—" (pg. 22). There's no need for a narrator to explain that she stopped short, it's already in the dialogue.

I thought the author kept the dialogue interesting by developing the characters. At first it seems that Catherine is just talking to her father on the porch, which might get boring after a while, but then we learn that he is actually dead, which gives her character and her dialogue a whole new direction. The same thing happens with Harold. Catherine accuses him of stealing, and she is proven wrong when she checks his bag. But we still don't know who he really is, whether he is trying to make himself famous by her father's work, or whether he is an innocent math teacher who respected his mentor. When the notebook falls out of his jacket, it's another surprise in the story, and his character appears to have selfish intentions. But then we learn why he has the notebook, and our previous questions about him are answered. These small moments of suspense and character development help the dialogue so that it has a purpose, and doesn't just seem like two people talking on a porch. The reader wants to continue reading the conversation because it adds up to something larger, a story.

If you had to guess about the rest of the play, do you think that Catherine is crazy herself, or is she just grieving?