::I'd like to know where you're pulling that usage definition from, becuase I've never seen it stated that you are restricted from using it with fictional characters. If you can show me an official grammatical rule on this, I'd be happy to change my mind about it. "Play" to me has always been an unprofessional term used more with children to denote acting. As I stated above, if you're going to use the "Actor as Character" approach you need to use a colon, otherwise you're insinuating that you've got a sentence and "John Doe as Franklin Bash." does not a complete sentence make. It's a statement, it's not a sentence. There's no complete thought, which means it isn't a sentence.