One-act plays, like any drama, have the same components as short stories: topic, story, character, and dialogue. However, because there is not enough time to develop each element fully, authors tend to focus on a few key areas instead. The first thing to understand about acts is that they are brief pieces of writing that serve several purposes. First, they give the audience a taste of what's to come in the play. This gives audiences insight into the themes, ideas and attitudes present within the work as a whole. Second, acts often include specific instructions for actors regarding how they should portray certain characters or explain away certain mysteries. These directions help directors and designers create consistent performances and visual effects, respectively. Third, acts often include some sort of conflict between characters, which leads up to a resolution at the end of the piece. This allows writers to explore various possibilities while still giving readers/viewers a clear idea of what will happen next. Acts were originally written in an era when only theater people could read and write. Because of this, it wasn't uncommon for acts to be written by more than one person. Each writer would take on a different role during production rehearsals so everyone's opinions were heard by both the director and actor.