Nothing is supposed to change at Disneyland, ever.

What would Walt say?

Well, he would first want to know why it is so dark where he is.

And so very very cold.....

This is where you guys have a dance off right? That's the only way to settle it.

VBettyM :snap:

A tiny little life moment that I observed just now at the gas station/convenience store. A woman and her son were leaving the store. He looked about six or seven years old. I heard him ask his mother,"Does Dad work at Home Depot?" His mom rolled her eyes and answered "Yeah," with a disinterested tone bordering on contempt. But the little boys eyes got wider, and a smile blossomed on his face as he said, Oh" in an impressed whisper.

So, an itty-bitty slice of dialogue, but the playwright in me loved this moment for its economy of storytelling. Mom was expecting and hoping for so much more from the off-stage Dad, but he has climbed in esteem to his son almost as much as if Mom had told him that he's actually Iron Man.

Now, this richly loaded moment, scripted out verbatim, looks like this:

SON: Does Dad work at Home Depot?

MOM: Yeah.

SON: Oh.

And yet, I've read that its wrong and bad for playwrights to instruct emotional cues in a script. It's up to the actors and director to find those beats on their own. But really, who would know to look for them in such a mundane verbal exchange. So, is it really wrong to script a scene thusly:

SON: Does Dad work at Home Depot?

Mom: (Dully, rolling eyes) Yeah.

SON: (Awed, beaming) Oh.

From what you are saying, it sounds like this is not the opening of the drama but somewhere more in the middle. If from prior scenes we know of the mom's exasperation, and the boys infatuation then I'd say no. You would not need to spell it out. It should be as you say left for them to find. However I'm not sure how well that rule would apply to children actors. They may need more prompting.

Well, first question I'd ask is why is that scene in the play? By itself it is indeed completely meaningless, but how does it fit into the entirety, presumably one of those two readings wouldn't really make sense.

(Note: Absolutely no scriptwriting experience so questions may be lame.)

I'm not saying I would actually put this specific conversation into a play. But I do admire the economy with which this real life moment told more story than so much expository stage dialogue does. I'd be a better playwright if I could achieve similar economy, but I suspect I would need to indicate tone and subtext every now and then. I'd rather do that than have to lard the script with "telling, not showing" exposition.