The Difference Between A Skit and a Ten Minute Play

I found these tips on the internet and edited them for here. Thought they may be helpful when crafting your ten minute play.

Skits are often meant to augment a very specific event or situation. Perhaps a church service in order to illustrate a point. An awards ceremony to roast an honoree. A school assembly to get everyone thinking about a certain topic. Skits are rarely written without a specific purpose in mind.

Plays, on the other hand, must stand on their own. Anyone who picks up a play script should be able to understand it and its themes, regardless of where it is performed. 

Skits do not care with character development or even a cohesive plot, they are meant to entertain or make a point.

A play, even an extremely short play, must have clear character development, even if it’s only one character. 

A skit is usually written as a long joke - either an extended set-up for a punchline, or a comedic routine built around a central premise.

A one act play, even a comedy, will have character development. The characters will be more dimensional, will have an arc, even if the situation they are in is funny.

While the difference is minute, a sketch tends to be working towards a punchline, even in dramatic instances, whereas a play has an arc to either the story or character.

Often a play can have something similar to a punchline called the climax, but that isn't what the story is completely working towards. Instead, the climax just marks the apex of the story, not what the story has been working towards. The action following the climax is equally as important to understanding the story, whereas in a sketch, the punchline is the end of the narrative. 

"If you can cut the last line and the piece falls apart, it's a skit. If it holds together, it's a ten minute play.”