Read this excerpt from an adaptation of “the fox and the cat” from aesop’s fables. identify three instances of stage directions that explain the positions of the characters.

(a cat and a fox are in a forest. they are standing in front of a backdrop with trees. on stage left there is a large tree. the cat looks at the fox in admiration. the fox is center stage. the cat approaches the fox.)

cat: (thinking aloud to herself as she walks) he is clever and full of experience. he is much esteemed in the world.

cat: (speaking to the fox in a friendly way) good day, dear mr. fox. how are you? how are you getting on in these hard times?

(the fox looks at the cat from head to foot. there is a long pause before he replies.)

fox: (arrogantly) oh, you wretched and hungry mouse hunter! what can you be thinking of? how dare you ask me how i am getting on? what sort of education have you had? how many arts do you understand?

cat: (modestly) i understand but one.

fox: what art is that?

cat: when the hounds are following me, i can spring into a tree and save myself.

fox: (laughing) is that all? i am master of a hundred arts, and i have a sack full of cunning. you make me sorry for you; come with me, i will teach you how people get away from the hounds.

(a hunter enters with four dogs enters from stage right. the cat springs into the tree and sits at the top where the branches and foliage conceal her.)

cat: open your sack, mr. fox. open your sack!

(the dogs seize the fox and hold him fast.)

cat: (gloomily) ah, mr. fox. you with your hundred arts are left in the lurch! had you been able to climb like me, you would not have lost your life