Question asked by a student from Newark High School

ANSWER #1 (from Joshua Guessford)

Scenes always vary in length, content, and time. The most important thing to remember when dividing the play up into scenes, is that you are attempting to tell a story. So, remember to tell or show the audience as much of the whole story that you can in each scene. Then, it is fitting to end a scene when there is a change in place or time. So, once you feel you have told enough of the story, or you are ready to smoothly transition to another event of the play, you can change scenes. In my play, a scene ranged from three to five pages. But this may be completely different for your play, based on the story you're telling, and how much of it you tell with each scene. 

ANSWER #2 (from Hilde Alexander)

There's no one answer to that. Think of a movie – some scenes are short, others are long. It depends on what you want to get across in the scene you're writing. Is there going to be a lot of development or complex action in the part of the play you're working on? That might be a longer scene than an encounter on a street corner where one character is rushing to catch an airplane and the other is going for a run. Work with each scene and see what feels right for your ideas.