Stage directions have the ability to directly influence the mood and tone of the play. This shows in the play "Winning". The stage directions in the play influence the characters and deepen the uderstanding of the audience. The stage directions consistently emotions, tones, and help the audience understand the characters. My first reason, is that the stage directions showed the audience emotions through the characters. I know this because in the text it states "SOLEDAD: [Annoyed.] Then why did you even enter? It says right on the posters that it's a free-throw contest." This shows that Soledad was annoyed due to Kevin not knowing something and showed the audience how her character was feeling. This means that the stage directions directly contributed to the emotions of her character. My second reason, is that stage directions showed the tones of several characters. This shows in line 22 where it states "SOLEDAD: [Thoughtfully.] Hold on, don't give up so fast! Maybe we can make a deal." This shows how the stage directions shows the thoughtful and optimistic tone of Soledad during her conversation with Kevin. My final reason, is how the stage directions show the audience more about the character. This shows in line 19 of the play "KEVIN: [Aghast.] Shoot baskets? Me!? Oh no, no, no. That would be a total disaster." and in line 4 "ALEJANDRO: Why? You hit every single shot when we played last night. You trounced me so bad you clearly don't need any more practice! I can't believe you can get the ball through the hoop even from behind the free-throw line." Both of these show how Kevin isn't very skilled at basketball, while Soledad is very skilled at basketball. This also teaches the audience more about Kevin and Soledad. The stage directions in the play constantly showed and teached the audience more about each character, tone, and emotion. In conclusion, stage directions can clearly show the development of a character/characters in a play.