Input must be both contextualized and natural if it is to be coterminous with actual communication, in which interlocutors participate in a cooperative and dialogic process. However, when input becomes decontextualized, discourse shifts to a superficial plane. As is commonly the case in theater, verbal act meaning in the classroom setting is formulated in a scripted text and addressed in terms of speaker intention. Unlike the theater, in a second language (L2) classroom, scenario texts are usually analyzed from a narrower linguistic perspective and their signifiers are linked to communicative problem solving strategies. L2 learners, therefore, rarely have the opportunity to use the L2 with all the implicatory force that accompanies actual performance. They are deprived of the essential part of the actual communicative experience. In this paper, it is maintained that the dynamic interaction of the strategic action sort propounded by DiPetro (1994) and the "process drama" type of approach suggested by Shin-Mei Kao and O'Neill (1998) can help learners to expand their language development to include framework in which input serves to spark output. This paper discusses the fusing of dramatic conflict and role playing in L2 instruction. (Contains 30 references.) (KFT)