Bit of This, Bit of That

Some more thoughts on characterization . . .

Consider everything that goes into making you YOU ... just a few:

• your walk
• your hand gestures (how many/ what kind/ how big)
  
• your little habits that you don't even see until I make you watch yourself on video :)
  
• your voice -- consider how quickly people can recognize your voice over the phone
  
• your vocabulary
  
• your age (for it affects how you move)
• your "natural" facial expression (which you don't even know unless someone surprises you with a picture)
  

Think of how your background affects you. Most of you grew up in the South -- so you have at least a trace of an accent; you use certain words more than others; you have expectations about how people will treat you in certain situations. (For example, you probably don't flinch when a store clerk calls you "honey." As a Northerner, that still strikes me as odd.)

Building a character from a script takes a combination of imagination, research, and experimentation.

Imagination: Use bits & pieces of people you know ... like if you're playing an older person, you might model some the movements or speech patterns of a person you know from that age range. You don't want to recreate the person you know, just "borrow" from him/her to help yourself create the character.

Research: The script is the foundation. Whatever you do has to be faithful to what the playwright wrote. That means you've got to dig into the words of the script and REALLY understand them ... and that takes work. Plain, old-fashioined, brain-breaking work.

Another part of research is people-watching. For example ... young actors usually play a middle-aged person (40s/50s) like a truly old person (70s). But if you take time to observe 40-somethings (like most of your parents!), you'll immediately see the differences between your parents' mannerisms and body movements and those of retired folks you know.

So ... be observant! Much of acting is simply knowing what human beings are like, and then imitating them.

Experimentation: You won't nail down your scene's character in the first week. In fact, you'll be tweaking aspects of your characterization all the way up to the final rehearsal. And if you're really acting (and not just running through a rote sequence of actions on stage), you may discover more about your character during the actual performance!

Be willing to change things around as you rehearse. Try new ideas. Change the subtext for a particular line. Maybe the character isn't angry ... maybe he/she is frustrated ... or confused ... or irritated ... or jealous. You never know what magic you might unlock.


Be ready to dig into your scene text as soon as the roles are cast.

And enjoy leting all those wild & crazy characters escape during drama games!! :)