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In the Spotlight:  Character Building

Taking the Time to Do It Right 

By Lorraine Thompson 

Lorraine Thompson currently is the head of the Drama Department at Athens Academy in Athens, Georgia.  Her bachelor’s degree in Education is from Auburn University of Montgomery and her Masters in Fine Arts in Theatre is from the University of Georgia.  She enjoys spending her summer months working as an actress.   

My guess is that, like ours, your rehearsal process is stressful at times.  So much effort to stay on task and not fall behind schedule.  So much pressure to top the last show.  So much work to block, sew, build, organize, and design.  With so much to do, priorities must be set.  Many initial “big ideas” are compromised for what is practical and doable with the resources we have.  Many of our visions as a director/designer are simplified, adjusted, or abandoned for the sake of time.  Who has time for individual focus on character development when there is already so much to accomplish?

I understand the feeling of being rushed and overwhelmed.  However, in my 20-plus years as a theatre educator, I have learned some difficult, yet valuable, lessons.  The most important to remember is that I am an educator.  I work in a school, not a professional theatre.  My goal should be the process, not the product.  My job is to focus on my students and create better actors, not stars or box office smashes.  This revelation changed the way I direct and manage rehearsal time and led to the genesis of my rehearsal motto, posted next to the rehearsal schedule and sign-in sheet on our hallway callboard:  “We have much to do, little time to do it, and we must work slowly.”  Time spent working with each student and his or her character’s development paved the way for an amazing sense of individual value.  It also created a strong ensemble and a creative depth that did not exist prior to my change of focus.

Devoting time to character development is essential anytime you are working with student actors.  The process is simple, yet it requires in-depth reading of the script and some creative thinking.  When working one-on-one with a student, I ask them to tell me or write down all they know about their character from the script, then fill in the backstory.  If the character mentions not liking clowns, I ask my students to make up a reason why.  I explain to them that just as we only see the tip of an iceberg while the rest of its massive bulk remains below the water line, the script only gives us the top layer of a character.  The actor has to fill in the rest.  One of my former students recalled,

Ms. T had me create a story for each life event or relationship my character mentioned.  How old was the character when this happened?  What was physically around her during that moment?  How did she feel about it then?  How does she feel now?  The more detailed my story, the stronger my character.  In creating so many specifics, my performance ended up being more than a high school student reciting someone else’s words.

Taking the time to aid your young performers’ understanding of their characters helps them each make better choices about their character’s behavior and how they each fit into the whole.  One former student recalled her first “real” experience exploring character. 

Early on in the rehearsal process of Tragedy of Thebes, we sat in a circle on the stage floor and each person shared about his or her character.  I remember that being one of the first times I realized how important it was to know where your character was coming from, what she had been through, how she developed her opinions and beliefs that would influence her in the current moment.  Everyone felt important and involved in this process.  This exercise taught me to be engaged throughout a play because my character has been somewhere and has a stake in what’s going on.

In addition to having students share about their characters and to draw information from the script, I’ve also had students write a backstory for their characters.  What is the character’s story outside of the play’s plot?  One of my student actors shared,

During the rehearsal process of Anatomy of Gray, Ms. Thompson instructed members of the cast to create and write their background stories — even actors playing nameless characters.  Then, the cast shared their stories with each other — even doing a “speed dating” activity to really get to know each other in a short amount of time!  In not only writing their own backgrounds, but also hearing each other’s, the cast was able to build a realistic small-town community.  In a town like Gray, Indiana, everybody would know everybody.  Ms. Thompson made character development an integral and intentional part of our experience.  Although very little of this background work was revealed explicitly to the audience during the performances, it was essential in creating the overall atmosphere of the play and solidifying the energy of the town.

In the theatre, time is always of the essence.  Still, taking the time to reach out to each of our students is essential to our responsibility as theatre educators.  Using the time to teach and to help our students reflect, understand, create, learn, and grow as a character, performer, and person is our mission.  As theatre directors, our goal is to produce a play...  to tell a story.  By focusing on the individual character process, we win double over.  We enhance the story and the lives of those telling it.  Our students are the future...  and as they, say time is slipping into the future!