Building Character from the Ground Up:  Approaching Character from a Playwright and Actor Perspective  

This is our chance to talk with each other about topics that we as artists, creatives and humans need to have. The key is we talk to and with each other. There is no panel or special guest that is smarter on a topic. We are the collective smarter panel.

TALKING POINTS TO BE CONVERSED:

What are the most satisfying characters to play/write and why?

What is the first thing you do when creating a character?  

Actor: preparing for a first rehearsal. Playwright:  Starting a new play.

Actors:  How do you approach a character’s physicality? Playwrights:  Do you think about physicality when you write a character?

Actors:  How do you think about creating comedic timing that may be different from your own Playwrights: When dealing with comedy, how do you ensure you create different comedic rhythms, so all characters don’t sound the same?

How do you handle writing and/or creating characters that are different from you?  (Obviously, we hope that some of the below categories do not apply to actors, but only to playwrights.

How do you ensure that your characters sound unique?

How do you handle writing or acting characters who have had extreme experiences that you have not experienced?

How do you handle acting or writing real people? Is there a difference if they are living or dead? 

Playwrights: How do you ensure you haven’t written a two dimensional character?  Actors: How do  you ensure you have fleshed out your character, so it doesn’t become set dressing?

How do you handle writing or acting characters who you dislike?

What are steps you can do currently to strengthen your ability to create exciting, unique, and diverse characters?

RSVP REQUIRED