A bit of context, I'm the upcoming head for a casual theatre group, and I'm planning the program at the moment. The problem is...I'm not formally trained in theatre. I only have a bit of experience in theatre, and I'm someone who watches plays every now and then.
The previous heads had only done theatre exercises before we chose the script, so I wanted to do something different this year. I wanted to have a characterisation study of sorts, which allows member to develop a character so that they would know how to approach characterisation in the script later on. I would rather suggest a character to them, and I would like to push them out of their comfort zone.
However, I'm running into a few problems. My current batch of actors have given feedback on what they would like to improve on, as well as what other actors need to work on. However, I am having difficulty translating that to character traits. What traits help vocalisation? What traits help physicality? @.@
Maybe I'm overthinking it too much, since we only have 2 or 3 sessions to work on this characterisation study. Should I scale it down?
A bit of context, I'm the upcoming head for a casual theatre group, and I'm planning the program at the moment. The problem is...I'm not formally trained in theatre. I only have a bit of experience in theatre, and I'm someone who watches plays every now and then.
The previous heads had only done theatre exercises before we chose the script, so I wanted to do something different this year. I wanted to have a characterisation study of sorts, which allows member to develop a character so that they would know how to approach characterisation in the script later on. I would rather suggest a character to them, and I would like to push them out of their comfort zone.
However, I'm running into a few problems. My current batch of actors have given feedback on what they would like to improve on, as well as what other actors need to work on. However, I am having difficulty translating that to character traits. What traits help vocalisation? What traits help physicality? @.@
Maybe I'm overthinking it too much, since we only have 2 or 3 sessions to work on this characterisation study. Should I scale it down?
@
Salvation
This isn't really my theater strong suit, but I'll give it a shot. For reference, I have a (very dusty) degree in theatrical lighting design.
About vocalization... not sure that can be addressed as a character study, but you could suggest voice lessons or do group vocal warm ups. Most shows I've worked on had a pre-show huddle or green room meeting that involved the performers reciting all sorts of silly tounge twisters as vocal warm ups.
Physicality is also not really part of a character study. My best though is a short group yoga session or something similar?
Good luck with this!
@
Salvation
This isn't really my theater strong suit, but I'll give it a shot. For reference, I have a (very dusty) degree in theatrical lighting design.
About vocalization... not sure that can be addressed as a character study, but you could suggest voice lessons or do group vocal warm ups. Most shows I've worked on had a pre-show huddle or green room meeting that involved the performers reciting all sorts of silly tounge twisters as vocal warm ups.
Physicality is also not really part of a character study. My best though is a short group yoga session or something similar?
Good luck with this!
@
risforrose
Thanks for the advice and the well wishes! I'll incorporate those in. ^^
@
risforrose
Thanks for the advice and the well wishes! I'll incorporate those in. ^^
@
Salvation
I may have thought of something about the physicality piece. I remember that one of my teachers had us sit and study people in a public place for an assignment. We were supposed to observe their body language and movements. After that we reported back to class what we had observed. Then we had to build a character based on one particular movement.
Example: one person noticed that someone was bouncing their leg a lot while they sat. So they built a character that was really fidgety.
Not sure if that makes sense or will help, but I tried! :)
@
Salvation
I may have thought of something about the physicality piece. I remember that one of my teachers had us sit and study people in a public place for an assignment. We were supposed to observe their body language and movements. After that we reported back to class what we had observed. Then we had to build a character based on one particular movement.
Example: one person noticed that someone was bouncing their leg a lot while they sat. So they built a character that was really fidgety.
Not sure if that makes sense or will help, but I tried! :)
