Essential Tools on Developing Your Character By John Pallotta

Transcription

1

2 From the Book: CHARACTERWORKS BY John Pallotta Essential Tools on Developing Your Character By John Pallotta Almost every acting class in the world trains actors to "play an objective", in other words, to choose an action based on the information you get from reading the script, or, why the character is doing what he is doing. Believe me, that's the easy part of dealing with actions. The piece of the puzzle that few actors learn to deal with is the deeper, personal layer of "why" they are playing those actions. Please consider this acting fact. Without a personal need to accomplish the "action", you have not yet earned your right to stand on that stage and speak the words of the script. I am talking about having the true need to do the things you are doing in the play. The "true need". Not the pretended need or the indicated need, but the authentic need. Having the true need to do what you are doing, is the seed of all life on stage. Isn't this true in life? Yes, in life, your actions are purposeful, you have the true need to do the things you do in each moment or you would not bother doing them. It is the same on the stage - we call this "purpose", your acting must be truly purposeful.

3 Remember, theatre is not an imitation of our lives, it demands a greater truth. "True purpose" is an essential part of that greater truth." In order to help you understand your character(s) better, I will lay out the backbone of what I teach actors in character development. I have had the opportunity in my lifetime to have studied acting with some of the greatest minds in this industry: Lee Strasberg, Uta Hagen, Bobby Lewis, Stella Adler, Herbert Burghof, Austin Pendleton and many, many more. Below are a list of questions in which I have developed over the years. You (as your character) should answer them the best you know how in order to be a fully rounded and connected actor with your character. To fully transform into a character, to be truthfully and emotionally connected needs hard work, technique, and good direction. But the audience should see none of this. They should see nothing other than the fully realized threedimensional character right in the truth of the moment. Before your read the questions below, take a moment and do a brief exercise. Go through the script and find ten lines that are the most important or revealing about your character. Prepare a twominute performance that strings these lines together. Approach the transitions and as creatively as you wish.

4 Incorporate some movement and speak only the ten lines. After you have answered all the questions do the above exercise again, see if you notice a difference in your character and your performance. ACTOR/Character Questionnaire One of your jobs as an actor is to flesh out and create a total life for your character. You must become completely comfortable inhabiting the language and actions of your character. To aid and assist you in this task complete the following guestions as your character would. Your answers must be based on facts and clues given by the playwright (given circumstances). There are no right or wrong answers except for specific information given by the writer. Questions not answered with information provided can be based on your own intuition, creativity and imagination. What we hope to accomplish with the questions below Re-affirmation of the actor as artist Ownership of your character Adding depth and complexity to your onscreen performances -Accessing spontaneity Improving communication with the director New perspective on the written texts

5 Becoming the character on a drop of a dime The questions are below! You might start with questions that address the basics about a character: (PLEASE NOTE) The more time you take to visually see your answers and think them through, it will lead to a richer fuller character. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AS YOUR CHARACTER WOULD ANSWER THEM. What is your characters name? Does the character have a nickname?

6 What is your characters hair color? Eye color? What kind of distinguishing facial features does your character have? Does your character have a birthmark? Where is it? What about scars?

7 How did he get them? (Take the time to visually see it) Who are your characters friends and family? Who does she surround herself with? Who are the people your character is closest to? Who does he wish he were closest to? Where was your character born? Where has she lived since then?

8 Where does she call home? Where does your character go when he s angry? What is her/his biggest fear? Who has she/he told this to? Who would she never tell this to? Why?

9 Does he/she have a secret? What makes your character laugh out loud? When has your character been in love? Had a broken heart?

10 Then dig deeper by asking more unconventional questions: What is in your characters refrigerator right now? On her bedroom floor? On her night stand? In her garbage can?

11 Look at your characters feet. Describe what you see there. Does he wear dress shoes, gym shoes, or none at all? Is he in socks that are ratty and full of holes? Or is he wearing a pair of blue and gold slippers knitted by his grandmother?

12 Does your character have fantasies? What does he/she fantasize about? (Remember, fantasies do not have to be sexual in nature. Murder, Greed, Obsession, wanting to Murder can be a fantasy). Tell us about your characters very first date?

13 How old was your character when they had your first boyfriend/girlfriend? How old was you character when they had their first kiss? Where, When, How?

14 How old was your character when they lost their virginity? Set up the date in your head? And where was your first kiss?

15 Has your character ever lost someone close to them? Who was it? How did they die?

16 Recreate the day they died in your head (If you were there)? Did you see them in the coffin?

17 Was the coffin open/closed? What is your characters religious faith? Atheism, Baha i, Buddhism, Candomblé, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jehovah, Judaism, Paganism, Rastafari, Santeria, Unitarianism, Zoroastrianism?

18 Explain their beliefs? Tell us a deep deep secret that you haven t shared with anyone?

19 Do they practice their religion? When your character thinks of her childhood kitchen, what smell does she associate with it? It s Saturday at noon. What is your character doing? Give

20 details. If he s eating breakfast, what exactly does he eat? If she s stretching out in her backyard to sun, what kind of blanket or towel does she lie on? Has he/she (your character) ever been arrested?

21 Explain what happened which lead to the arrest? Explain what its like to be in a jail/cell/ What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?

22 Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where is she going? What does she wear? Who will she be with? Who am I deep inside as a person?

23 Who am I named after? Do I like my name?

24 What is my gender? What do I think about sex?

25 How old am I? What do I think of my age? How does my posture express my age, health, inner feeling?

26 How is my complexion? What do I think of it? What is my height? What do I think of It?

27 What is my weight? What do I think of it? What is the pitch, volume, tempo, resonance or quality of my voice? What do I think of it?

28 Is my articulation careless or precise? Is my articulation standard or colloquial? Do I have a dialect or accent? What is my hair color and style? Do I like it?

29 Do I have any deformities? What do I think of them? Do I have any mannerisms? What do I think of them?

30 Do I have any handicaps? What do I think of them? How energetic or vital am I? Do I like it?

31 Do I suffer from any diseases past or present? Are my gestures complete or incomplete, vigorous or weak, compulsive or controlled?

32 Do I like my walk? How do I usually sit?

33 How do I usually stand? Is your character Straight? Gay? Bi? When, did the decide, choose?

34 What do I like to wear? What do I have to wear? How do I wear my clothes? How do I handle them? What do you consider your greatest achievement? What is your idea of perfect happiness?

35 What is your current state of mind? What is/was your favorite occupation?

36 What is your most treasured possession? What or who is the greatest love of your life?

37 What is your favorite journey? What is your most marked characteristic?

38 When and where were you the happiest? What is it that you most dislike?

39 Has your character ever wanted to kill anyone before? Please explain how your character would follow through on the murder?

40 What is your greatest fear?

41 What is your greatest extravagance? Which living person do you most despise?

42 What is your greatest regret? Which talent would you most like to have?

43 Where would you like to live? What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

44 What is the quality you most like in a man? What is the quality you most like in a woman?

45 What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? What is the trait you most deplore in others?

46 What do you most value in your friends? Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Whose are your heroes in real life?

47 Which living person do you most admire? What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

48 On what occasions do you lie? Tell us a lie (big or small) you told most recently?

49 Which words or phrases do you most overuse? If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

50 What are your favorite names? How would you like to die?

51 If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?

52 Now do your monologue again trying to take into account everything or most of what you just read through. You should notice a considerable difference in your performance.