Giuseppe: DSI's premier High School Team

Know A Character! (Part 2)

Who Do You Know?

We looked at both branching out the people one character would know (Astronauts know aliens, NASA, (Whitney) Houston, a cowboy, etc) and taking a list of people everyone would know and brainstorming what those people would be be like in scenes with specific characters.

Everyone can have an overbearing mother, an incompetent boss, or a guest spot on Oprah.  Imagine a pirate’s overbearing mother or Mick Jagger as your incompetent boss or a walrus on Oprah. Or vicety-vice versa.

This is the idea behind the game of It Could Happen (seen weekly in IMPROV SLAM): Combining people, events and movies in unexpected ways.  Keep thinking about big characters and the everyday places you could put them; big characters will color any scene they’re in, so don’t limit your imagination by saying an astronaut HAS to spend EVERY scene in a spaceship.

Squirrel Nut Tree

One person steps into the circle, says a character or item and embodies it. A second person steps in and say a character/item that would be in a picture with the first and embodies it. A third person says a character/item that would be in a picture that includes BOTH of the first two. The first person takes away one of the others, the person remaining repeats their character/item, starting a new trio of words. The goal is to always be making new pictures, not re-exploring ones we’ve already seen.

EXAMPLE:

• 1: “I’m a squirrel.”
• 2: “I’m a nut”
• 3: “I’m a tree.”
• 1: “I’m taking the tree.”
• 2: “I’m a nut.”
• 4: “I’m a mental institution.”
• 5: “I’m the warden.”
• 2: “I’m taking the mental institution.”
• 5: “I’m the warden.”
• 6: “I’m a barricaded office.”
• 7: “I’m a filing cabinet in front of the doors.”
• Et cetera.

Sound & Motion

Standing in a circle, the group mirrors exactly what everyone else in the circle is doing, physical-movement-wise AND vocally.  You’re never the least committed to doing what EVERYONE else is doing. You’re not TRYING to change anything, but as soon as you see the slightest change around the circle, commit 100% to that new action.  No sound or motion is unimportant (cough cough hair swoop).

Character Mirror

A pair of players mirror each other completely, taking turns leading the pair’s movements. The suggestion is a character type, and the players cooperate to silently create this character’s personality.

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Take a minute to comment below.  STARTER IDEAS: What are some characters types you would love to see in scenes (common like principal or singular like astronaut)? What kinds of characters do you find yourself playing a lot? What kinds would you like to challenge yourself to play?