Private Detective Work for Characters

Creative Actors Lab

This week, Kelley and Max explore how to act like a private detective when you're creating or playing a character. They explore the process of researching a character's motivation by pretending that you were hired to follow the character around. They delve into various aspects, such as how the character would cross the street, how they would perform household chores, or how they would get ready for work.

Kelley and Max also discuss a play they did for Florida International University (FIU) called Mad Forest by Caryl Churchill. The play revolves around two families thrust into political and social turmoil before, during, and after the Romanian Revolution of 1989.
Kelley also discusses a character sheet that includes ways to flesh out a character, including:

1. If your character has a job, is they good at it? Do they like it?

2. What are your character's bad habits?

3. What would your character tell you if you asked about their greatest dream?

4. What's a secret dream he or she wouldn't tell you about?

5. What kind of person does your character wish they could be? What is stopping them?

6. What is your character afraid of? What keeps them up at night?

7. What does your character think is their worst quality?

8. What do other people think your character's worst quality is?

9. What talent does your character think he or she has but is very wrong about?

10. What did their childhood home look like?

11. Who was their first love?

12. What's the most terrible thing that ever happened to them?

13. What was their dream growing up? Did they achieve this dream? If so, in what ways was it not what the character expected? If your character never achieved the dream, why not?

14. In what situation would your character become violent?

15. In what situation would your character act heroic?

Thanks, and stay creative!

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