Activity: Character Bios Prerequisites: Students should be actively rehearsing monologues or scenes in class for performance

Grade Level: 9/10/11/12 Subject: Acting Prepared By: Kim DAgnese

Overview & Purpose Students should be able to use their skills in character analysis to come up with an autobiographical essay on a characters life. They will need to pay attention to clues in the dialogue, monologue, or script to find out clues and will have to use their imagination to flush out the rest of the storys missing pieces.

Education Standards Addressed Standards #1 (Students will create theatre through improvising, writing and refining scripts.), #2 (Students will act by developing, improvising, communicating and sustaining characters.), #5 (Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices), #6 (Students will make curriculum connections among theatre, the arts, and other disciplines.), and #8 ( Students will demonstrate an understanding of context by analyzing and comparing theatre in various cultures, historical periods and everyday life).

Information/Instructions
Step One: Have students begin with listing the facts that they Materials Needed know about their characters. They may consult their Paper scripts for this entire activity. These should be Pencil confirmed information to provide the skeleton for their Interview Questions characters. Then, have them write these facts down as a paragraph. (No more than a page in length) For the next exercise, pair the students up in groups of two (and one group of three if needed). These should be different partners than their scene partners. Have the students introduce themselves as their character using the information theyve already written down. They should be actively thinking about how their character might introduce that information to another person, which will help figure out more about their personality. Then, have the students interview each other. Hand Other Resources out the basic question sheet to each group for them Printouts of body forms to use. The students should not know about these Printouts of set designs questions beforehand, since it will cause them to improvise and think on their feet. Since theyve laid the groundwork for their character already, it should be easier to find answers to fit their character. After their interviews students should immediately write down their thoughts about what they think they got right about their character, what they dont think quite fit, and what questions should they really reconsider.

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Presentation:

For homework, have the students write out a Additional Notes minimum two page (double spaced TNR size 14) autobiography that answers at least three of the questions from the interview sheet, and that addresses all basic information and some in depth information about their characters. Next class, have students present this autobiography to the class. They should perform it in character. Have the students write a reflection about how this exercise helped or hindered their character development skills and understanding for their acting binders.