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Whether you are a writer needing a jumpstart, or a teacher searching for fun playwriting activities for your
students, we hope the following suggestions will be helpful.
For older writers, approaching characterization using a multi-step process to develop a central character can be
a fruitful way to launch a play. Each step in the process is followed by at least one exercise to use. The
basic premise is that if the writer invests a lot of creative energy in developing a character, the other elements
of the play (see Building Blocks for Playwriting) will suggest themselves.
Observation/ Reflection: Open your eyes! Shake off convention! Challenge yourself to really observe
those around you - not only the people you know, but those you don't. Also, use senses other than the visual:
play a piece of music and free-write to it, look at an abstract painting and respond with movement, etc.
Making the Familiar Strange: Free up your imagination by looking at and handling (if possible) any familiar
object. Imagine that you do not know what the object is and therefore have no sense of the purposes or uses
of the object. Write a list of ten detailed things that your object could be.
Making the Strange Familiar: Using a picture or portrait of someone you don't know, use visual clues to imagine
an entire life for this person. Teachers can guide this process by starting students off with specific
categories, e.g., where the character lives, what his/her job is, describing the character's home. Challenge
yourself to imagine not only the basic facts of the character's life, but also the smaller details such as your
character's favorite meal, the way he/she dances, how he/she talks about romantic love.
Create a picture of your imaginary character.
Collage: As he/she begins to take shape, make a collage representing the character. Challenge yourself to
use not only images of people, but also to find textures, ideas, situations,
pictorial metaphors, etc. that help
you flesh out the character in more intuitive, less language based ways. Your collage should feel like
your character.
Explore your character's personal history.
Rewrite a chapter in your own life: Choosing a dramatic turning point in your own life, employ the magic
"what if" to imagine the results/impact and consequences of the path that you did not take.
Find someone's life to steal from: Choose someone you know who either has similar qualities to your character
or has had a specific experience that you want to draw on for your characterization. With his or her permission,
tape-record an interview with this person. Start with simple, factual questions but make sure to build to
questions that are difficult to answer simply so that you are drawing your subject out and are able to glean more
complex material. Think about your questions beforehand so that you can strike a balance between following
what is interesting and leading your subject towards the areas that interest you.
Character Voice
Eavesdropping: Start carrying a small notebook and listening to those around you, paying less attention to what
is said and more attention to how individuals personalize language. Much of the time, conversation is not
particularly illuminating, but if you can listen to the same person over a period of time, you will start to notice
favorite phrases, repeated structural anomalies and language habits which are truly unique to the individual. For
this exercise, the important thing is to write down verbatim what is said - the juicy stuff, at least - to capture
the voice of the speaker.
The Scene of the Crime: If you spend long enough waiting in a public place such as a shopping mall, a museum or
even a densely populated neighborhood (park), you will eventually find yourself at the "scene of the
crime". What is meant by this is not that someone will actually commit an illegal act, although
that is indeed possible, but instead that something dramatic will happen. Examples include: a child falls out
of her chair at the food court and begins to scream, a man gets down on his knee to propose, someone faints
and requires medical care, etc. When the dramatic event happens, get as close as is possible to the event
and record verbatim the various responses. The purpose is to have a record of the numerous ways in which
people respond verbally to the same event.
Imaginary Journal: pick a moment of intense conflict from your character's life, and start journaling in the
character's voice.
Conflict -- Now that you have a sense of who your character is and what his or her voice sounds like, ask yourself
the questions below designed to help you flesh out the central conflict of your play. Be as specific and as
focused with the responses as you can. For example, if your character is a teenage girl who has run away from
home and you have discovered that she is looking for a new home, articulate what kind of home she's looking for, who
lives there, how the new home runs; be specific about what your character wants.
- What is it - as exactly as you can - that your character wants?
- What or who is stopping your character from "getting" what she/he wants? What are the obstacles?
- How is your character stopping him/herself?
- How is the environment in which your character "lives" helping or impeding the resolution of the conflict?
- Which characters in the play are "with" the central character? (How) do they help him or her?
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PLAY!
A special note for writers in their teens:
At Dobama Theatre, we accept and value plays by writers who are addressing difficult issues in contemporary
life. We also do not have rules that limit or dissuade writers from using potentially offensive
language. We encourage teachers, as much as is possible, to allow students the artistic freedom to use the
language most appropriate to the characters and situation with which they are working.
Please note, however, that students who have little or no exposure to play form (and even those who do) can
benefit enormously from reading a well-structured play before sitting down to write their own. See the
list suggested in the Middle School section. These are all relatively realistic plays. If you want
to look at more stylized theatre, some suggestions follow:
- Absurdist: The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco
- Surreal: Ghost Sonata by August Strindberg
- Farce: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
- Brechtian: Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht
Contemporary playwrights are difficult to categorize stylistically. The list below offers a sampling of
living playwrights who are really inventing their own theatrical styles.
PLEASE NOTE IF YOU ARE A TEACHER: These plays contain adult situations and language.
- How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
- In The Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks
- In the Heart of America Naomi Wallace
- Angels in America by Tony Kushner
Start your
play today!
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