Description
Useful in helping young actors work on character development and to understand the difference between acting and "indicating" - reacting in character rather than trying to figure out how a character should react.
Materials
Full Lesson Plan
1) One actor plays at a time and chooses a character, while the others can take turns "narrating." (If this activity is done during a production, the actor can play the character they are cast as, otherwise they choose a favorite character from a play or literature).
2) The narrator begins to narrate in second person simple events in a person's daily life. Start with simple actions and events. (Ex: "You get up in the morning and its a beautiful day. You make breakfast.")
3) The player simply follows the instructions, but he or she should react in character.
4) The narrator may begin to add some surprises. The player must react to whatever happens in character. (Ex: "You're walking down the street whe a man bumps into you.")
5) The narrator continues the story adding more extreme details.
- Discuss how different characters might react to certain situations given different circumstances.
~ If you're playing the game just for fun or for practice before actors have been cast in roles, you can play the game like a guessing game. The player who is performing doesn't tell the others what character he/she has chosen or they can pull a character from a hat. Then the narrators use their narrating as a way of guessing the character.