Something I wrote in my theatre journal
Sep. 29th, 2008 02:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sagesariaYou might be wondering how I decided to decorate my journal. Well, as of January 2007, I have been a huge fan of roleplay over livejournal.com. It's a fun way to participate in my various fandoms, and it has helped to inspire me to write again, and it is good writing practice, and even acting practice. All the characters on the cover of this journal are fictional characters from other works that I have roleplayed (or still do), as well as one original character of mine drawn by my friend Danni.
When you talk about endowing characters with traits of mind and not bending them to me but rather bending to them, I always think of these characters. They are all very different, from dialects to personalities, and I do my best to put that into how I play them. Often I have to stop and think for a moment because my first response is out of character. For example, sometimes in a conversation that my character Fugen, who is a pacifist, is having with someone else, I get frustrated and want to yell at the other character, but I can't because Fugen wouldn't. Also, sometimes I end up with characters completely unlike me. When I first started playing Abel, I felt a little uncomfortable because he was very rude and a complete jerk, which I am not. But I adjusted quickly and now he is one of my favorite characters to play *because* he is so unlike me.
When I first started roleplay, I would completely freeze sometimes because my character was brand new and I wasn't used to their voice. Since then, though, I've learned how to prepare myself. I look up everything there is to know about them, I talk to fellow fans about my notes, and I'll often start playing them in our online chatrooms so I can see how they interact with other people and work out anything not given that I can add (how they grew up, what kind of music they like, habits, etc). I plan to use this method in class as well; reading the script as soon as possible and even spending some time outside of class in character.
Overall, I'm trying to use what I've learned in class in my roleplaying and vice-versa.
When you talk about endowing characters with traits of mind and not bending them to me but rather bending to them, I always think of these characters. They are all very different, from dialects to personalities, and I do my best to put that into how I play them. Often I have to stop and think for a moment because my first response is out of character. For example, sometimes in a conversation that my character Fugen, who is a pacifist, is having with someone else, I get frustrated and want to yell at the other character, but I can't because Fugen wouldn't. Also, sometimes I end up with characters completely unlike me. When I first started playing Abel, I felt a little uncomfortable because he was very rude and a complete jerk, which I am not. But I adjusted quickly and now he is one of my favorite characters to play *because* he is so unlike me.
When I first started roleplay, I would completely freeze sometimes because my character was brand new and I wasn't used to their voice. Since then, though, I've learned how to prepare myself. I look up everything there is to know about them, I talk to fellow fans about my notes, and I'll often start playing them in our online chatrooms so I can see how they interact with other people and work out anything not given that I can add (how they grew up, what kind of music they like, habits, etc). I plan to use this method in class as well; reading the script as soon as possible and even spending some time outside of class in character.
Overall, I'm trying to use what I've learned in class in my roleplaying and vice-versa.
