Question: I just got a role in a play in which I have to play a girl...

...who is a few years younger than me and a lot different than me. How do I get into character.

Answer:

1) You should know as much about that character as you can. Who is she?
· First of all understand the entire story and understand how your character fits in and what her relationships are with the people with whom she comes in contact throught.
· Where is she from?
· Where did she grow up?
· What kind of life does she have?
· What does she do for hobbies?
· Where does she go to school?
· What does she like/dislike?
· What is she good at?
· What are her strengths and weaknesses?
· Where is she vulnerable?
· How does she talk?
· Does she have friends?
· What are they like?
· What kind of character traits does she have?
· What kind of family life does she have?
· What kind of relationship does she have with her parents?
· Does she have brothers and sisters?
· How old are they?
· How does she interact with them?

If these things aren't in the script, you have to create them yourself. That helps you to bring something special to the character. Clearly all this must fit into the script. You can't re-write it.

2) If you as the person you really are, don't fit the profile of that character, then go someplace and observe how those kind of girls behave? Just spend some time and watch them. Talk to them. See what they tell you.

3) You might want to pick up Stella Adler's book. She takes you through everything in much more detail than I ever could. She's one of the masters.

4) Start today and get yourself into a good acting class with a good acting teacher. If you are doing this for a hobby, then coming to forums like this is fine to get some advice. If you are serious about becoming an actress, then this is not where you want to be coming for advice. A serious actress would be surrounded by people who can help her, including classmates and a good teacher. Taking class in a group setting is such a valuable experience, because you not only get to work on what your teacher tells you, you also get to see others work through the same issues and see how they do it.

The people here on this forum can give you advice, but alone it will be difficult for you to put it into practice and to know whether or not you are doing the right things.

All the best!

Tony