Character
I played 2 characters in ‘Our Town’; one of the Assistant Stage Managers (ASM) and the Woman in a Box. As there wasn’t much information related to these two characters, I had to develop them from first principles.
The Woman in a Box is a minor audience member in Act 1 who sits in the balcony. I decided to make her a reporter concerned with the beauty and culture of Grover’s Corners, showing that even in small towns there is room for art and culture.
The Stage Manager (SM) was split into four characters in this version of the play (SM, Deputy Stage Manager and two ASMs). They introduced and narrated the play with omniscient clarity, possessing a God-like perspective moving freely through time and knowing everything about the town seeing the past, present and future. Through the narration, they guided the audience by explaining what was coming and what has passed and prompted reflection on the mundane parts of life. They are unique characters being both a part of the story and outside of it.
As a group, we initially created a mind map of all the words we thought would describe the character of the SMs, and each picked three that best portrayed our specific role. This helped us develop each character as our own whilst making sure we still complimented each other. My three words were: eternal, playful, and hyperaware.
We then found a song that linked to our three words and personified our characters. My song was “Ooh La” by the Kooks, which brought out a more active and hustling energy, whereas the song chosen by the other ASM gave a meticulous energy, which created a complimentary contrast between the two characters.
I found it difficult to choose the right song, but this process helped me create a solid foundation for my character. Going into the industry, I would like to use this.
Once I knew my roles, I discovered there was very little information on them, so my research focused on how I could portray them physically, mentally and vocally.
To build a character for the Woman in a Box, I created a background in order to understand her purpose. As she represented the desire for art and beauty, I decided she was creating a travel book on various towns. Less than 10% of journalists were women in the 1900s, which meant she was one of a few able to pursue her dream and this made her more passionate and determined. This helped me to fill the space whilst I wasn’t talking, and gave me ideas on how I should deliver my line.
To build the ASM character I researched the responsibilities and skills of the ASM job, and brainstormed how that might affect the physicality. For example, one of the ASM roles was to ensure everything was in place and I incorporated this into the pre-show by placing the chairs the right way around and checking the props table. An ASM also ensures “smooth set movements”, which I wanted to incorporate as a team with the other SMs when moving the chairs to change the setting. To help with this process, I created cue sheets for chair movements, and scene order, and placed them offstage for the actors to see. As my character was never off stage this helped me get into and stay in character by creating actions, such as checking cue sheets, observing scenes, cueing people on, and making sure props were correct.
The song chosen early in the research process helped me develop the physicality of my ASM character. I found that linking a Laben effort was a good starting point and as the song was quite upbeat, I realised that dab fit perfectly, as I thought she should be direct, light, and quick. During the rehearsals, I realised that I was also using the effort glide, which is direct, sustained and light. This effort was more evident when my character became carried away with the love story between Emily and George. I found it helpful to place two or three efforts on a character and then identify when they switched to being more inward- or more outward-facing.
I then researched National Show Horses (a breed of horse, some of which are wild) to include their characteristics into my ASM character. I chose this animal for its performative nature and spirited temperament. I decided my ASM was the newest member of the SMs, therefore needed to have the trainability and discipline of a National Show Horse. Show Horses also carry a large kinesphere, where people can’t help but watch them and you know when they are present. I wanted to emulate this as the audience should know when the SMs are in the space even if they are not the main focus of the scene. Another characteristic is their constant watch for threats, which works well as ASMs are always on the lookout for misplaced props.
World of Play
To understand the world of the play, I wanted to discover the main message, which I found was the importance of noticing the little details and beauty in life. This allowed me to relate to the finer points of the characters and the plot as it unravelled. Understanding this and the writer’s intention enabled me to convey this message with the appropriate level of importance and emphasis. This is important as the SMs consistently allude to the death that occurs in the final act and tell the audience to ‘listen’ and ‘watch carefully’ throughout the play, implying that if they blink, they will miss something important, suggesting that people should appreciate life as they live it.
Once I had read and understood the play, I mapped out the town based on the SM’s opening speech. This pictorial image helped me with Uta Hagen’s technique of ‘place’, which involves constructing the world around you. This enabled me to visualise each landmark as I referred to it in the script, and to understand and visualise each character’s journey throughout the town and their connections with one another.
After our individual research, the cast re-read and discussed each Act. This collaboration helped us gain new insights from other interpretations that we may not have considered individually, enabling us to have a firm and consistent understanding of the play, which developed throughout the rehearsal process. It allowed us to fully understand the purpose of each character and their relationships between each other, helping set the tone for how we delivered our lines.
Historical
After my initial read-through of the play, I researched key events that occurred on the four main dates mentioned (1899, 1901, 1904, 1913), which provided some background. For example, Thornton Wilder wrote the play during the Great Depression, when times were hard and people focused on money rather than the beauty of life and their relationships. This influenced the message in the play, which is not to let life slip through your fingers and to enjoy every moment. This is important as the ASM is responsible for delivering this message to the audience.
As a group, we researched societal expectations, and facts from the time period of the play to understand its context and why it could be relevant to modern audiences. One example was the difficulty experienced within relationships during a time where women did not have a voice. This led to miscommunications between Dr and Mrs Gibbs, leaving them both unhappy in their marriage. In contrast, George and Emily enjoyed a happy relationship by communicating everything, and the audience are directed by the SMs to appreciate its importance. Communication issues can still be a problem today due to technology and busy lives. Another key message is to appreciate life as you live it, which is very relevant to modern audiences with the younger generation seeing the world through their screens. This allowed me to give a more modern twist to the messages within the play and how they were delivered.
As a group, we further researched historical facts from the 1600s (the earliest date mentioned) to the present day to understand different time periods, as the ASM has a timeless point of reference, spanning the past, present, and future. This helped me understand the character’s ability to know everything and guide the audience through that knowledge.
For the final piece of historical research, I wanted to further explore Wilder’s life to appreciate the purpose behind writing the play. The SM’s role is the voice of Wilder, so understanding what drove him to write it enabled me to grasp what he wanted to convey. This helped me understand the lines and how to deliver them. For example, in this play, Wilder ‘peers into Grover’s Corners to find lessons about life in a world of both virtue and vice’. To incorporate this into my ASM character, I highlighted the ‘virtues’ by being excited and exuberant, and the ‘vices’ by being serious or gloomy. I used my eyeline to convey the important lines by making as much eye contact with the audience as possible.
Preparation for rehearsals
To prepare for rehearsals I completed a warm-up that included stretches and voice exercises which varied daily, focusing on my voice when singing, and on warming up my body when doing a cue-to-cue run.
We also did group warm-ups, including games like Popcorn or Troughball to get into the team spirit and stay focused. If the rehearsal was going to be strenuous, we did a big vocal or physical warm-up together. I created cue sheets for the chair’s movements and for the actions within each scene, so all actors would know the order which enabled the scenes to flow. This was useful because it helped me to learn the chair movements, and served as a memory aid.
Developing techniques
My process during the development of this play involved extensive research to understand the characters’ intentions, purpose, and the play’s world. We researched the play as a whole during rehearsals, hence I could focus on my characters outside of rehearsals.
The new technique of using of music to develop my ASM character was difficult and time consuming initially. It was worth the investment of time however, as whenever I felt my energy for my character drop I could imagine the song in my head and it helped me to re-focus. I would like to explore this further.
Breakthrough moments and challenges
During the nighttime scenes of Act 1, I guided the deceased Mrs Gibbs through her memories for the first time, becoming her “angel of death”. This is where the concept that my ASM was a relatively new member of the SM team stemmed from, and how the idea of the Show Horse arose. This meant I saw how painful these memories could be, which is why I was adamant in the final scene not to let Emily relive the same fate as Mrs Gibbs, as I wanted everyone to remember the happiness of her relationship with George. A note I received was that I focused too much on the sadness of the deceased Mrs Gibbs, which drew attention to her and away from the happier scenes, especially whilst George and Emily were on stage with us in Act 1, whereas I still needed to be invested in the love story.
Another challenge was the song in the wedding scene as it was difficult to find the starting note and not be distracted by the other harmonies. I listened to the song and practised with my cast mates repeatedly to gain more confidence and we hummed before we sang to help with the starting note.
Personal reflection and response to feedback
Due to the lack of information about my characters I needed to be creative during this process and it took time to delve deeply into their purpose. Once I grasped this, I had a very strong understanding of their personalities which helped me to give them extra layers. Previously, I have relied on other interpretations of a character and played them more at a surface level, so I would like to keep developing this for the future.
A note the SMs received as a group was to be more theatrical in the opening speech, as we were creating a world for the audience. For example, on the line “So, another day’s begun,” I added a clap after “so” and increased the energy in my tone of voice.
Further feedback was to work on my accent as I struggled with the New York twang in my voice. A cast-mate was our accent captain, who helped make sure I was making the right sounds, and I used clips from the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” to mimic the sounds, which helped. However, I would have benefited from an accent coach.
The end performance went well overall. I was happy with how I incorporated my notes from previous runs and felt connected with the characters and the place. I will take away a couple of our director’s techniques, like the mind map of words you would use to describe the character as well as the use of music.
