Building Your Character

Abstract

Acting is a tool that can bring satisfaction to performers and audiences alike, particularly when understanding inspires connections to another person and to a historical character. This chapter outlines the lessons and challenges one may face when building a historical character, particularly when that portrayal is based on the complex history of the United States. For performers of color, race is part of the process. For educators who plan to perform themselves, to prepare students to create history-based performances, or to have students observe professional portrayals, cultural and racial awareness is key. A people's heritage ― with its beliefs, traditions, and even trauma ― cannot be separated from their individual or collective stories. Culture and race represent a crucial part of their narrative and their identity. Drawing from childhood stories of life in the segregation era, the author explains what it meant then and now to “walk another way” in developing racial awareness, sharing how these memories have affected her professional and creative work. This chapter illustrates the multiple considerations involved in presenting characters from different time periods and culture. In particular, portraying characters or telling stories concerning America's history of oppression can impact the audience as well as the performer. The author shares her perspective as an African-American woman, explaining in detail the logistics of performance experience as a whole. She uses examples from her own character development of people of color from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries to illustrate how the use of research and primary documents contribute to script development.

Citation

Holmes, V.G. (2020), "Building Your Character", Heuvel, L.L. (Ed.) Living History in the Classroom, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-595-620201012