Creating Believable Characters

Simply put, there are five tips. Take what you want, leave the rest... similar to a crappy masterclass.

1.) You have to live life from different perspectives. Get out of your bubble and spend time with people who don't look like you! This is extremely important. You also need to research and follow up that research with current research and conversations because as much as we love old dusty books and wiki links, shits wrong sometimes and you need to talk to people of that culture or see these landscapes for yourself. Oh, you're broke you say  AREN'T WE ALL!  Social media and other technologies give us no excuses. Have a friend in Ireland? Ask to video chat with them while they show you around. This is a great and cheap way to see a sight or two in a city that allows video on their sites. 

2.) Have and express your feelings about your life. The quickest way to lose an audience is to be an emotional fraud. I don't know about you but c

hile, I can spot a theater fraud a mile away. You know, those people who've watched Callas' Tosca gala performance a million times and have "mastered" the emotion. The only problem is that this is theft and bo-ring! Please, please, please, get your own experiences about yourself. Search for that devastation  in your life and remold it. I'm not a trained therapist and by no means am I telling you to self destruct for an opera. However, just know, that many of the greats walked that fine line and if they didn't, we wouldn't still have their names in our mouths nor would we have the interpretive masterpieces that have shaped our world.

3.) Read your darn libretto and translate it word for word. Once you've done that, make it make sense to you and often, to the times. We have so many of our "old faithfuls" that are increasing being set in modern times (I know, another topic for another blog.) and it's impossible to make the director's vision AND the original composition speak to the audience without understanding the content. This goes back to doing your research. In this case, you'd need to look into the time period the musical director wants as well as understand the character from how the librettist and composer intended. Is this more work? No! It's the work that needs to be done and lack of it speaks to some of the lackluster reviews received by so many companies.

4.) Get help. Again, this ties into research but if you don't have great coaches and teachers to vocally and dramatically guide you, you're screwed. Diction aside, you cannot, and I repeat, cannot go into an audition, initial stage rehearsal, or performance for a role without having an idea of the character you want to bring to the table. People speak in favor of the desire to work with most young artist for the opportunity to mold them. PSA: Your director is not responsible for molding your character interpretation. He or she should not have to feed or breathe life into your bland, snoozefest of a performance. Not only will clear character intent get you noticed, it just may get you the job and a good review to boot.

5.) Just don't be a boring person. This is not the same as a quiet person or a person who usually speaks when they have something to say. Trust me, those people aren't boring - they're wise. We could all use a person or two like this around. Who I'm speaking to are the people who literally have no personality or desire to do nothing but be a score robot. Although some of this may be medical, and in that case I pray for speedy healing. For the rest of us, get out and live life. Have REAL conversations that aren't all theory and verissmo opera inside jokes. Trust me, we all love our craft but what makes the craft great is having our own stories to tell. After all, opera surely isn't boring so why should the people telling the stories be?

Thank you!!