Changing Characters
A warmup on physical and vocal acceptance of new qualities in the moment. Three actors start a scene in a given location as themselves, then on the host's signal receive new physical or vocal traits and continue the action, allowing the character to change.
Players
3
Full description
Setup and Launch
Three participants come on stage; the others observe. The host sets only the space where the action unfolds. Actors begin the scene as themselves, entering in silence — first stillness and attention to partners, then moving into lines.
How It Works
A short scene unfolds in the given location without pre-agreed roles. The host intervenes as needed to introduce changes.
- Beginning: participants inhabit the location, enter into interaction after a pause, without inventing characters in advance.
- Stop: the host interrupts the action and gives each person individually a physical or vocal quality (for example: "a hump," "hands behind your back and chin up," "speak with puffed-out lips," "lean forward with arms dangling loose," "throw your hands up after every line").
- Continuation: actors immediately integrate the given qualities into body and voice and continue the same situation, observing how new character traits emerge alongside the changed physicality.
The point is full acceptance of the offered qualities and tracking the transformation — from physical adjustment to change in behavior and character, while remaining in the shared scene.
Key rules
Specify only the location; roles and characters are not assigned at the start.
Ask participants to begin with a sustained pause of silence before the first lines.
Call 'Freeze!' and give each person specific physical or vocal instructions.
Require full integration of changes into body, voice, and behavior immediately after they are given.
Context
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