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Use this profile to explore the details of your masked character.

Use these character maps to help students delve deeper into character analysis.

This exercise is a way for students to show how well they know a character.

This exercise helps students think about how their characters sound.

Use this exercise to practice creating characters and then writing the first few lines of a monologue. Students will use a headline as a jumping off point.

This exercise encourages students to examine the language of a scene for clues on character action. Shakespeare often tells actors exactly what to “do.”

In Respect for Acting, Uta identified 9 questions an actor should ask themselves as they prepare. It’s all about being as specific as possible. Introduce the 9 questions to your students, and use the included worksheet and reflection.

One of the ways that we can learn about status is by physically playing status in the body. Use these descriptions to physicalize high/low status with your students in the Status Walks Game.

Use this exercise in the early days of rehearsal or even as part of your audition process. It allows students to get into the physical side of a character without having to worry about hitting the “thees” and “thous.” This works well with any Shakespeare play.

This exercise helps to demonstrate the concept of status, and how the status of a character affects how they act and how they treat others.

It's easy to ignore character development in a Shakespeare monologue. There's so many other things to think about! But it's doubly important to pay attention to your character – the character is what makes your monologue come to life. Learn how to make Shakespeare character come to life.

Students create a bio on the character they know best – themselves.

Use this handy chart to review Commedia stock characters and their descriptions.

The actor has to only ask one question—what does the character want to do? (Bill Ball, A Sense of Direction) • The to-do part is essential. It leads to action, and action is at the core of the acting process. • That’s why it’s called acting, not talking. • The to-do provides the character with a purpose. This resource offers a list of potential 'to-do's to apply to scene work.

Use this exercise with the Shakespeare you are studying (or the included monologue) to answer the question: how can punctuation give clues an actor can use to help act the scene?

Obstacles are the barriers and limitations the character must overcome to achieve their goal. • Obstacles can be internal, such as emotional, psychological factors. • External obstacles include an “other.” • Obstacles are not limitations. Plays are about characters in conflict, characters in crisis. • Obstacles spark creativity. This worksheet helps actors define the obstacles in their scene work. What stops YOUR character?

Use this template to track a duo scene, including play details, character details, objectives, obstacles, tactics, and more.

Practice the act of writing a two character, one location scene with these short exercises. Whatever the scenario, limit the length: 10 lines per character.

Complete three of nine projects on Romeo and Juliet to make a tic-tac-toe! Includes a rubric for assessment.

Complete three of nine projects on A Midsummer Night's Dream to make a tic-tac-toe! Includes a rubric for assessment.