Not only did I ask my students to write character analyses on the characters they played in each play, (see pages 240-247 in The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide) I also gave them the opportunity to delve into their own creative world to take a different look at their characters. Below is one of them. You can copy and paste the below into a Word document for ready-made assignment.

Collage Assignment

This collage is a group of pictures and objects relating to your character.  By looking at this "picture" anyone can get a real feeling of your character.

Begin with a picture of your character — it can be a digital you have taken or a picture from a magazine.  It must be at least 3" x 5" mounted on a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" cardboard. It cannot be a drawing.

Next, think of your character objectively by surrounding the picture with the following:

-What ANIMAL or BIRD do you associate with your character? Someone who is a ditz might be a bird.

-What COLOR — painted or a swatch — is your character? Remember the old cowboy westerns where the guy with the white hat was a hero and the evil villain always wore black?

-What FLOWER is your character?  A happy person might be a daisy.

-What FOOD is your character?  One might say a person with a temper is Chili.

-What OBJECT — cut out, not drawn — is your character? A judge might be a gavel or black robe.

-What is your SECRET?  Everyone has one — it makes your character much more interesting.

-What is the KEY LINE or PHRASE your character has in the production? An actress playing Miss Lynch in Grease might say her key line is “Move it!”

-What does your Character WANT more than anything? It must be stated in a sentence.  An actor playing Peter Quince in Midsummer Night’s Dream could say his want is to have the best play for the Duke’s wedding that he can muster.

Add ONE of the following:

-What kind of DRINK is your character?

-What kind of JEWEL is your character?

-Could your character be a FAMOUS PERSON IN HISTORY or FROM YOUR OWN HISTORY?

-What kind of SHOE is your character?

On a separate sheet of paper include the following justifications (why?) for the specific things you chose to have mounted on your collage.

 COLLAGE JUSTIFICATION INFORMATION

Or

THE BIG WHY?

-ANIMAL or BIRD

-COLOR

-FLOWER

-FOOD

-OBJECT

-SECRET

-KEY LINE or PHRASE

-WANT — What does your character do in the play to try to accomplish this want? Does he/she succeed?

-DRINK, JEWEL, FAMOUS PERSON, or SHOE

As it is approaching Valentine’s Day, I would like to share a little Valentine activity not unlike secret Santa.  Each of my students filled out the form below, which was then put in a hat.  Everyone drew a name and had to give their secret Valentine three things, be it candy, flowers, a note, poem, etc.  I set a limit of $5 per student for all three gifts, but it can be less with today’s economy. I insisted that everyone participate.  We didn’t want anyone left out.

On Valentine’s Day, their secret was revealed in a party that lasted 15 minutes of class. Everyone brought something appropriate to eat or drink. (Of course I had gotten permission to have a party in my room from my administration.)  Not only was it fun, but also it made a greater bond within the group — so important in a production class. This certainly would be fun for any class.  If you are teaching English, you could require that the 3 things be literary pieces that each student writes about their secret Valentine and it wouldn’t cost anything — just a thought.

I put 12 of these mini-forms on a page:

Name_______________________________

Locker # ______ Favorite candy________________

Favorite color______________________________