A former teacher (who, is also a working actor and successful in the industry) told me a few years ago that my characters were “too charactery”. I watch a lot of HGTV and I know that in the world of home improvement and design, there is no such thing as “too charactery”. “Charactery” in a re-modeled craftsman home is a good thing. My parents also spent a lot of money on my education so I also know that “charactery” is not a word (and thank you spell check for re-affirming that).
Before I jump into this, I should also let you know that we were talking about improvisation based / live theatre comedy characters. I damn well know that for television and film (for the most part, Saturday Night Live aside), that the characters we “create” are really just different aspects of ourselves, be they slightly bitchier, more “white trash”, more vulnerable, more elitist, or whatever the case may be.
Instead of taking this critique with a grain of salt and asking myself, “What does she really mean?” or “How can I use and grow from this?” I took it to heart and thought she was telling me that I sucked. In retrospect, my characters started becoming (sorry, folk who don’t like cussin’) half-ass, for lack of a better term. While my character work suffered, I didn’t let it affect my acting career trajectory. I joined my current improv troupe Lunatic Fringe, continued performing stand-up comedy, my one woman show “Wayward Souls” was accepted into a solo artist play festival and I performed a children’s play (“The Golem”, coming back in April to various New York Public Libraries) where I played a variety of …characters. Again, all is 20-20 in hindsight, but I noticed the characters I created on the spot during improv rehearsals and performances lacked oomph and the oh-la-la. I went from being “too charactery” to being a “wimp”.
Because I got really busy playing a recurring whore on Boardwalk Empire (again, a character!) I had to say bye-bye to Lunatic Fringe for over a year. When they asked me to come back last June to cover for a performer, I was over-joyed. I remembered that Deb McGlean, director and performer and my other co-improvisers had never told me that my characters were “too charactery”. Nor did they tell me that my characters were just a “half-ass hippie” or “Oh, you’re doing your Dad again there, Brooke!” or “hello! take a risk you wimpy idiot!”. They didn’t need to – I was already telling myself all of that stuff and beating myself up unnecessarily. When I performed with Lunatic Fringe in June as my guest appearance, I felt the show was great and I was glad to be “riffing with the peeps again” but I noticed that my personal characters during the improv “scenes” were somewhat lackluster. That just isn’t my style.
Here we come to the current day in age. Deb McGlean and the Lunatics again asked me to cover for a performer in January and when I went back to rehearsal, I guess it was really the new year and the feeling of no-judgement with my troupe (Bless their hearts!), all of these characters just started coming out. I felt like I was a pot of gumbo overflowing. And, some of the characters, I will admit are crazy and out-there but I don’t give a rat’s fat butt if they are “too-charactery”. Because what’s worse? Too be safe or to take a risk? That age old question rings true with the performing arts, with the visual arts and with life.
Are we going to tell Theresa Guidice or Donald Trump or Abby Lee Miller that they are too charactery? No. I’d be afraid that Theresa would throw a table on me or that The Donald would…wait for it…fire me. I’d be afraid Abby Lee would eat me alive. I’m a big girl, too. I’m allowed to make that joke (albeit a cheap shot). We also wouldn’t tell them this because they are reality television stars and [real] people [to an extent, hence my fancy brackets]. With the infusion of reality tv, I feel that as a live and sketch video performer my characters have to be somewhat outrageous. Not for shock value. But, because this is honestly how I view life and people in general. I always aim to make my characters an expanded part of myself that I hide or celebrate and make sure that they have heart. If they are larger than life, so be it. Plus size is the new pink. As with my characters, I’d rather run into a larger than life person on the street than a quasi-person any day.
