Getting into Character

Hey guys, second tip here. This one is most important for anyone who wants to be involved mainly in theatre, although this comes into play in movies too. Getting into character is the process of leaving your normal life, and taking on the life of the character you were designated to play. Now it doesn't matter if you are an ensemble member or a lead, everyone has to get into character. Some of the best methods of this, is read the given circumstances for your character. For those of you who don't know what that means, is that read the description for your character again. This helps you get the basic idea of the character. Now if you are still in the rehearsal process, than a good thing to do, is right a biography on your character. Create anything and everything it doesn't tell you. For instance, if the given circumstances only state:

Name
Age
Occupation
1 Trait

Than what you should do, is create a biography listing that, but go into more detail. Explain why they chose the job they have, what was their education, where did they grow up, what was their childhood like. All of these things are great for not only developing character, but for getting into character when you read that before a performance. Another method, is to try relaxing. Taking deep breathes in, and trying to empty your mind almost always works because you don't than have to worry about your normal life, and after reading a couple things about your character, it will become easily obtainable.