There's a lot of work that goes into prepping for our shows before we even set foot in the rehearsal room! From picking out what songs we're going to sing, to choreographing our dance moves, we're busy long before the first dance party.
One of the most important parts of our prep work is making sure we have a clear breakdown of the plot and characters. After all- if our ensemble doesn't know who and what make up the story we're trying to tell, how are they ever going to tell it?!
There are 7 main characters plus choruses of pirates, police, and the Major-General's daughters. We'll start our rehearsal process by learning who they all are!
We think creating a character board for each person in our story is one of the best ways we can highlight each character and what makes them unique. By picking a few key adjectives and finding a picture to represent that adjective, we can create an easy visual to represent each person in our story. We can also include pictures that represent that character's key moments in the plot, or important relationships they have.
Check out the photo below to see some of the images we'll be using to help our ensemble get to know the characters of "The Pirates of Penzance"!
You can see the laughing smiley face which will go on the board for the jovial Major-General Stanley above the angelic young women which will go on the board for his sweet daughter, Mabel. Of course there are lots of pictures of pirates, but one of the fun things about "Pirates of Penzance" is that there are lots of different kinds of pirates- fierce fighting pirates, and young noble pirates. These character boards will help our actors keep all of them straight!
