Quirky characters in community theater

Among the quirky characters I have portrayed in community theater:

Janet McKenzie, housekeeper for the murder victim, in Witness For the Prosecution

Miss Witherspoon, superintendent of Happy Dale Sanitorium, in Arsenic and Old Lace

Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet, a wealthy old friend of the Dowd family, in Harvey
Apothecary, purveyor of fine poisons, in Romeo & Juliet

And, in a production of Cyrano de Bergerac opening next week, the Duenna, Roxanne's governess and companion.

The Duenna is secretly in love with Cyrano after watching his masterful duel in rhyme. She is never seen without her fan. The secret love interest is not in the script but when I mentioned it to the director, he said that if that is the motivation I need for my character, that is fine by him. He has not mentioned the fan, which is neither in the script nor in any version I have seen of Cyrano.

That is my point. I like to add characteristics and motivations outside the script to make my character come alive and be different from what may have been done before. I create a back story for any character I portray, regardless of the size of the role.

As the adage says, "There are no small parts, only small actors."

In crowd scenes, I refuse to be just walking scenery. My character must be there for a reason. In a recent production of Julius Caesar in which I was part of the company, I decided that my character was a middle-class woman named Decima Curia Laenata who was trying to find a suitable husband for her 18-year-old daughter and who had the same sort of feelings for Julius Caesar that a lot of people today have for our president--that they do not like him very much but would engage in a public display of grief if he were to die.


Here is a listing of theater groups with whom I have enjoyed working in the past few years:

Fictitious Theatre Company of San Bernardino http://ftcsb.org/

Redlands Footlighters http://www.redlandsfootlighters.org/

Redlands Shakespeare Festival http://redlandsshakespearefestival.com/

Rialto Community Players http://www.rialtocommunityplayers.org/