### [15 Ways to create Improv Characters](http://improvabc.com/create-improv-characters/) 1. **Be the “you” inside your head.** Outside, you live in your pretty, perfect, Instagram life. Inside, you’re a torrent of competing, manic emotions and paranoid thoughts. Choose to be that second person. 2. **Lead with an emotion.** No matter what your scene partner says, [respond with a big emotion](http://improvabc.com/start-an-improv-scene/)—fear, sadness, anger, joy. Hold on to that for the entirety of the scene. 3. **Lead with a body part.** Walk on with a limp. Or lead with your big toe. Or scrunch up the left side of your face. Changing your body changes how you feel, which changes who you are. 4. **Lead with an accent or voice.** And don’t make it a joke or a bit. Give it your all and see how it makes you feel. 5. **Act someone else’s age.** 15. 45. 95. Each age brings new challenges and a new perspective. 6. **Adopt a strong point of view.** Enter the scene with a strong opinion about anything at all. Like that your character believes in ghosts. Or that your character loves math. Even if it’s totally irrelevant, even if it never comes up, it will affect how your character behaves. 7. **Be a fictional character.** Harry Potter, Mario, or Jane Eyre. You know these characters and you know how they’d react given the situation. 8. **Embody an historical figure.** Napoleon doesn’t struggle with the same issues or fears as someone living in the 21st century. So try his persona on for size—and don’t waste time explaining how he time-traveled into 2018. 9. **Be a celebrity.** Cocky Kanye West or brilliant Neil Degrasse Tyson. You know these people. React like they would. 10. **Embody an object or animal.** In improv, cats and toasters can talk and feel human emotions. Don’t miss your chance to play something totally weird. 11. **Choose an occupation.** A doctor acts differently than a construction worker.  12. **Pick a hot topic (no, not the store).** Climate change. The separation of powers. Guns. Choose a side of the debate and act like someone who truly believes it. Can you bring nuance to the character? 13. **[Use the suggestion](http://improvabc.com/suggestion/).** What sort of setting does it inspire? Which of its characteristics can you embody? How does it make you feel? 14. **Write a character for yourself.** Writing is one of the best ways to practice improv by yourself. So compose monologues. Write sketches. Perform in plays. Take those characters and bring them into your improv scenes. It’s not cheating anymore than it’s cheating to play your stock mom character. 15. **Now kiss.** When you’ve exhausted these tips, try smashing two of them together. Pick an occupation and an historical figure—Napoleon the surgeon. Choose an age and hot topic—a 7 year old who is strongly in favor of the death penalty. That’s 105 additional ways to create improv characters for those counting at home. ### [Improv Exercises for Creating Characters](https://bigcouchnola.com/improv-exercises-for-character/) #### Character Walk Participants mill about an open space. They may or may not be making eye contact with each other. They are following their own path and concentrating on themselves. The facilitator offers character-oriented suggestions, like “you refuse to take off your ski boots in the resort,” or “you are keeping a very juicy secret,” or “you are allergic to all flowers and are walking a park.” The participants react to each suggestion while walking around. Facilitators may also open suggesting up to participants as everyone continues to walk about. Do this until you get to 8 to 10 suggestions. As an improv exercise, examining how a person walks or behaves in a situation can inform a lot of more of the character. Participants may find themselves developing a backstory while they embody the physicality. This also allows improvisers to center themselves in somewhat of an internal meditation before engaging with the ensemble. #### World’s Worst / World’s Best This is a common short form improv game that makes a fun character creating setup. Participants form into a line facing outward. The facilitator suggests the world’s best or world’s worst type of person. As they are inspired, each participant steps forward and gives a line of dialogue and action in that character. For example, the “world’s best lion tamer” might let out all the lions or the “world’s worst New York taxi driver” doesn’t know where the Empire State Building is. Suggestions might include doctor, softball player, boat captain, antique collector, etc., or they can stretch to include specifics like “door person at a fantasy character club.” An improv exercise based in short-form prompts quick, focussed thinking. All the participants have to do is make one decision based upon the suggestion and move on it. Participants will also start to learn what they like most – a “world’s worst” or “world’s best” – type of situation that can help them gain confidence in how they move forward with creating new characters. #### Seven Things in Character Participants get into a circle. One person gives another person a brief character description and then asks them to name seven things that they should answer in character. For example, one person may say to another “You are the coach of a college cheerleading squad in Texas. What seven things do you pack to go to the national championship game?” As the asked person names their seven things, the group says “yes” to each one in and counts off. When they are done, everyone cheers. Then, the person that just gave their answers chooses another participant, gives them another character, and asks them to name new seven things. And, so on until everyone has gone. This improv exercise works in several ways. It warms up the brain to start spitting out information. It is affirming, meaning everything that everyone says is right and worthy of a resounding “yes.” And, it is helping you confidently build out a character as you answer within their voice. #### Character Samurai Participants get into a circle. One person steps into the middle and gives a 20 to 30 second monologue in character. The people on the outside of the circle initiate a scene with that character. The scenes do not have to be related to anything the center character has said. The idea is for the center to respond in character to what the circle has indicated. For example, someone steps into the middle and gives a monologue about being a 102-year-old turtle who’s lived 75 years in a zoo. Someone on the outside of the circle taps them and starts a scene with “That ice cream gave me brain freeze.” Then, we get to see the turtle respond. This will continue until everyone in the outside has initiated a scene. Then, a new person steps into the circle and the process starts over until everyone has been in the center. This improv exercise deepens the understanding of the character through discovery. While the scene partners may not be endowing characteristics, the center is continuing to build upon what they started in their monologue. #### Character Clay This exercise is somewhat of the reverse of Character Samurai. Participants get into a circle. One person steps into the middle. The people on the outside of the circle endow the center with characteristics, like an accent, a walk, an article of clothing, a personality trait, a hometown, a memory, a desire, etc. the person in the middle then does a 30 second monologue as the character. When done, another person steps in the middle and the process starts over with new characteristics and traits. We love this improv exercise because it emphasizes the importance of scene partners endowing each other’s characters. Characters don’t have to be built solo. Sometimes you know just enough about another character to give them a gift of a memory or a passion that deepens the scene as well as the relationship. Because we know everything and nothing, being a supportive scene partner with endowments can push everything forward.