More than Just a Mask: Behind the Actor’s Method of Characterization

Written by: Grace Sodi

Emma Woodward (pictured right) as Miss Ogle in USC’s production of The Belle’s Stratagem (The Belle’s Stratagem, April 6 – 16, 2023, Scene Dock Theatre. ©2023 Photos by Craig Schwartz for the USC School of Dramatic Arts.)

“Mah, Mah, Mah!” fervently chants Emma Woodward, her vocalizations merging with a mismatched chorus of other voices.

“Good, good,” Praises Lexie Hastings, Assistant director to USC’s production of The Belle’s Stratagem. “Where does your character sit in terms of resonance?”

To any outsider who had the opportunity to stumble upon room 107 of USC’s McClintock Theatre, these intelligible words may sound like bizarre cultlike incantations, but these noise-makers are not zealots, but rather actors, who take their craft just as seriously as any believer would revere their religion.

“Set a goal for today’s run.” Continues Hastings, as she watches the cast as Director Albert Dayan peers onward, surveying his actors’ warm up.

On the right side of the actors’ clump is Woodward, diligently vocalizing her “cloud noises” along with the rest of her cast of BFA cohort acting students, with her arms stretched to the sky.

An actor’s craft is one that requires tenacity and imagination, as being able to step into a character and truly embody a person other than yourself is vital for the success of a performance.

According to Sharon Carnicke, a professor at USC’s school of dramatic arts and a specialist in the teachings Stanislavsky, the famous Russian acting theorist, “There is a culture in American actor training that believes that actors have to somehow transform themselves into their characters emotionally and live the life of their characters emotionally.”

“There has a huge history of different acting techniques, and that there is a lot of options for people who want to act to choose from.” Carnicke notes. “And some techniques really work better for some people than others.”

Acting is far more than reciting lines onstage, as actors like Emma must undergo whatever technique necessary to develop and embody a character. This process and transformation is present throughout the course of the entire pre-production process of a show.

Most actors start their experience with a show and their characters by reciting a monologue or singing 16 bars of a song of choice. For Emma Woodward, her show journey began with a runway walk…

Meeting the Main Player

The stage lights of Emma’s theatre career first flickered to life at a mere eight years-old. At the encouragement of her parents and vocal coach, young Emma auditioned for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs where she landed the role of ‘Young Snow White’. To Emma’s surprise, her first every production was so wonderful and such a positive experience that she decided to continue furthering her passion and her craft.

Since then, Emma dove headfirst into the world and lifestyle of theatre, immersing herself in community theatre productions until high school where she enthusiastically participated in every show to grace her school and community’s stage.

By this point, Emma was performing in two to three shows at any given time and began to entertain the idea that theatre could be more than a cherished hobby.

With the support of her parents, Emma made the decision to take the leap of faith and pursue theatre as a career. This eventually landed her an acceptance into the 2020 cohort of USC’s lauded School of Dramatic Arts BFA program.

Since the start of her career, Emma has completed 26 shows, ranging from playing Maria in Twelfth Night to Agnes in She Kills Monsters. But there is always room for a 27^th.

As a BFA student, Emma is guaranteed a role in the specified production chosen especially for her particular cohort. This semester, the show in question is none other than The Belle’s Stratagem by Hannah Cowley, an 18^th Century Comedy of Manners with prevalent feminist themes.

Upon investigating the show after the announcement, Emma was ecstatic, “There are members of my cohort who were not super excited about a period piece, but I’m not one of them. I love period pieces,” Emma beams. “I have a deep love for Shakespeare. And heightened language comes pretty naturally to me. So, I can very much easily understand it. I love speaking it. It just it makes me happy.”

However, love and passion for a show can only get an actor so far. As next came the most pivotal moment in any show: the audition.

Act 1

“God I Hope I Get It“

“For our initial audition, we were asked to prepare a monologue, a comedic classical monologue. And then, we were sent a thirty second clip of music and we were asked to choreograph and perform runway walk for that.”

Off of my apparent expression of visible confusion, Emma chuckled, remarking that the energy of the show was very high fashion and by no means was this a typical audition staple. She then continued on,

“We were asked to choreograph based on one of the characters from the show. It was just, it was very camp is very much like, go as big as possible.”

Unable to satiate my curiosity, I further pressed Emma as to what her particular take on this challenge was. 

“I do a lot with my arms generally I talk with my hands. And that kind of translates into movement for me,” She smiled bashfully. “So, yeah, it was just very much high fashion. Kind of like, girl boss. Very girl boss.”

Whether every actor likes to admit it or not, most if not all will go into an audition with their heart set in a particular character. Emma candidly admits that she is no different.

“I really fell in love with the character of Letitia, who is the leading female at the show,” Emma said, “I picked a monologue that was kind of appropriate to that character, as well as tailored the runway walk to her. And then I did get to read for her and callbacks.”

However, more often than not, the casting process may deviate from an actor’s immediate desires, a sentiment that Emma understands and very professionally respects.

“Eventually, the way the puzzle fits together, I was not cast as a Letitia. But, I’m very happy in my role.”

Throughout the course of the initial interview, Emma had brought up the notion of the puzzle and its pieces in reference to the casting time and time again.

Essentially, she views the casting process as a scattered puzzle in which each actor is a puzzle piece and the director is tasked with arranged those pieces in a way that best serves the show, or for the sake of the extended metaphor, creates the best possible final image.

Our puzzle master is none other than Albert Dayan, the steadfast director of the show.

“I look for people who have that little had a little twinkle, you know, like, had like little moments that were right, or funny or clever, on a really subtle level,” notes Dayan. “And Emma was one of those. And she was really good. And I could just tell, she’s the kind of actor that you can just tell they’re going to be good at whatever they do.”

Because of this, Dayan explained that he initially had a very difficult time casting Emma, “I was like, wow, I’ve got this real killer. She’s a real killer. And I don’t have a big role for her.”

However, after consulting with a fellow director, Dayan was advised to put Emma in a role that, “they can really make a meal out of”.

“You can put them in a role that they can really make a meal out of and they can clobber in that role. And that sort of solidified for me a way to go with Emma. And so I put her in Lady Ogle and she what she did exactly that. She was terrific and I’m so happy with her performance.”

Dayan also appears to be the sort of open director that cast members are comfortable talking to, as Emma felt confident enough to ask him why she was cast in her given role when Dayan was making his rounds with the actors, checking in on them after casting.

“He was like, you came into auditions. And, you know, I saw like, you are such a strong actor that I can kind of put you anywhere,” Emma was unable to contain a small proud smile. “So that was, of course, wonderful to hear. So, in the way the puzzle worked out. That’s kind of where I was placed.”

Emma and Miss Ogle

The role in question is none other than Miss Ogle, who Emma describes as the ditzy, airheaded sidekick to Letitia’s cousin, Mrs. Racket and her schemes. Her role is significant to one of the subplots in the show where Miss Ogle and Mrs. Racket conspire to turn dainty sheltered country mouse Lady Frances Touchwood into a fine fashionable lady of society against Touchwood’s controlling husband’s best wishes.

“[Miss Ogle]’s really wonderful. She’s just ditzy and fun and gets very excited about everything. And has just a bouncy little golden retriever kind of energy where she gets easily distracted,” Emma notes. “But she very much backs up whatever Mrs. Racket says. As long as [she’s] having fun . . . That’s her main objective. She just wants to have fun.”

However, there is more to embodying a character than just understanding who they are. More often than not, actors have to stretch themselves beyond mere understanding of a character to truly embrace a characterization.

For instance, Actor Adrian Quinonez, a cast member of The Belle’s Stratagem who plays both Dick and is a member of the ensemble, said that he actually conducted research of servants during the restoration era in order to better get into his character.

Another actress, Lauren Bohmholdt says that she uses music as a way of getting into her characters’ headspace.

However, even with all these different techniques it can be rather difficult to truly separate oneself from their character. As in the case of Emma and Ms. Ogle, the two could not be more different.

“[Emma’s] a person of substance in a way that lady Ogle is not.” Dayan notes. “Lady Ogle is flighty, she’s a coquette, she’s what they used to call a party girl. And Emma is not that.”

“[Lady Ogle] was a person who was pretty shallow, you know, compared to Emma.”

Dayan explained how at first Emma gave Miss Ogle’s characterization a bit too much gravity and substance. But after a few discussions with her director, Emma understood that she needed to further distance herself from her characterization of her role. Something she managed to succeed at and beyond, according to Dayan.

However, although immensely fun to play, Emma acknowledges that the role certainly poses unique challenges.

“I think one of the biggest things for me is I’ve been fortunate to play fairly large roles in the past. Especially in the past couple of years,” Emma muses. “So, returning to a character that doesn’t have her entire life spelled out in the script it’s definitely a muscle I’m having to kind of retrain and coming up with all those extra [character choices], is a really wonderful and fun part of the process.”

Act 2

Rehersals: Practice Makes Perfect

When she’s not performing in rehearsal, Emma is quietly watching the other actors from offstage, studying them and the story they bring to life onstage. However, as soon as she steps over the line of tape that exists as the on vs offstage threshold, Emma transforms into an entirely different person.

As Miss Ogle, Emma’s physicality become softer and coyer and her proud voice floats into a charming lilt that lightens the stage and any scene her character takes part in.

During the actors’ break, Emma approaches me as we chat about the rehearsal and her specific progress with becoming Miss Ogle. She muses how even though her characterization has come so far, she still is focusing on specific character elements to improve on and strengthen even further.  As of now, she explains, her center of focus is Miss Ogle’s voice and figuring out where to place it in her vocal range.

Dayan notes that Emma’s initial character voice work resulted in, “A vocal performance of hers that was sort of high pitched. And then at some point, I was just waiting. With Emma, you kind of feel like she’ll figure it out.”

Dayan’s patience apparently paid off as Emma apparently later walked right up to him during a rehearsal and mused to him about the notion about bringing Lady Ogle’s vocal pitch down. Dayan was ecstatic with her self-driven development.

“Because that’s another thing as a director,” Dayan asserts. “You don’t get that opportunity all the time. But the more something can come from the actor, the more it’s their idea, the better. And Emma deserves the credit on that because she did it all on her own.”

Life Beyond the Stage

For Emma, the work and life as an actor does not end after leaving the stage orrehearsal grounds. Even while at home, Emma continues her efforts in embodying and characterizing her beloved Miss Ogle. One of her techniques in doing so is curating a Spotify playlist consisting of songs Emma believes are akin to Miss Ogle.

However, the road to a performance is not always paved so smoothly as mid-semester, during spring break, Emma had to undergo surgery for endometriosis.

“I was dealing with obviously a lot of the sickness before spring break just from that, and felt a lot better after spring break,” Emma recounts. “But you know, [I’m] still recovering from having surgery and having holes in my body.”

Luckily, Emma notes her team and cast were very supportive to her throughout the entire endeavor and she was able to make a fast and smooth recovery.

Emma ensures for the sake of her mental and emotional health to balance school and acting with more relaxing pastimes to unwind. For Emma, that pastime is none other than Dungeons & Dragons. She greatly looks forward to her D&D party’s weekly rendezvous where they roleplay as their own unique fantasy fictional characters and battle ghastly monsters and nefarious villains alike.

Of course, by the nature of the game, Emma is still technically playing a character. However, according to her, even though D&D is a game, it still doesn’t deter her efforts into making even her own fictional character as fleshed out as they can be.

“Every character gets my entire devotion. The one difference is like it’s all coming from me [in D&D],” Emma explains, an excited glimmer in her eyes. “I just become that character, the character becomes me, which is similar to what I do on stage, but on stage I have the support of a script.”

Act 3

The Show

It’s 2 pm on April 15^th,the penultimate day of The Belle’s Stratagem’s nearly two-week long run. I sit in the audience with Corey Lee, a narrative studies major, and a member of Emma’s Dungeons and Dragons group.

Lee scrolls through the virtual program, eagerly searching for his friend’s face. He then finds Emma’s head shot and eagerly points to it, “Look, there’s Emma!”

Lee smiles at me as he expresses how excited he is to support Emma. “I know Emma has worked so hard at this role throughout the course of the semester, so I’m so happy to be able to be here now and see all of that work pay off. I’m very excited.”

Soon enough, the lights dim and Emma soon graces the stage in a towering white wig and pink puffy gown, very much befitting her flighty character. Lee and I watch, entranced as Emma adorably patters around the stage, as per her Miss Ogle characterization.

That airy, coquettish voice she had worked so hard to craft now masterfully delivers her coy, comedic lines, eliciting giggles and laughs galore form the audience.

Gone was the thoughtful and meticulous girl that I had spent the past few months or so getting to know, as instead of watching Emma, I beheld Miss Ogle in all her carefree, pleasure-seeking glory.

From the opening scene all the way to the bows, Emma sparkled and never slipped out of character. She truly and utterly embodied her role. Only as the crowd leapt to their feet during the curtain call did the glimmer of Emma return through the form of a proud grin as she bowed alongside her felllow cast members.

Epilogue

A show ends as quickly as it begins, often leaving its actors in a lurch after they spent months diligently transforming themselves into their characters.

“The reason they can’t shake the emotion is because they’ve made the connection to their own personal lives in such a way that it kind of creates this inability to let it go.”, explains Carnicke, referring to how some potentially dangerous acting techniques can leave actors struggling to move on from a role even after their performance has come to an end.

Having experienced countless shows and show endings herself, Emma is rather adept at picking herself up and moving on to the next project. She even has her own little ritual that grants her the mental closure she requires in order to move on to the next show and role.

“One of the things I do, actually, and it’s real quirky,” Emma giggles, bashful. “I say, thank you to my wig, and my costumes. And the dressing room and the space. Just as that kind severing the connection…I’m saying thank you to inanimate objects. It’s a little weird, but it’s a spiritual thing for me.”

Although Emma is pleased with how the show went and is content to move on to the next project, she notes that Miss Ogle, and the work she did to bring her to life will, in fact, endure beyond the curtain call.

“This character will always be a part of me,” Emma muses, a fond look in her eyes. “Just because I spend so much time with my characters, they all just kind of find a little place in my heart to rest, it’s, it’s always something I can come back to…”

Thus, with Miss Ogle in her heart, one character may end but Emma is now free take on another new role and live out the cycle all over again.