There are a lot of ways to fill in those blanks. I like to focus on a character's "baggage". Baggage is the stuff we carry around that shapes our behaviors towards and relationships with other people. A friend of mine always says we spend the first 17 years of our lives packing our bags and the rest of our life trying to unpack all of the shit we don't need. (And for some of us, unpacking becomes a very expensive process!!!)
There is an activity that is used in anti-bias work that illustrates "baggage" perfectly. The exercise is called "Earliest Messages". Take a moment to think of the earliest message you received- positive, negative, or neutral, of "those" people who are a different race than you. Go back as far as you can and think about what the message was and how you received that message. When you have that, think about how that message affects you today.
My earliest message was that black people were dangerous. I learned that when my Mom locked the car doors when we saw black people on the sidewalk. Is my Mom racist? No. Were my Mom's actions based on stereotypes? Probably. Did this message stay with me? For a while. How did I undo this message that all black people were dangerous? I educated myself.
I encourage you to do this activity with any group; those of a different race, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, gender, etc. The point is we all have received messages about "other" people and those messages inform how we behave around "other" people. Some of the messages came from our family, others from our peers. Many came from the media and we even learned some of these messages in school. Wherever we got the messages, they were packed into our baggage and have provided us with a point of view ever since. The same is true for characters in a play.
Let's take a brief scene between two characters and fill in the blanks. Let's assume all we know is Judson is a conservative leader of the Republican party who is opposed to tax increases. Leo is the president of a union who believes that tax cuts are do not create jobs. Here is the exchange.
JUDSON
(condescendingly) I'm just curious who you think creates jobs? Who creates jobs?
LEO
Well...
JUDSON
(overlapping) Does Bill Gates create jobs or do YOU create jobs? I think the rich people of this country DO create jobs? The successful people CREATE jobs. YOU don't create jobs. You create a lot of hot air, but that's about it.
LEO
...(overlapping) certainly not the billionaires that are sitting on a trillion dollars in their bank accounts and not spending it.
JUDSON
What did they do, win the lottery? No, they became successful and created jobs.
Now, let's assume I have been cast as Jud. Here is the "baggage" that I would create to help me commit to his point of view in this scene.
Judson was raised in a family of privilege. As a young white man, he always heard his father say, "If you work hard, you can make it. Anyone who doesn't make it in this country is just plain lazy." As a child, he was surrounded by people who believed strongly that money=success. Consequently, everyone he meets in his life who isn't wealthy is lazy and unsuccessful and underserving of 'handouts'. He believes in picking yourself up by your bootstraps. He believes everyone starts on a level playing field regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, etc. In one of his economics classes in high school, he was taught trickle down economics by a teacher who praised him for his understanding of how the free market works. He also grew up hearing his father joking with his buddies saying things like, "By the time the unions know what hit them, we will have torn them apart."
With this information, I would be able to play Judson without judgement. I, the actor, may not agree with his point of view, but I would understand his point of view, and that is an actor's job; to have a point of view for every word.
Okay, enough with the acting lesson. The truth is, this scene is not fictional. This exchange between Judson and Leo actually took place on the Ed Show on MSNBC last week between Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation and Leo Gerard, president of United Steel Workers International. You can see the clip at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43749203#43749203 beginning at 10:42. (You don't have to watch it to continue reading).
When I watched this for the first time, I was struck by Judson's seeming connection between "rich" and "successful". Many might say his statement about job creation is true and I will be the first to admit that my interpretation of his words may be influenced by my own baggage around "those people" who are of a different socio-economic class than me. Regardless, my gut is screaming, "This guy is classist!" And instantly I wonder, is it my baggage screaming?
That is the challenge of living with baggage; it can mess with your gut. The black man that mugged me on the train many years ago happened to mug me at a time when I was trying to unpack the message my mom taught me at 5 years old by locking the car doors. Instead of listening to my gut, I assumed the message of danger I was getting on the subway was based on the stereotypes I had packed away when I was five.
Judson was raised in a family of privilege. As a young white man, he always heard his father say, "If you work hard, you can make it. Anyone who doesn't make it in this country is just plain lazy." As a child, he was surrounded by people who believed strongly that money=success. Consequently, everyone he meets in his life who isn't wealthy is lazy and unsuccessful and underserving of 'handouts'. He believes in picking yourself up by your bootstraps. He believes everyone starts on a level playing field regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, etc. In one of his economics classes in high school, he was taught trickle down economics by a teacher who praised him for his understanding of how the free market works. He also grew up hearing his father joking with his buddies saying things like, "By the time the unions know what hit them, we will have torn them apart."
With this information, I would be able to play Judson without judgement. I, the actor, may not agree with his point of view, but I would understand his point of view, and that is an actor's job; to have a point of view for every word.
Okay, enough with the acting lesson. The truth is, this scene is not fictional. This exchange between Judson and Leo actually took place on the Ed Show on MSNBC last week between Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation and Leo Gerard, president of United Steel Workers International. You can see the clip at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43749203#43749203 beginning at 10:42. (You don't have to watch it to continue reading).
When I watched this for the first time, I was struck by Judson's seeming connection between "rich" and "successful". Many might say his statement about job creation is true and I will be the first to admit that my interpretation of his words may be influenced by my own baggage around "those people" who are of a different socio-economic class than me. Regardless, my gut is screaming, "This guy is classist!" And instantly I wonder, is it my baggage screaming?
That is the challenge of living with baggage; it can mess with your gut. The black man that mugged me on the train many years ago happened to mug me at a time when I was trying to unpack the message my mom taught me at 5 years old by locking the car doors. Instead of listening to my gut, I assumed the message of danger I was getting on the subway was based on the stereotypes I had packed away when I was five.
I have no way of knowing if the baggage I created for Judson the "character" is the same baggage that Judson Phillips carries around with him each day. My gut says Mr. Phillips has got a huge steel samsonite case of stereotypes and prejudices to unpack. But who doesn't? That is the point. I believe we all have a responsibility to unpack our baggage of stereotypes and prejudices by challenging our earliest messages. If we don't, we are destined to be weighed down in a way that will prevent us from fully engaging in everything life has to offer.
As an actor, I say bring on the samsonite luggage with no wheels! The bigger the better! As a human being, I'll settle for a man purse.
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