Storytelling 101 | Characterization and the Dramatic Pause

Once you have a script in hand and you have a good handle on who your audience will be, it’s time to create and rehearse. You’re going need some time to make wise choices about how you will present your story.

Before you bring props or blocking into the equation, first think about the words and the non-verbal cues that you will use to communicate your story. Remember, communication is the goal. Work to make the words on the page come to life for your audience.

For our DV:FX Intro and Exit Sketches before we begin staging the scene, we have a read through with all the actors. This allows the actors to get a feel for the timing and pacing of the sketches. They can begin to visualize where they want to take the audience.

Here are a few tools you can keep in your tool-box when it comes to bringing your story to life:

Characterization
As you tell a Bible story, remember that you’re telling a story about real people who lived in history. Adding life to those characters will help kids connect with those individuals and what they have to teach us about living for God.

This past week at our family experience, I was the storyteller presenting the Esther story with melodramatic flare. I played four characters in the story. I had the luxury of a few props and costumes. However, going into rehearsing that story, I wanted my audience to know who was speaking even if I didn’t have those costume pieces.

First, I needed each character to have distinct vocal inflection, tone, and rhythm. King Xerxes need to sound different from Mordecai who had to sound different from Haman. When you’re rehearsing a story with multiple characters, have someone listen to you with his eyes closed. He should be able to distinguish between the different characters in story.

Along with that, think about the emotion and reasoning behind what each character is saying and use those nonverbal cues to your advantage. For each line the character says, think about adding a verb to give you some motivation for saying the line. Is a character saying something “to anger” or “to confuse”? You get the point. Make sure that emotion is heard through your line-delivery.

Next, I needed to use my body to portray how a character might stand, move, or react to each other. How King Xerxes posed would be different than how Haman would stand. I had to think about how Queen Esther would have entered into the king’s throne room and use my body to portray that. Granted, this was melodrama which comes with its own set of rules. If this was just a story I was telling, I would have still needed to work at helping those four characters come to life on the stage.

The Dramatic Pause
It’s no surprise for me to tell you that our lives experience a great lack of quiet. Life is no different for the kids in the audience. Their life is a constant bombardment of homework, TV, video games, school, sports, etc. What would happen if you gave your audience some space? Could you give them a moment to just be still and allow the story to move in their hearts?

Don’t fear silence. Silence is often the gift of the storyteller. A well placed dramatic pause will not only emphasize your point, but in many cases will actually your audience to think about what the story means to them.

I’m not talking about the silence created when you don’t remember your lines. That sort of silence is more a giant CLUNK in the story that will only cause you to lose momentum. Rather, dramatic pauses are well thought out and scripted for effect.

Rob Bell does this to perfection in his NOOMA Noise. Watch it. You can almost feel what happens when he uses silence strategically.

Tomorrow, we’ll tackle storytelling bling: blocking, costumes and props.