What is your character’s hair color?  Eye color?

Naturally copper penny red.  Darker when she gets bored and colors it.  Her favorite thing about being on Broadway, though, is easier access to wigs.  There are plenty of days she’s a brunette or a blonde just for kicks.  Her eyes sort of change color.  They’re gold or amber immediately around the pupil, then a greenish sort of color, with a ring of navy around the outside.  So hazel. She calls them hazel.

What kind of distinguishing facial features does your character have?

FRECKLES

Does your character have a birthmark?  Where is it?  What about scars?  How did they get them?

No birthmarks but a couple scars on her arms from burning them on the oven while cooking. She is a great cook but clumsy as shit.  

Who are your characters friends and family?  Who do they surround themselves with?  Who are the people your character is closest to?  Who do they wish they were closest to?

Her family is huge, but all of them are back in small town PA where she’s from.  Her brother, mother, step family, cousins, aunts, uncles, they’re all obnoxiously close and thankfully far away.  Opening night, though, you can be they were all in the orchestra screaming louder than anyone needs.  As for people she’s closest to, that would be her roommate and best friend.  They met working at the Renaissance Faire, bonded over Harry Potter, and moved to New York together five years ago.  They’re as close as sister and Jacks would do anything for her.  The only time she wishes she was closer to someone else is the nights she has the terrible lonely feeling that comes with being perpetually single, perpetually alone when everyone else is paired off, and perpetually reminded that she is not anyone’s favorite person.

Where was your character born?  Where have they lived since then?  Where do they call home?

She was born outside of Philadelphia, PA.  A small suburb with picket fences and swing sets in every back yard.  Not the most artistic of places, but she made due.  She grew up there until she went to college.  It was the first time she left home, but she didn’t go far.  About an hour up the turnpike into the Pocono mountains in the middle of fucking no where.  She didn’t make due quite as well there and was gone in a matter of months.  She spent a few months in Italy after that, trying to figure things out, and when she came home she moved to central PA for her first professional acting job.  She lived there for three years while she worked at the Renaissance Faire.  From there, she and her best friend moved to New York City.  

Where she calls home is an interesting concept.  She calls her comfy cozy apartment home, calls the city home.  But she calls her little town in PA home as well, where her family lives and where she grew up.  So maybe she has two homes. 

Where does your character go when they’re angry?

Usually home.  Loud music is played, angry rants are shouted, much alcohol is consumed, several pillows are sacrificed to her incredible control not to punch actual humans in their faces.

What is their biggest fear?  Who have they told this to?  Who would they never tell this to?  Why?

Her greatest fear is being forever alone.  Only one person in the world truly knows this, her best friend who has heard her crying in the middle of the night every once in a while when the fear gets too real and too close to handle.  The fact is, she’s watched people pairing off and falling in love her whole life.  She, however, never has.  And not for lack of trying.  But at twenty seven years old she’s only been asked out four times in her life, only dated two people for any length of time, and generally can’t get a guy to look her way for anything.  It’s not something she likes to talk about, given that every time she has she’s been bombarded with ‘you don’t need a guy’ and ‘when it’s right it will happen’ and to be quite honest, she can’t take that anymore.  She just wants to know that she’s enough.  Plenty of people have told her she is, but no one has followed through.

Do they have a secret?

Not many.  She’s terrible at keeping her own secrets.  Some people have a hard time getting close to people, a hard time letting them in.  She has the opposite problem. She opens up too quickly, lays all her cards on the table before someone has proven they’re trustworthy.  Basically, she talks about herself too much.  She really needs to give it a rest.

What makes your character laugh out loud?

Sarcasm.  Stupid puns.  Stand up comedy.  Kittens doing kitten things.  

When has your character been in love?  Had a broken heart?

She’s never been in love, so romantically heartbreak isn’t on her radar.  The only time she’s felt it break is when it comes to her dad.  Long sad story aside, she and her old man don’t get along and she wishes that could be different.

What’s in your character’s refrigerator right now?  Or their bedroom floor?  On their nightstand?  In their garbage can?

Fridge - Various left overs that have not and will not ever be eaten, creamer for the coffee she can’t go a morning without, cheese, more cheese, different kinds of cheeses, jelly because pb & j, condiments for food she constantly forgets to buy, strawberries because it’s finally summer.  She eats out most of the time, unless she has people coming over she generally hates to cook for just herself.

Bedroom floor - All her clothes because she hates folding laundry and it all ends up in just two big piles separated by what is clean or not clean, books after she finishes reading them, shopping bags that never make it to the trash, bags, belts, shoes, it’s basically her closet just - on the floor.

Nightstand - Whatever book she’s currently reading, phone charger, alarm clock because she’s old school like that, jewelry, spare change, BOBBY PINS.

Garbage can - garbage?  

Look at your character’s feet. Describe what you see there. Do they wear dress shoes, gym shoes, or none at all? Are they in socks that are ratty and full of holes? Or are they wearing a pair of blue and gold slippers knitted by their grandmother?

At home, she’s barefoot.  A pedicure that is hopelessly chipped from being squeezed into character and dance shoes every day and night hangs on by the barest thread.  They are dancers feet, complete with bunions, cuts, and bruises.  Out and about every day, it’s flats in the summer and boots in the winter.  She’s not a big fan of heels and for some reason she’s never liked sandals.  And then of course, there are her stage shoes.  Many and varied in color and style and purpose, she wears more of these than regular shoes.

When your character thinks of their childhood kitchen, what smell do they associate with it? Sauerkraut? Oatmeal cookies? Paint? Why is that smell so resonant for them?

Garlic.  Her mother is Italian and the kitchen growing up almost always smelled like garlic.  She can’t recall a single recipe or meal that doesn’t have garlic in it somewhere.  As much as she is too lazy to really enjoy cooking, she does love when she can fill her own apartment with that smell. 

Your character is doing intense spring cleaning. What is easy for them to throw out? What is difficult for them to part with? Why?

It really depends on the day.  Some days,she is so sick of the clutter and the mess that she throws everything out.  Things that later she kind of wishes her had held on to.  More often than not, though, she keeps everything.  Playbills, ticket stubs, clothes that don’t fit, books she’ll never read again.  Anything that she might use again or have even the smallest bit of sentimental value she will hold onto until she finds someplace worthy to keep it.  Or until the next time she gets fed up with the clutter.

It’s Saturday at noon. What is your character doing? Give details. If they’re eating breakfast, what exactly do they eat? If they’re stretching out in central park to soak up the sun, what kind of blanket or towel do they lie on?

Showtime, ladies and gents.  Or almost.  At noon she’s gathering the last of her crap in her apartment, getting ready to head to the theatre.  Her call time is at one and if she doesn’t want to be late, she has to start getting all the little things she always forgets together.  Saturdays are two show days, her favorites.  She knows that a nerdy thing to say but she loves being able to spend a solid twelve hours in her ‘show world.’  Prep, dressing rooms, warm ups, hanging with the cast between shows.  Those are some of the goofiest, most ridiculous hours they spend together.   Not to mention two chances to get out on stage and do what she loves.

Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do they wear? Who will they be with?