Drama Teacher Resource: Free Printable Character Analysis Worksheet

I'm constantly sharing about my work-at-home Etsy business here on the blog, but I very rarely talk about my other job: teaching drama.

I've been giving drama lessons to kids for almost ten years, and my little program has grown a lot. My typical class session is 8-10 weeks and features a performance at the end of the semester. Our shows are based on short stories, most of which I have adapted myself. This semester, I'm teaching five classes, which comes out to eight hours of teaching a week. I'm blessed to have two sets of grandparents who are happy to keep track of Lincoln and Addie while I teach - and equally blessed that so many people want to participate in my classes.

When I started teaching, I had no idea what I was doing. I was a community theatre enthusiast and thought "well, I love it - so probably I can make it work." Yes, that was my strategy. Thankfully, people stuck with me in spite of my inexperience. I've come a long way since then, and am constantly incorporating new learning tools like improvisation games, projection exercises, and memorization bribes rewards. This year, I taught a short monologue memorization/recitation class, which inspired me to add in a Character Analysis Worksheet for my students this spring.

A character analysis is useful anytime someone is portraying another character, and I think this exercise will help take some of my students to the next level as far as character development. Since I teach kids from ages 6-16, I see a wide range of characters in the final productions. Sometimes they blow me away with their true-to-life characters and sometimes, I think "well, at least their lines are memorized."

I started searching for a good character analysis worksheet, but could not find anything that fit the needs of my class. So, I made my own! It's a one-page worksheet and features questions that will help even the youngest actor develop a character of their own. I am testing it out this semester and may add another sheet of more detailed questions for my teen students next time around.

This is a little outside the realm of my "normal" free printables here on the blog, but maybe some other drama teacher out there will find this to be a useful tool! I hope so, anyway. If you use it, let me know what you think - are there any questions I need to include in an "advanced" version?

You can download the Character Analysis Worksheet here! And make sure you grab my list of favorite free printable Tongue Twisters!