I had the privilege to be involved in the same community theater for six years, working my way up from actor to stage manager to eventual director. I've been able to play such diverse characters from The Wizard in two different productions of "The Wizard of Oz" to Lieutenant Branningan in "Guys and Dolls" to R.H. Macy in "Miracle on 34th Street" and even as Eugene in "Grease." Now I know every actor has their own way of learning more about their character and their own ways of figuring out how to portray them. So I decided to share my own tips and tricks for how I dig "deeper" into my characters to get a better understanding of how you should portray them. Now I'm not at all saying that my way is the right way. This is just simply what has worked for me personally.

1. YouTube Is Your Friend

For me, when I was given a new character to portray and before even really digging deep into the script, I made sure YouTube became my best friend. I'd watch countless and countless videos of other performances of the character and show. My first real lead role was in a musical called "Leader of the Pack." It was quite a scary experience for me as it was only my third mainstage production in a musical and I was playing such a big part in the show. My sister and I would literally sit in front of my laptop for hours watching clips of other performances of the show and its musical numbers, especially the two I sang lead on: "Doo Wah Diddy" and "Hanky Panky." We would laugh at the bad ones and take notes on the good ones. I remember we even would record with our phones the audio from some of the songs so I could use it as a reference when practicing the musical numbers. I would pay attention to what I thought the actors did right and what I thought they did wrong and I made sure I learned something from everything I watched. I took notes on things I thought would be a good thing to use in my performance. Now, although YouTube can be a friend for most of the time, it can also be not the greatest thing to use as you may try too hard to be like the other performers and not make the character "your own." When I portrayed R.H. Macy in "Miracle on 34th Street," YouTube wasn't a great source for me as the only videos I found on YouTube that were "good" were ones in which Macy was turned into a girl and it was hard to use those videos to relate to, especially when it came to the song Macy sings "That Man Over There Is Santa Claus." I guess my advice really is to make YouTube your friend, but don't rely on it too much. Make the character your own.

2. Find Another Character To Relate Your Character To

For me, sometimes the best way for me to get to know the character better was to find another character from a movie, TV show or maybe another musical that I could relate to. For example, when I played Eugene in "Grease," I related Eugene to the stereotypical nerd, especially Steve Urkel from "Family Matters." I watched videos of how Urkel walked, talked and what faces he made in certain situations. I also used the Katy Perry music video "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" as a reference for Eugene as I used many of the facial expressions both Katy Perry and Kevin McHale use in the video for my performance. Another great example is when I portrayed Lieutenant Brannigan in "Guys and Dolls." I related the character to a Forensics teacher I had in high school who was a former police sergeant in New York City. I incorporated how my teacher would talk to us as students and related that to how Brannigan spoke to the other characters in the show. When I played the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz" and especially during the "graduation" scene in which the Wizard gives medals to the characters after they discover he isn't all that he seemed to be, I related the Wizard's characteristics to something I thought was unique: a game show host. I remember watching a behind-the-scenes video of "The Muppet Wizard of Oz" in which the actor who portrayed the Wizard, Jeffrey Tambor, spoke about how he saw the character as that of a game show host and I thought that was the perfect analogy for me to use to relate to the character even more during that particular scene. So basically my advice is, don't always worry so much about feeling like you must just relate to the exact character you're going to portray. Think about some TV and movie characters that remind you of your character and use it to your advantage.

3. Relate To The Character

I feel like one of the best pieces of advice I can give when it comes to character study is to relate to your character. How is your character like you? Would they dress the same way? Would they eat the same food as you? Do they talk the same way as you? If you met your character, would the two of you get along? When I portrayed Eugene in "Grease," although I don't really think of myself often as a nerd, I related to the fact that he is passionate about learning and I found that I've always been passionate about learning new things. Just as Eugene was a "wiz" in school, I was a "wiz" when it came to "The Muppets" or Disney movies. Try to find similar characteristics between you and the character you are portraying. I noticed many times I would worry too much about trying to be the character that I wouldn't really think about how I could better relate to the character.

4. Walk In Their Shoes

Sometimes the best way to portray the character is to be the character. Literally, think about what it would be like to spend a day "walking in their shoes." How would it feel to be Eugene and be teased by Danny or Kenickie? What would you do if you were R.H. Macy and you had to save your company's reputation by claiming "that man over there is Santa Claus?" If you were Jeff Barry in "Leader of the Pack," would you have divorced Ellie Greenwich? Spend a day in their shoes and you'll find a greater appreciation for the character, which will definitely come out in your performance. During my time as Eugene, I would come out during intermission alongside the girl who played Patty in the show to engage with the audience and sell raffle tickets to raise money for the theater. Being that I wanted the character to stay true to who he is and where he is from, I stayed in character the whole time. I remember one time, in particular, a girl asked me as Eugene if I had ever read "The Hunger Games." I told her I had no idea what that was, but that I did love going to the library before lunch time. Instead of saying the raffle tickets were for the theater, we promoted them as a way for us to raise money for our school dance. It's just important to fully embrace the role, but it's equally as important to not get to know the boundaries of separation between you and your character.

Now I hope my tips and tricks were helpful in some way. Again, this is personally what has worked for me and I understand everyone has their own ideas to how to better portray characters in musicals and plays. Best of luck with your own production. I hope you find the best way for you to portray your character and bring them to life on stage.