Why you need a character exit strategy

Having a character exit strategy 

As an actor, it’s your job to slip into the skin and mindset of another human being. Or perhaps another animal, alien, etc. Bottom line, the key to acting is to not be yourself.

So, it makes sense then to have a system or ritual, if you will, in place to help you get back to yourself, right? 

This is something that I believe is incredibly important as performers. So, I write about it a lot. Like here (LINK) back in January, where I delve into a few specific exercises.  

Just as you need to develop a way to get into your character before you step on stage or the cameras are rolling, you need an exit strategy.

Why is an exit strategy important

Let’s talk stress. 

Stress is everywhere. 

There’s a reason the WHO has named stress as the “health epidemic of the 21st Century.”

And let’s face it, adding a fictional character’s stressors to your plate may or may not be helping things. 

Sisters Drs. Amelia and Emily Nagoski wrote a phenomenal book called: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle.” 

In it, they specify that it’s how we deal with stress that is the problem, not the stress itself.

Which, as both humans and actors, is good news. 

They go on to explain the stress cycle and, how like a story, it has a beginning, middle, and an end. 

Frequently we get caught in the middle. 

We need an ending or exit strategy to complete the cycle, and there’s many ways to do it. 

Whether it’s in our lives or the character we play. 

But before we get to examples of ending the stress cycle, I want to share a moment where I found myself smack in the middle of a character’s stress cycle and how it affected my body.

The day my body thought I had asthma

The moment I realized how important a character exit strategy was well after I was finished performing. I was at home, relaxing with a cup of tea. 

I may have felt relaxed, but my body sure wasn’t. 

I’d been working as a standardized patient (SP) that day, which basically means playing a role with a health ailment and role-playing with medical students to give them a simulated patient encounter. 

I wrote a whole post about what I do as an SP, you can find it here.

The character this time was a woman who suffered from asthma. She’d come to urgent care and was amid an exacerbation.

She was wheezing and short of breath.

Now, we were trained how to wheeze (a strange thing to add to ones resume under special skills, but why not, right?) and were meant to simulate this when the student was performing their lung exam. 

So there I was, sitting on the edge of an exam table, simulating wheezing at a minimum of 6 times for each student. 

I saw 12 students over 3 days.

Needless to say, by the last student, I was a wheezing pro.

Great for my performance, bad for me once I walked out the door on day 3. 

See, when I was home, hours later, I found myself short of breath. 

Then I heard a strange sound coming from my chest.

My body was instinctively wheezing.

As though my body thought, “This is how we breathe now, yes?”

NO!!!

See, I didn’t have an exit strategy. 

Example exit strategies

So, what are some good exit strategies?

It doesn’t have to take long. 

But, honestly, it may depend on the role. 

As with anything in our actor toolboxes, we have to customize our process to a degree for each role.

That being said, even a one-minute exit strategy could do wonders. 

Exercises such as box breathing, listening to some of your favorite music, and stretching are great ways to ground yourself after a heavy performance. 

Other ideas include working out (even if it’s just 5 jumping jacks or an exercise of your choice), meditation, shower, or bath. 

Experiment, see what works best for you.

Some other examples are found in this article that delves into the Nagoski sisters work.

So, is there a time frame for this? Perhaps you want to go hang out with the rest of the cast afterward, or you have a long commute home.

From personal experience, I’ve found that I’m good as long as I have completed my exit strategy before going to sleep that night. 

Bottom line, it’s essential to carve out and plan some wind-down time for yourself. 

The other side of the coin

I’d like to be clear that talking about stress in performance doesn’t mean we can’t use it to our advantage. 

By playing a character who goes through a harrowing situation isn’t all bad. 

Studies have also shown that experiencing fears in a controlled environment (like a play or on set) can help process our emotions and provide a sort of catharsis.

It gives us an outlet, as long as we’re aware that’s what we’re doing. 

By doing what we do as actors, there always ends up being a piece of us in our roles. 

Perhaps, there are times where we can leverage specific roles and scenes to our advantage to work through some of our own struggles.

Maybe you have a complicated relationship with your mom, and you’re playing a character with a similar dynamic. On top of that, you, for whatever reason, are unable to have closure or a meaningful conversation with your mom. 

But your character does. 

By playing through those scenes and moments, they may offer you as an actor some relief. 

So, regardless of how you work with your character’s stress, make sure you’ve got an exit route.