HOTEL DESK: A DRAMA GAME for KIDS
Creating Strong, Specific Characters

Actors adopt characters with clearly defined traits and interact with a hotel desk clerk in an improvised scene.

Step-by-Step Instructions

• Set up a “counter” on one side of the stage with two stacked blocks or a narrow table. Tell the students that the counter is the front desk at a hotel, and you will be playing the part of the hotel manager.

• Direct the students to adopt a strong character–with a specific age, attitude, background, and manner of speaking and walking. Then ask them to approach the desk from the far side of the stage one at a time as that character, with a problem that needs solving, e.g. they need more towels, they forgot a toothbrush, they need a new room key card, they’ve lost something, the plumbing isn’t working, they’ve damaged something in the room, they want to switch rooms because theirs is unacceptable in some way, etc. 

• When they reach the desk, they should interact with the hotel manage for a few sentences–long enough to reveal their character clearly and to get a response to their problem. 

• Stress that they should be in character before they enter, and remain in character until they have exited completely. Encourage them to take their time entering and leaving–and tell them they don’t have to speak immediately. They can reveal a lot about their character before they say anything. 

• After each student, ask the other students to describe what kind of character they observed.

Optional Version:

Have each student approach the hotel desk as a specific character and ask for a room key, without talking. The Hotel Desk Clerk responds, also without talking. Character is communicated simply with body language, facial expressions, and attitude.

MORE DRAMA GAMES AND THEATER ACTIVITIES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
CHARACTER PAINTING - Three character qualities are “painted” on an actor, who then demonstrates them.
SLEEPY COWBOY - Actors instantly create characters based on a single adjective and a randomly assigned vocation.
WALK THIS WAY - Actors practice moving as specific characters named by the game leader.

© 2023, Friends of the Groom Theater Company

Curtains Up Curriculum by Friends of the Groom Theater Co. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Curtains Up is a training program designed for young actors created by Friends of the Groom Theater Company.
It is available to the general public for free under the terms of the Creative Commons License above.