Persona Creation

The first step in preparing to be a volunteer actor at renaissance faire is to develop a "persona". A persona is like a character in a play, with two main differences: it's based on history, rather than being purely a work of fiction, and you usually make up the details yourself, rather than relying on a script. Some people put a lot of effort into researching their persona, but whether you do or not, this section will give you a basic idea of what's involved, what you should know, and give you a place to start.

While the Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire is set in Scotland, your persona doesn't have to be Scottish. The first thing we are going to look at is where your faire character was from, the history of that region in the time period, and what life was like there. The next decision you will have to make is if you are going to play a peasant, middle class or noble character. From there we'll look at what life was like for each of these classes, and then discuss what kind of costume you will want for the kind of character you've chosen. After you've been through the persona creation section, you'll also probably want to look at both the basic information section, if you haven't already, and also browse the research section, particularly the articles on performing at renaissance faire. But for now, click on one of the regional choices below: