If your character is immortal like an element or a demon or angels. What should include in their character description like age and body. My friend wants to know and is worried since when he's looked on many stage play formats, it's mostly age and their occupation. For example, with Fire you can write Fire- Male teenager. Ancient. Is that it or can we just say Fire- Male Teenager. Sorry if it isn't making any sense. He just wants to know, also I will repeat sorry if it doesn't make any sense. Also, what can you place in their description just for help? Sorry for that, if you're offended, I am so sorry.
Playwriting uses those character descriptions to give the director and casting guy an idea of what to look for, and how to costume. If the character is an angel who is immortal but appears to be in his late thirties, then write "Appears to be in his late thirties." If there are strong visual indicators of their true nature -- wings, or bright orange / red clothing, or green skin, or a wizard's staff that glows -- those should also be included. Also, make sure the other characters respond appropriately. I mean, if orange / red clothing means the character is Fireborn and can sling magic around, other characters should treat her appropriately -- asking questions, or assuming she can help end a conflict because she can do magic, or wanting magical advice, or whatever. So the appearance is a part of the character, but it is also indicative of the character's status and power.
agreed! tell your friend to look at successfully produced play scripts and see how it's done... many can be found online... or at the neighborhood library...
It's not that mammamia, but the thing is when he writes humans in a play, he can writes age and job. As he looked through many scriptwriting help like playwriting 101. But the problem is he doesn't how to do it for immortals. He tried looking at other scripts like the Caretaker by Harold Pinter and Henrick Ibsen. Yet, he's still confused about what he should write for immortals.
If he feels it's an important detail, then of course he should write it with the character bio. But ultimately it's unimportant if the fact is not obvious from the text itself. The only people who will see the character bios are people involved in production. And they won't necessarily stick to it either. You only have to compare any two productions of a given play to see how drastically different directors will interpret the same text. What you write in the character bio might be completely disregarded if it is deemed irrelevant by the director. What can't be disregarded is the text itself, which directors cannot (well, should not) change. So rather than obsessing over whether to include it in the one line, rarely seen character bio, make sure it is obvious in the text itself.
