The musical you'll see on stage at CST features characters originally created by Roald Dahl. In his book, Mr. Dahl included descriptions of his characters so that you can have a picture of them in your head as you read. Before the story even begins, he introduces us to the five children in his story this way:

There are five children in this book:

August Gloop: a greedy boy
Veruca Salt: a girl who is spoiled by her parents
Violet Beauregarde: a girl who chews gum all day long
Mike Teavee: a boy who does nothing but watch television
and
Charlie Bucket: the hero

Using just these descriptions, can you:

1. draw a picture of one of these characters?
2. imagine things that character might say at home? At school? What does your character's voice sound like?
3. decide how each character would walk?

If That Was Fun…
Think about how your character might be played onstage at CST! What will his costume look like? What prop will she want to have with her? Compare your predictions to the choices you see the actors make when you come to the theater!

There is also a description of Willy Wonka himself at the beginning of Chapter 14 in Mr. Dahl's book. Part of that description is included here: "He kept making quick jerky little movements with his head, cocking it this way and that, and taking everything in with those bright twinkling eyes. He was like a squirrel in the quickness of his movements, like a quick clever old squirrel from the park."

Using just that bit of the description from the book, can you answer the questions you answered about one of the children featured in the story? How do the choices you make compare with the choices you see on stage at CST? What is different? What's the same?