While watching the Thanksgiving day parade from the comfort of my living room couch, I reminisced over the years that have passed and all of the sixteen Thanksgivings I have experienced… including the year I was given the opportunity to be a parade character performer. Let me tell you, that job is not as easy as you would expect. To date, it has been one of the most challenging performing opportunities I have encountered.
Being that I live in Detroit, Michigan, I usually tune into “America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” (which takes place in Downtown Detroit) to start my Thanksgiving morning. It’s a huge parade put on by “The Parade Company“, and it’s quite a celebration. Growing up, I had a friend whose mother worked for this organization, and about two years ago, she asked me to don a character suit for the day. Of course, I said a huge “yes”.
I had no idea how strenuous my day would be.
These character performers have to get up EARLY. I had to arrive Downtown, ready to suit-up at about 6:00 AM. This is quite a challenge for a 14-year-old on a holiday break. I checked into the building and was presented with my costume for the day. It was unlike anything I had ever worn on stage before. This outfit was far beyond the usual tights and character shoes that I was used to. This included complex layers and layers of fabric, used to transform me into none other than TV-star, Caillou. (This isn’t a picture of me in the costume, but it’s exactly what it looked like.) Even though there was snow falling outside, I had to wear shorts and a tank top to keep from over-heating.
Luckily, I had an “easy” day. I wouldn’t be walking in the parade itself, but I would be a character for the “Breakfast with the Kids” event, where young children and their families can reserve a spot and eat a huge feast with their favorite TV characters before the parade begins. I was giving my prayers of thanks, as it was extremely difficult to walk as Caillou. The costume was surprisingly heavy. To top it off, I could only see through the mouth of the costume, something my theater experience also hadn’t prepared me for. Breathing was also quite hard in the large mascot head, and I had to take breaks every 20 minutes or so to catch my breath. I have NO idea how the performers in the actual parade can dance for hours on floats in their costumes without being able to take a break. (It’s not like Garfield the cat can remove his head on live TV, in front of hundreds of thousands of children.)
I spent my day with my “buddy”, an un-costumed guide who spoke everything for me. I was not allowed to utter a word, nor directly converse with my buddy, so I had to brush up on my improv skills. Like performing on stage, character study had to be done in order to learn Caillou’s poses and mannerisms. If a child asked about his cat, Gilbert, I had to move in a way that showed that “I missed him while he was at home”, without any facial expressions or words. I found this to be extremely challenging, but it really helped me build skills I need for the stage. Like theater performing, character performing uses large motions to exaggerate movement and make actions noticeable to the audience. I also learned how to respond to phrases better through body movements, something I had never consciously thought about much on stage.
Although my Thanksgiving day was filled with sweat, panting, and enough exercise to burn off the Thanksgiving dinner I would have later that evening, my experience as a parade performer strengthened many skills I use on stage today.
Now I never underestimate the power of a character in a suit.
To this day, if I’m trying to find a sufficient reaction to a line for use on stage, I channel my inner-parade-performer and ask myself, “WWCD?- What would Caillou do?”