THE HERO’S JOURNEY by Sherry D Sutton
Extracted from Scene 2008- 09 March Issue 3
The Hero’s
Journey
Master class leader: Sherri D Sutton
Event: London 2 TaPS, 9-11 October 2008
Introduction
My own understanding of the hero’s
journey (hero being used like the word
lawyer and doctor, so that either gender
could be ascribed) has been a
fragmented, unclear, exciting and
enlightening process. Much like the
actual hero’s journey. I believe my journey
as an artist can be traced from my birth
and certainly it has been a challenge to
answer the call and continue the
adventure known as my life! I would
encourage everyone to relate the hero’s
journey to their own lives and certainly
look at how the basic structure of the
hero’s journey can be found in the stories
and myths from different cultures told
through many media in different genres
over millennia. From Shakespeare to
Spielberg, from fairytales to films the
story of the quest remains relevant. In
popular culture, Star Wars is the film
most obviously associated with the
hero’s journey but look at any film out of
Hollywood and you will see the same
elements that are present in the ancient
stories.
Perhaps the greatest writer and
scholar on the myth of the hero, Joseph
Campbell studied and wrote about
myths from around the world. Campbell
noticed that the origin of the myth did
not matter, it was essentially the same
story being retold. As a student of
psychologist Carl Jung, Campbell
understood that the characters in our
dreams are the archetypes that occur in
all myths and cultures.
If you use the hero’s journey as a
formula, then it will lead to a very rigid
and obvious structure. But, if you can
learn to use it as a pattern, a skeleton to
hang your story on, to help you problemsolve, to re-structure, change gender or
age, layer, or make symbolic, it will make
the story more interesting and less
predictable.
And remember: there is no
substitution for reading and researching
on your own. The resources listed here
are a great short list, and should be a
springboard into your process of learning
and research.
8 | Scene | 2008-9 March Issue 3
ACTIVITY A
Bringing the hero’s journey to life
Divide the ensemble into about 4-6
people per group (6 groups). Each group
will be assigned one part of the hero’s
journey in tableaux (usually a group will
end up with about 2 parts of the journey
each). Let each group show the entire
hero’s journey in tableaux, then add
breath to each image, then add
soundscaping, then dialogue. Have them
explore with different styles, song,
masks, puppets, etc...
The hero’s journey:
WOUNDED KINGDOM – Ordinary
World
UNLIKELY HERO – Call to Adventure
REFUSAL OF THE CALL
MEETING THE MENTOR
LEAVING HOME – Crossing 1st
Threshold
UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP – Allies
TEST OF SKILLS – Approach the
Innermost Cave
MEETING THE MONSTER –
Ordeal/Battle
REWARD – Seizing the Sword
CHASE SCENE – Road Back
FACED WITH DEATH – Resurrection
KINGDOM HEALED – Return w/Elixir
The group can decide what style,
form, tradition, etc... might be the best
way to tell the story. What social, political
or cultural connections can be made?
• Different groups can work on different
scenes
• What music or sounds can be
considered/not considered?
• Playwright(s) can write different sections
and flesh out beats of the story
ACTIVITY B
Creating a Story
The group sits in a circle and we use
the pattern of the hero’s journey to
create a story. I explain that we expect
our authors to take great care of a story
and we too must honor the story first.
We use a talking stick and whatever is
offered is incorporated into the story. The
following worksheet is also used to
strengthen our hero.
UNDERSTANDING OUR HERO
(TEMPLATE FOR WORKSHEET)
When:
Where:
What problem(s) exist which call for
a hero?
Prophecy?
Unusual conception/birth:
Unusual childhood?
Super powers:
Special friends/family:
Special gifts/knowledge:
Did hero have to leave home?
What was the challenge/quest?
Has hero been hurt by something in
his/her own personality?
Is hero immortal?
The Seven Archetypes by
Christopher Vogler
Hero: the hero is the main character
(MC), protagonist, whose purpose is to
leave the Ordinary World, answer the
call, complete the journey and restore
the Ordinary World. We (audience)
experience the journey through the
hero’s experience.
Mentor: anyone or thing that
provides help, training, motivation,
insights, etc... to the hero.
Threshold Guardian: protects the
Special World and its secrets from the
hero, provides tests to prove hero’s
worth and commitment.
Herald: issues challenges, a
message, and judgments, reports a
news flash, and/or announces the
coming of significant change. They can
appear at anytime, but usually appear in
the beginning to announce the call to an
adventure.
Shape shifter: misleads the hero by
hiding a character’s intentions and
loyalties.
Shadow: represents our darkest
desires, our untapped resources, or even
reject qualities. It can symbolize our
greatest fears/phobias. They may not be
all bad, and may even reveal admirable
or redeeming qualities. The hero’s
enemies are often Shadows. The
Shadow is a physical force determined
to destroy the hero and his cause.
Trickster: relishes the disruption of
the status quo, turns the Ordinary World
into chaos, they may not change in the
journey but the others are transformed
by their antics. The trickster uses
laughter and ridicule to make characters
see the absurdity of the situation, and
perhaps force a change.
ACTIVITY C
The Four Elements of a Story
(Discussion)
• Main character and his/her pattern
• Key relationship (same pattern, no
pattern, flip side of pattern)
• The adventure (measurable goal,
stakes, obstacles (internal, interpersonal, environmental))
• The final battle (the MC steps out of
his pattern against all odds
Exploration of story structure
Main Character (MC) has a
Pattern: a pattern is a rigid behavior that
affects the character or people in a
negative way, i.e. in Rain Man Tom Cruise
is greedy; Office Space is joyless; Whale
Rider (the main character has no pattern
but society has a pattern which is,
boys/men are the only leaders). In using
the term “main character” I mean it as the
person whom we see the journey through
with and not the “star” of the play.
Key Relationship (KR): the
dynamic between the key relationship and
the main character is the crux of the
entertainment. It is the meat of the
conflict. Often the key relationship will
have the same pattern: Wedding Crashers
(both are womanizers) and Leaving Las
Vegas (both are depressed addicts.) OR
they have the flip side of the pattern, i.e.
Conservative vs. Wild etc. like the Odd
Couple. In Cast Away, the character’s key
relationship is with the volleyball.
The Adventure: measurable goals.
Bad examples include to be successful,
to be happy, to find peace. Give the
character a specific goal that is active and
motivated. This should be answered with
a yes or a no. A good example would be
to get promotion. Measurable goals keep
the character active. Often their goal can
change and it happens when they step
outside of their pattern. In Rain Man,Tom
Cruise wants money, but then he just
wants his brother’s love at the end
The Final Battle: what is at stake?
Love, money, life, and death, being
yourself, integrity? Ideally we should feel
that there is no way the character can
achieve their goal. The obstacles are
that big.
If you hear the feedback: ‘This
character needs to be fleshed out or I
don’t care about the character’. Most
likely it is because they do not have a
measurable goal.
A story is: THE OVERCOMING OF
OBSTACLES TOWARD A DESIRED
GOAL!
This mantra is repeated throughout
the master class at random times.
The Hero’s Journey by Joseph
Campbell
Don’t get stuck in the “formula”, use
it as a pattern and think symbolically as
well.
• Ordinary World: Character in pattern
“enduring rather than enjoying life.”
• Call to Adventure: Character is
invited to do things differently.
• Refusal to the Call: Sometimes it is
not the main character that refuses.
Can just be a refusing energy.
• Meeting with the mentor: Anything
that provides guidance.
• Crossing the First Threshold: The
journey begins.
• Test, Allies, Enemies: Commitment
to the journey is tested. Sometimes a
team is recruited.
• Approach to the Innermost Cave:
Approaching danger, but the hero
survives it.
• Ordeal: Crisis, a brush with death...
• Reward: The reward could be an
insight, a new level of bonding or an
actual reward... money, the sword etc.
• The Road Back: Often time sensitive;
like a chase scene.
• Resurrection: An actual death or
spiritual death. Like the end of a
relationship, but is put back together.
• Return with the Elixir: How does the
journey end and how does it affect
others in the world?
I use films as opposed to plays to
help students understand contradictions
and story structure because students do
not seem to know the same plays, but
usually you can find a common film to
make a point. One can quite easily, for
example, use Shrek to exemplify the
hero’s journey.
Using the Hero’s Journey in Evolving
Relationships
Status Quo: Regular pattern (you
have to squeeze them tightly to get them
to change their pattern. Like the tube of
toothpaste that should be thrown out,
but you think you can get one more
squeeze worth.) Act I/beginning of Act II.
Disruption: Change in pattern (enter
a journey). Beginning of Act II.
Escalation: The point where the
relationship cannot go back to the way it
used to be. Somebody saves a life, they
sleep together etc. Often there are 2
escalations. X sees Y a different way and
Y sees X a different way. Mid or late Act II.
Separation: An actual separation.
End of Act II or beginning of Act III
Union: Back together or resolved.
Before, during or after battle.
ACTIVITY D
Beginning to write
After the group has done the physical
exploration with sound of the hero’s
journey, have each participant do a bit of
writing.
Freeing up your writing – the actual
act of writing is to WRITE!
Write for 5 min (as part of the
session). And encourage students to
write actually for 10 minutes everyday.
Start with this… without taking the pen
off the paper… set a timer and do not
stop! This helps with unlocking and
“writers block”. Sometimes I offer a
stimulus for everyone to write about
when we are first starting out.
Ideas...
• Interview your main character.
• Write from opposite point of view or
gender.
• Think out loud.
• Write everyday.
• Brainstorm ideas and write what you
saw vividly in your mind.
• Write the scene that is most vivid.
Have an emotional experience when
you write. Put yourself in the
character’s shoes. Put them in
different locations.
• Share ideas.
Some guidelines...
• With dialogue, half of what is said is
what people don’t say (subtext). What
do they do?
• The only time to use a flashback is
when you have many options to give
information and you think a flashback
is the best. If you feel that the
flashback is the only way then don’t
use it unless you have ruled out other
ways.
• Watch out for too much exploration.
• Less locations and less characters
may make for a strong story.
• Each supporting character is there for
a reason.
Why do we go to the theatre?
Human beings have a natural ability
to get over hurt. Babies emotionally
release all the time. But we repress and
repress. We are considered crazy if we
cry for more than four minutes. Theatre,
like film, helps us release through
laughter and tears.
We want to be entertained,
challenged, questioned, angered,
confronted, and awakened.
Understanding the many forms, styles,
traditions and movements of theatre can
only help you as an artist find the best
way to meet the needs of an audience.
Be prepared to produce your own
work, so research, understand your craft,
know your audience and learn the art of
Scene | 2008-9 March Issue 3 | 9
editing. One absolute way to fail is to quit.
A story is: THE OVERCOMING OF
OBSTACLES TOWARD A DESIRED
GOAL!
ACTIVITY E
Contradictions
Discuss the following contradictions
and then have participants discuss how
this would apply to the created story.
Contradictions make your story very
powerful. The contradiction to war is
love: i.e. The Sound of Music.
• Love and human connections.
• Contradiction to insecurity is being
powerful.
• Being yourself.
• Contradiction to the isms: ageism,
racism, classism, adultism, and
homophobia.
Resources
Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with
a Thousand Faces
Christopher Vogel’s book The Writer’s
journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
Professional storytelling: a network for
people who work in the field of oral
storytelling –
http://professionalstoryteller.ning.com/
http://orias.berkeley.edu/hero/sitemap.html
Monomyth home site. This is an excellent
site for teacher resources with 3 different
cultural stories from Africa – Sunjata;
India – Ramayana, Japan – Yamato.
www.divineparadox.com. Excellent
source for summarizing both Campbell
and Vogler’s understanding of the hero’s
Journey.
Video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyj8
mwNnQ1o There are numerous video
clips on YouTube that relate to the hero’s
Journey.
John Stephens Artistic Director of Theatre
Gael: theatregael@mindspring.com that
teaches workshops on THE HERO’S
JOURNEY
Michael Chase: artist/mask maker who
uses the hero’s journey
www.metaphysique.co.uk
The Hero’s Journey: The World of
Joseph Campbell (1987). Film
Carmen Deedy: Award winning storyteller
www.carmendeedy.com
Practitioner’s Pathway
I was in the 7th grade when I delved
into the craft of playwriting. I did not
know about Joseph Campbell or the
hero’s journey. I didn’t even like Star
Wars (George Lucas has made a fortune
by following Campbell’s ideas). But
growing up as a child of the South,
storytelling is in my blood. My play about
Harriett Tubman brought the classroom
to its feet (and with the inappropriate
help of shoe polish, I portrayed Harriett
10 | Scene | 2008-9 March Issue 3
Tubman). All I can say is that my heart
was in the right place and sometimes
ignorance is bliss.
In the 8th grade I began to explore
my own voice and wrote something
about aliens landing at my school. What I
remember the most about that piece
was not the writing, but building a huge
alien ship out of a refrigerator box that
was covered in aluminum foil…lots and
lots of foil. After building this massive
spacecraft, my best friend Robbin and I
realized we had no idea how we were
going to get it to school for the play. Our
great idea was that we would put the
spaceship on top of Robbin’s mom’s
station wagon, and then Robbin and I
would ride on top of the car and hold the
spaceship in place. Without any
objections from our parents or the
school, off we rode, holding the central
prop and hoping we, nor it, fell off along
the way. Hey, it was the 70’s people, no
seatbelt laws, so all I can say, is do not
try this at home or at school.
Sports became my top priority in high
school and so, one blown out knee later,
I ended up in an acting class at university
and began to hobble down my artistic
path for the next several years. Not long
out of college, I opened my own acting
studio in Rome, Georgia with the very
original name The Theatre Company and
wrote “Once Upon A Slipper” for a local
dance company. It was my first
adventure in physical theatre and I
wasn’t very good. But anyone crazy
enough to continue down this path will
hang on to the wise albeit overused
words of most kindergarten teachers,
“finish what you start,” “if at first you
don’t succeed, try, try again,” and
“practice makes perfect.”
I continued to explore my voice as a
playwright, but something was missing. I
had an intrinsic understanding of stories
but I needed more if I was actually going
to create work that an audience would
come and experience what these stories
teach us about being human.
From about 1993 to 1997, I worked
with the Academy Theatre where under
the direction of Frank Wittow, I was a
part of an ensemble that devised original
works based on social issues. While at
the Academy Theatre, I discovered many
different ways to devise. I am sure Frank
mentioned Joseph Campbell, but clearly
I wasn’t tuned in. I was, however, writing
a musical: The True Story of Barbie, but I
was struggling with the narrative.
In 1997, I found myself directing a
musical at the Atlanta International
School, where one little directing gig that
I took to pay some bills, ended up being
an eight year teaching job that allowed
me to grow as both an educator and an
artist. During that time the IB Theatre
course I was teaching challenged me
and I needed help; so in 1999, the
muses sent me Rob Warren and the
program finally had the balance it needed
to succeed. Together, Rob and I
explored other theatre traditions and we
brought in guest artists to help. One
artist in particular was John Stevens, the
artistic director of Theatre Gael. He did a
50-minute workshop on the hero’s
journey, and that something that was
missing had been found. My musical The
True Story of Barbie had new life.
As artistic director for the summer
theatre program ENCORE, my work with
the hero’s journey helped in the creation
of two original musicals Sur Le Pont and
Boat Boy The Musical! I worked with a
group of brilliant high school students
and amazing theatre professionals to
devise two fantastic pieces of theatre
based on a couple of French folktales.
In 2000 ISTA invited me to become a
staff member and since then I have
taught, directed, consulted and led
workshops all over Europe and Asia;
from Shakespeare's birthplace in
Stratford-upon-Avon to the Great Wall of
China in Beijing, working with ISTA has
been instrumental in my growth as an
artist. The numerous opportunities to
take master classes from some of the
best in their fields, to see productions,
and to work with some of the best
theatre practitioners in the world can not
be surmised here.
In 2004, I moved to the comedy
capital of the world, New York City, and I
have performed numerous times at
Caroline's, Comix, Gotham, New York
Comedy Club, The Improv, Wicked and
the Duplex. My one-woman show Don't
Make Fun of Jesus debuted in 2005 at
New York City’s Producer's Club and
went up again in 2006. Tara Brodin
produced and directed Don’t Make Fun
of Jesus at the 2008 Edmonton Fringe in
Canada. Most recently, I took a
screenwriting course in New York that
used the hero’s journey as the narrative
theme and was inspired to take my onewoman show and turn it into a
screenplay.
Tara and I have started our own
theatre company: BREAK-THE-WALLPRODUCTIONS. It is a devising
company that creates works that allow
for direct relationships between the actor
and the audience.
Thanks to the wonders of YouTube,
the incomparable Roseanne Barr found
me and invited me to be a guest on her
radio show in Las Vegas. As a
result, I opened for Roseanne
at Comix Comedy Club in New
York City!