BagelProv

The following comes from Jane Espenson’s great scriptwriting blog

“…remember that your readers don’t necessarily know who the star of the show is. Help them out. Let your main character have the last line in a lot of the scenes. Give her the big jokes, too. Tell the readers more about her expressions and reactions throughout a scene than the other characters. All this stuff will make her seem to sparkle. And you won’t run the risk of having the readers focus mistakenly on some character you kill off in act two.

This might seem obvious, but it’s often the case that a secondary character, because he can be more broadly drawn, has the funnier point of view. It’s easy for that kind of character to get the last word all the time, and to highjack the script. Let them be funny, but make sure the spotlight stays on your star.

I think this can really hold true for long form improv as well, especially musicals.  I find it more fun to play the supporting characters or villians of musicals, because the main character is often pretty much pushed through the story by the other characters.  Because of this, I think those other characters have a responsibility to constantly set up the “hero” to actually be a hero.  When you get the audience’s attention, use it responsibility to put their eyes back on the character who really needs it, or to set them up to take the focus back themselves (the latter is especially fun to do as a villian).