Beating Broadway: How to Create Stories for Musicals That Get Standing Ovations

by Steve Cuden

Tricksters are full of monkey business and tomfoolery. Sometimes their mischief is goofy, comical, wacky, offbeat, and deflating. Tricksters serve to keep a hero’s inflated ego in check, or show him right from wrong in a funny way, or bring levity to an otherwise gloomy world. Generally tricksters relieve tension in a story. But sometimes their naughtiness can also be embarrassing, awkward, mean-spirited, dangerous, or even deadly. Their loyalty is often in doubt. Sometimes a trickster that appears to be an ally winds up being an agent provocateur working on behalf of the shadow. Tricksters are malleable and can change attitude or character on a dime. That’s what makes them “tricky.” It is the trickster’s ability to change his character and disposition so easily that makes him similar to the shapeshifter.