Theater Games

 

For Teachers and Directors

 

 

     WARM UPS                 page #      difficulty                      skills

Word Association	4	easy	spontaneity, listening
Rant	4	medium	projection, sharing focus, confidence
3 Line Scenes	4	medium	conveying information, miming
3 Word Scenes	4	easy	conveying information, miming
Not Doing What I’m Doing	4	easy	concentration
Yes, And	5	easy	agreement
Executive Meeting	5	easy	agreement, brainstorming
Straight Face	5	medium	not breaking character
Character Circle	5	medium	characterization
Hitchhikers	5	easy	characterization, accents
Sound and Motion Circle	6	easy	freedom, voice
Do Wop	6	difficult	cooperation, listening, music
Emotional Symphony	6	medium/difficult	cooperation, listening, music
Mime Ball	6	easy	miming, imagination
Invocation	7	medium	spontaneity, projection
EXERCISES
Machine	7	easy	cooperation, physicalization
Character Objects	7	medium	characterization, miming
Specifics	7	medium	giving specifics
Character Mill	8	medium	characterization
Life Span	8	medium	characterization (physical)
Environment Reactions	8	easy	miming, acting, building reality
Environment Building	8	medium/difficult	miming, building reality
Emotion Scenes	8	medium	acting
Waiting to Speak	9	medium	listening, pace
Mime to Speak	9	medium	listening, miming, pace
Touch to Speak	9	medium	listening, pace
Character Opposition	9	medium/difficult	characterization, scene building
Status Switch	9	medium/difficult	characterization, scene building
Mirror	9	easy	physicalization, concentration
Contact Improv	10	easy/medium	cooperation, physicalization
Secret Motives	10	medium	acting
Question Scenes	10	medium	concentration, acting
Tableau	10	easy	staging, physicalization
The Door	11	medium	acting, miming
GROUP GAMES
Personal Relations	11	difficult	characterization, story building
Typewriter	11	difficult	story building, acting, cooperation
Freeze and Justify	12	medium/difficult	physicalization, cooperation
Newscaster	12	medium	shifting focus, characterization
Day in the Life	12	medium/difficult	acting, genre work
Movie Critics	12	medium/difficult	acting, shifting focus
Historical Inventions	13	advanced	cooperation, making connections
Slide Show	13	medium	physicalization, imagination
Character Displacement	13	difficult	building scenes, acting
6 PERSON GAMES
Cocktail Party	14	medium	making connections, listening
Cocktail Scenes	14	medium/difficult	connections, listening, acting
Hidden Titles	14	medium	acting, shifting focus
Comic Book	15	medium/difficult	physicalization, cooperation
Restaurant Switch	15	medium	connections, listening, characters
4 PERSON GAMES
Foreign Film	15	easy	physicalization, cooperation
Dubbing	15	easy	imagination, cooperation
Conscience	16	easy/medium	subtext, acting
Movers	16	easy	physicalization, cooperation
Silly Sports Event	16	medium	enthusiasm, vocalization, miming
Object Game	16	medium	imagination, spontaneity
3 PERSON GAMES
Lay-Sit-Stand	16	easy/medium	physicalization, acting
Flashback	16	difficult	building story, cooperation
Forward/Reverse	17	medium/difficult	concentration, memory
Half-Life	17	medium	concentration, memory
Pivotal Moment	17	difficult	concentration, imagination
Emotional Positions	17	medium	concentration, physicalization
3 Headed Psychiatrist	17	easy	cooperation, voice
3 Headed Broadway Star	18	medium	cooperation, voice, music
Lines from a Hat	18	easy/medium	spontaneity, incorporating
2 PERSON GAMES
First Line/Last Line	18	medium	incorporating, scene building
One through Five	18	advanced	concentration, memory, acting
In-With-While	18	medium	acting, incorporation
Musical Scenes	18	advanced	cooperation, music
Sound Effect Scene	19	medium	incorporation, acting, miming
Rule Games
Alphabet Scene	19	easy/medium	concentration
Question Scene	19	easy/medium	concentration
Limited Words	19	easy/medium	concentration
2 PERSON LIST GAMES
Different Emotions	19	medium	characterization, acting
Famous Pairs	19	medium	characterization, acting
Different Words	19	medium	characterization, acting
Genre Switch	19	medium	characterization, genre work
Old Job/ New Job	20	medium	incorporation, acting, miming
Mixed Media	20	medium	incorporation, scene building
Directors Cut	20	medium/difficult	cooperation, incorporation
Cues	20	medium/difficult	concentration
STOP ACTION GAMES
Missing Person	21	difficult	specifics, acting
Crime Scene	21	advanced	memory, incorporation, acting
Should Have Said	22	medium	spontaneity, saying unexpected
Choose Your Own Adventure	22	difficult	imagination, acting
ENDOWMENTS
Police Confession	22	medium	guessing, acting
Super Hero Endowments	22	medium	guessing, acting
Inconvenience Store	22	easy/medium	guessing acting, miming
Hope Shopping Network	23	medium/difficult	guessing, acting, miming
Party Host	23	easy/medium	guessing, acting, characterization
Historical Dance-O-Rama	23	medium	guessing, dancing, cooperation
Dating Game	24	medium	guessing, characterization
GROUP LINE GAMES
181	24	difficult	word play
World’s Worst	24	easy	spontaneity, quickness
Limerick	24	difficult	rhyming, quickness
Radio Show	24	difficult	shifting focus, spontaneity
Conducted Story	25	medium	listening, cooperation, spontaneity
One Word Story	25	easy	listening, cooperation, spontaneity
RULES FOR IMPROV	25

 

 

 

Warm Ups

 

Word Association

The actors form a circle, and starting with a random suggestion go around the circle saying the first word that comes into their head after hearing the previous word. 

Variations:  1. have the actors skip a link, thinking of one association silently, then associating that word with another word, which they will say out loud.  2.  have some kind of a ball which the actors throw around the circle, and whoever catches it should say the first word that comes to mind.  This can also be done with pointing.  3.  The actors can sing their words, or combine them with some kind of motion. 

Hints:  the actors should associate the words without thinking, as quickly as possible.  Their answers don’t have to be “correct” or related to the previous word in some intelligible way.  The point of the exercise is to reduce self-censorship and develop automatic response.

 

Rant

A word or topic is given.  In a line, all actors start speaking at once, “ranting” about the suggestion.  They can say whatever they choose about the topic, as long as they pretend to feel very, very strongly.  After a while, one actor will step forward, signaling the others to stop.  The actor who stepped forward continues his rant while the others listen.  When he steps back in line everyone begins again, continuing their old rants or beginning something new inspired by the speech of the actor.  Another actor steps forward, and the process repeats.

 

3 line scenes:

A good way to start is having all of the actors walk around the stage, exploring the space.  Whenever two people’s eyes meet, they do a short scene consisting of three lines.  As soon as a pair starts their scene, everyone else freezes until the lines are finished.  Variations: 1.  have all the performers stand in a circle, and choose two to begin the first scene in the middle.  When they are done, they go back in the circle, each one tagging another actor for the next scene.  2. two lines facing each other, actors do the three line scenes then move to the back.  Hints: they want to practice giving as much information as possible with very few words.  In three lines they should convey who they are, where they are, what their relationship is, and what is happening in the scene.  The lines themselves should be short, no more than 10 or 15 words.

 

3 word scenes

Same as 3 line scenes except the actors are only allowed one word at a time.  It is a good exercise in conveying information with the body and face rather than with the voice.  Actors should be encouraged to take long pauses between the words to give non-verbal clues as to what is going on, and also to consider what the most effective word will be.  Variations:  1.  if the performers have trouble making these scenes “slow” enough, you can give them a rule that they can only say the next word after you clap, which allows you to control the length of time in between the words.  2.  extend the scenes beyond three words, to 5, 7, or unlimited, but still having them speak one word each in turn.

 

Not doing what I’m doing

A simple game where the actors stand in a circle and one starts miming a simple action (e.g. brushing their teeth, flying a kite) and the person to their right asks them what they are doing.  They respond giving any answer except what it is they are actually doing.  The actor who asked the question then starts miming this new action, the person to the right asks what they are doing and the process repeats.  Variation:  to make the game more difficult, get two letters of the alphabet, and these must be the initials of whatever actions they choose (e.g. I,J: Ignoring January, Iguana Juggling, Impaling Jaguars).

 

Yes, and

“yes, and” is the golden rule of improv: agreeing with what another actor says and then adding to it.  The actors should work in pairs.  One actor makes a statement or observation, such as, “this summer is hot” and then their partner says “yes, and…” elaborating on or modifying the statement, e.g. “yes, and there have been earthquakes”.  Variation:  playing the game in a circle or with two lines.  You can also play “yes, but”.

 

Executive Meeting

Sitting in a circle, the actors will be developing a kind of ad campaign, or marketing strategy for some new product.    For less advanced performers, you may need to give them objectives to come up with, such as a slogan, a jingle, and a celebrity to endorse the product.  The main rule of the game is that no matter what any of the “marketing executives” say, it is responded to as if it were the best idea in the world.  Like in the “yes, and” game, no matter how stupid the suggestion is (and in this case the stupider the ideas are the funnier the game will get), it is immediately accepted and added to.

 

Straight Face

The object of this game is to avoid breaking character.  The actors are allowed to say anything they want in the scene, but are not allowed to smile, laugh, or speak in any tone of voice but one of serious melodrama.  The scene is best started with a suggestion of a dramatic situation, such as two sisters meeting at their father’s grave, or two lovers proclaiming their feelings for the first time.  No matter what happens, the performers must act as if the scene is incredibly serious, while trying to force the other actor to break character.  You can play it where as soon as an actor drops his “straight face” they are replaced by another, and the scene continues.  Variation:  have the characters perform a straight face scene, but speaking in gibberish.

 

Character Circle

            The actors stand in a circle.  One of them goes to the middle and starts “doing” a character, speaking and moving as an imaginary person (if you wish you can give them a random word to start speaking about).  Another actor comes in and tries to match the character, speaking and acting in the same way.  They can have a short dialogue, and then the original actor leaves.  The new actor stops, becomes neutral and then assumes a different character, preferably one as unlike the previous as possible.  Another actor comes in to match that character, and so on.  Variation:  an actor enters the circle, acting neutral.  The other performers start asking him or her questions.  They can be simple at first, such as name, age, where they are from, but they should quickly become more interesting as a character develops from the answers the actor gives.  Asking the right questions will help the character form quickly.  Once an actor has a well defined character, they can step back in the circle, and ask questions from then on as their character.

 

Hitchhikers

            A car is imagined on stage—it is possible to use chairs for the seats, or simply to stand as if they were in an automobile.  At the beginning, only one person is in the car.   A “hitchhiker” appears (the car should stay motionless and the hitchhiker approach it as if the car were getting closer), who has a very distinct attribute, either an accent, emotion, mannerism, or some other characteristic.  The driver, as soon as the new actor enters the car, starts behaving the same way, taking on the attribute of the hitchhiker.  They continue driving, until another hitchhiker appears, with a different attribute, and this time both of the previous actors take on the new characteristic as the hitchhiker enters the car.  This can continue for as many hitchhikers as you have, or however much room there is in the car.  Variation: the actors can decide before hand what characters/emotions/attributes they will have.

 

Sound and Motion Circle

            The performers stand in a circle.  One of them (probably choose the most outgoing or comfortable member of the troupe) walks through the circle, making some kind of a short repeatable physical movement, such as flapping her arms like a bird, and making some kind of nonsense noise, such as “whoo, whoo, whoo”.  Since this is primarily an exercise to loosen up the performers, the sillier you can convince the actors to be, the better.  The actor, when she reaches the other side of the circle, will “tag” another performer, who will go halfway across the circle doing the same sound and motion.  Once the new actor gets to the middle of the circle she will change the sound and motion into something new, and the next person she tags will do the same thing, until everyone has gone.  The motions the actors use do not have to be mimes of anything in particular, as long as they are moving and making noise in an original way.

 

Do Wop

Do Wop is more of a concept than an individual game, and the possible variations are endless.  Basically, it is any kind of improvised loosely structured creation of music.  Some of the more musically inclined actors will probably respond strongly to the game, and others may be more reluctant to participate, but the game is such that anyone will be able to contribute something.  The best place to start is with a rhythm, and no matter what happens in the do wop session, as long as it is in rhythm it will be somewhat successful. Have one or two of the actors stomp or clap at a steady pace.  After this, the next layer to add is “bass lines”.  These can either have words or simply be sounds, but they should involve the voice.  The thing to stress is that the bass lines should be short and repeatable musical patterns, a measure or two at the most—and they should fit together.  The actors should start simply, and then try more complex patterns as they grow more comfortable.  The next step is to add lyrics.  As usual, a word suggestion can be used to get them started, and then the bass lines can be created with phrases related to the word.  For a more advanced session, the actors can step forward and take turns singing solos, or verses of the song, over the bass lines sung by the other actors.

 

Emotional Symphony

            This is a variation of “do-wop”, with a little more structure to help less advanced actors (or more timid singers).  The actors stand in a line or circle, and either the director or one of the actors will be the “conductor”.  Each actor, or member of the symphony will have an emotion assigned to them, such as fear rage, or ecstasy.  A word suggestion is given, and this will be the topic of a song, with each of the actors singing in the style of their emotion.  Each of the different parts should really consist of a single short line repeated over and over, corresponding with the given emotion.  For example, if the suggestion is “shoe” and the actor’s emotion is “rage” then he/she could shout the line “get your shoes off the table” repeatedly, hopefully in rhythm with the other parts.  Rather than all of the actors singing their parts at once, it is the job of the conductor to point to them and bring their “instruments” into the song.  As the group becomes more used to the game, the conductor can also adjust the volumes of the different parts, organize solos, duets, crescendos, and the actors can improvise more with their parts and work off of each other.

 

Mime Ball

            In order to practice their skills in miming, the students can stand in a circle facing each other and create an imaginary ball that they will toss back and forth.  All of the actors should be aware of where the ball is at any given time, and should be careful not to “split” it between two people or have it disappear in midair because someone wasn’t paying attention.  After they are comfortable with this exercise, they can experiment changing the weight, size, or even stickiness of the ball before they pass it to someone else in the circle.  Next, the game can be changed so that the ball doesn’t remain a ball at all, but rather is changed with each actor that receives it into a new mimed object.  One actor could change it into a Frisbee and toss it to another, who might change it into a skateboard and ride it to someone else.  It is important that the ball is shaped with the hands in a way that makes it clear what it has become, otherwise the next actor to have it won’t know what it is that they have.  Another addition that makes the exercise fun is to allow all of the actors in the circle except the one with the ball to produce “sound effects”, the noises the object makes as it is changed, bounced, thrown, etc.

 

Invocation

            A rather silly exercise, but one that can be useful to gather focus and energy.   The troupe gets the suggestion of a word from the audience, like “spinach”.  The troupe then proceeds to do a “do wop” (see above) but with more chanting than singing.  Rather than doing solos, the team members step forward and evoke “spinach” in as formal and inflated language as possible.  For example, in a serious voice, an actor could say, “Oh Spinach, thy leaves are green, and thou givest great strength to Popeye”.  Each actor gives a similar invocation, and to end the exercise the volume of the background chanting rises and is cut off abruptly. 

 

Machine

            A good warm up for actors who don’t know each other or who are not yet entirely comfortable on stage.  The first performer comes on stage and does a repeatable motion and an accompanying sound.  An example would be bending down and standing up, and saying, “wooo, wooo, wooo”.  This is the first component of a machine.  The next actor comes and does a motion and sound that somehow “fits” in with the first.  The rest of the actors join one after another, adding parts to the machine, all of which should be connected in some way.  To end the game you can tell the machine to go faster and faster until it overheats and explodes.

 

Exercises

Character Objects

            Have the actors spread out on stage, and then visualize an object in the space in front of them.  The object for each actor should be larger than a football, but small enough to be movable.  After they see the object clearly, they should “touch” their object, feeling it’s weight and turning it over (if possible)  in their hands.  The next step is for them to develop some kind of a character or attitude based on their object.  If the object is an umbrella, they could be a businessman off to work on a rainy day.  If it is a cowboy hat, they could be at a rodeo.  Encourage them to move around the stage, without speaking, in their new character.  After a few minutes, tell the actors to encounter another character and find some way that the two objects and their owners can interact.  For example, the businessman could close his umbrella and put the cowboy hat on top of it, and then treat it as if it were a person.  All this should be done without speaking.  They can then move on to another character.  When the exercise is over, the actors can discuss what their objects were, how they influenced their character, and what the different interactions were.

 

Specifics

            The actors perform a scene, but whatever they mention must be spoken about using as many specific details as possible.  For example, instead of saying, “I’m going to pick up my son from school,” they would say, “I’m going to pick my son Matt, who’s in the fifth grade, up from Blue Oaks Grade School in my Honda Civic, because he has baseball practice with Coach Framps at 4:30.”

 

 

 

Character Mill

            This is an exercise for the creation and development of characters.  Wandering around the stage, the actors are told to concentrate on a certain part of their body, such as their shoulder, chin, or hips, and see how this affects their walking and their movement.  They should experiment with different effects this has on how they feel and what kind of a character might move this way.  Using this as a starting point they can develop specific mannerisms, a personality, and a way of speaking.  Every character they come up with should be given a name, to use as a touchstone to return to later.  Once each actor has a character, you can move on to other scenes are games using these characters to flesh them out even further.  Variations:  instead of using parts of the body, it is possible to begin with words, emotions, animal pantomimes, names, or occupations.  Hint:  try and discourage the actors from doing impersonations of characters they have seen before, since these will be more superficial than original creations.

 

Life Span

            The actors lie down on different areas of the stage.  Instruct them to clear their minds, and push aside for the moment any thought of who or where they are.  Tell them to imagine they are a one month old infant who is recognizing his or her name being spoken for the first time.  Whatever name they imagine themselves hearing is the name of their character for the exercise.  Next they should imagine being one year old. They should try and think, as much as possible, like an infant.  Continue, slowly, with 2,3, and four years of age.  As they are learning to speak, they should begin to have some idea what kind of person they are.  As more years are counted off, they can think of important events that happen in their character’s lives, and the effect this has.  They can speak about them in character.  The life continues, in increments of five years or so, and the way the character moves, thinks, and acts, should develop as he or she ages.  Eventually the actors can decide how and when the characters “die”, and drop out of the game.  When it is finished, to avoid leaving your actors depressed, they can run the lives backwards again so everyone ends with birth.

 

Environment reactions

The actors move around the stage, and the director calls out different environments for them to imagine themselves in.  For example they could be in:  a minefield, a giant pool of pudding, a tornado, a classroom, a bullfight, a busy street, etc…

 

Environment building

            The actors stand by the sides of the stage leaving a large clear space in the center.  Without speaking, one actor enters the area and in some way establishes an aspect of an imaginary environment.  It can be a solid object, such as a chair or a door, or can be an intangible aspect of the place such as temperature.  The actor does the least amount of miming possible to effectively establish something about the environment then leaves.  The next actor comes in and interacts with or re-expresses the last thing added to the room, and then adds one of their own.  Every performer who follows tries to express all of the previous aspects of the environment and then add one of their own. 

 

Emotion scenes

            This is a simple exercise where short scenes are derived from two different emotions assigned to the actors.  The characters begin the scene (it may help to also begin with a given location) using the emotion to generate ideas for the rest of the scene: their attitude, relationship, and the actual events.

 

Waiting to speak 

            The principle is the same for this exercise as for three line scenes, intended to slow down the pace of the scene and give actors a chance to consider the lines before they are spoken.  The director or an actor not in the scene watches the movements of the actors, and claps when they think it is time for one of the characters to speak.  The actors are not allowed to say anything until the next clap occurs, and the pauses between the lines should be as long as possible, forcing the actors to fill in the extra time with physical characterization, expressions, and non-verbal communication.

 

Mime to speak

Performing some kind of an ordinary scene, the actors are given a rule that they for every line, they have to “discover” an object in the environment.  The suggestion for the scene can be a non-geographical location.  If the location is a kitchen, then the first actor to speak might go and open a window before saying their line.  The second actor could mime a cup of coffee.  The first could then offer them sugar.  The object for every line they say has to be different.  This slows down the pace of the scene and also gives them practice with miming.

 

Touch to speak

            Same as the previous two exercises except that the actors in the scene are not allowed to speak until they are touched somehow by the actor they are on stage with.  This forces them to take time in between the lines, and also to think of excuses to work physical contact into the scene.  The touches should seem natural, part of what is going on, and not forced.

 

Character Opposition

            The larger the differences that exist between characters in a scene, the more successful the scene can be.  These can be differences in ways of speaking, in ways of moving, or in their emotions.  Two actors begin a scene, with one as the initiator.  The initiator begins the scene as a very definite character, with a strong attitude, emotion, accent, or all of the above.  The other actor in the scene tries to play a character as opposite of the first character as possible. If the first character is a very slow, sleepy old man, for example, the other actor could play a hyperactive young child. 

 

Status switch/ Emotion switch

Before the scene starts, the two actors decide which will be playing a “high status” character, and which a “low status” character.  High status characters will be people who are in positions of power, who are respected, feared, or looked up to, such as a boss, a king, or a mother.  Low status characters are the opposite, and can be ordered, ignored, or insulted with freedom.  These characters could be servants, fools, or children.  The two actors, after having decided this will begin a scene which makes as clear as possible their differences in status.  At some point, either halfway through or at a signal from the director, the actors will try and slowly have their positions in status become reversed.  For example, a worker abused by his superior could reveal that he has blackmail material putting the boss at his mercy.  By the time the scene is over they should be completely reversed.  Variation:  assign two completely opposite emotions to the actors, such as “love” and “hate” or “excitement” and “boredom”, and the actors perform the scene and switch emotions by the end. 

 

Mirror

A very simple physical exercise, good for focus and building teamwork.  The troupe gets into pairs, standing close and facing one another.  The actor who starts gets in some kind of a position, and his or her partner “mirrors” the position, as if they were a reflected image.  Very slowly, the original actor starts to move, and their partner tries to mimic their actions as exactly as possible.  The movements should be fluid, and the expressions of the actors should also reflect one another.  After a while, the other actor can take the lead and the original can follow.  To make the exercise more challenging, the actors can try and switch of leading one another without speaking, but with enough fluidity that an observer wouldn’t be able to tell who the leader is or when they switch.

 

Contact Improv

A very versatile exercise, easily incorporated into other games and shows where a visual effect is called for.  If possible, music usually adds a lot to exercises in contact improv.   The easiest way to begin is in pairs like the mirror exercise, but when the first actor takes a position, instead of the second actor mirroring the position he or she will take a position around the first, filling the negative space created by the first position.  There is no wall separating the two actors, and the actors should try and stay close without actually touching.  At first, rather than fluid movements you should have them go from one frozen pose to another, taking turns changing positions around the other.  The poses can imply some kind of a scene or relationship, but this isn’t a necessity.  Next, have two pairs work this exercise with each other, two actors changing position at a time.  Experiment with variations, such as all of the actors on stage in positions together, each with a number, and call out the numbers of the actors you want to switch positions.  Also, the same exercise can be done with continuous movements, rather than fixed poses, but the actors should move very slowly for this to be effective.  You will discover that when done correctly this exercise begins to resemble dancing.  Variation:  rather than all of the actors staying in isolated space, tell them that at all times they have to be in contact with at least one other actor, which will cause interesting problems of supporting one another’s weight.  The positions should interesting, involving the entire body, rather than just hands and feet.

 

Secret Motives

            Before the scene begins, the two actors are told individually, without the other hearing, one thing they will try and get the opposite actor to do in the course of the scene.  For example, one actor can be told that she should try and get the other character to touch her left ear.  The game consists of both actors trying to think of ways to get the other to do the assigned thing, without coming out and saying what it is.  When the game is over, the actors can try and guess what each other’s “secret motives” were.

 

Question scenes

            This exercise also works well as a game, and in fact has been used as the basis for entire improvised plays.  Rather than getting the suggestion for the scene before it starts, the ideas will be developed with the help of the audience while the scene is progressing.  At any time after the scene has started, a team member not involved in the scene can shout “freeze” and then ask one of the characters a question, such as “who are you” “how do you feel about this person you are with” or “what did you have for lunch”.  The actor answers the question in character, and when the scene begins again they should use the information somehow in developing the scene.  Variation:  instead of asking questions, the audience can simply tell the actors things about themselves or about the situation, like “you just robbed a bank, and are nervous the police will show up”.  The actors watching the scene should be careful to let those in the scene work with the information given, and not interrupt to soon or to often with another suggestion.

 

Tableau

            The actors will be constructing a Tableau, or photograph, based off of a suggested title.  One by one, the performers will enter the stage space and form elements of the frozen scene.  These need not be actual characters, but could include also furniture, animals, or other inanimate objects.  By the time it is completed, the tableau should tell imply some kind of a story.   This is an excellent exercise to teach, or review, principles of staging, such as facing the audience, not blocking lines of sight, and forming visual levels on the stage.

 

The Door

            This is an exercise in pairs.  One actor will be on the inside of an imaginary door, and the other will be on the outside.  The one who is outside wants to get in, and the one who is inside doesn’t wants to keep the other out.  When the exercise starts the outside character will come to the door with some kind of reason why they should be let in (they came to check a gas leak, or they are an old friend visiting) and the inside character will think of reasons why they should not be let in (they have a wood stove, or the friend was responsible for their husband’s death).  They then go back and forth trying to outdo one another coming up with ingenious reasons why the outside character should or should not be let in.  It is important that although they are arguing, neither character denies something the other said.  For example, if a character says, “I’m Santa Claus, let me in,” the other character shouldn’t say, “no, you aren’t Santa Claus,” but rather something like, “I’m Jewish.”  A “yes, but” answer is always more interesting than a simple denial.

Group Games

 

Personal relations

The actors start with a word, and then one of them steps forward and delivers a monologue as a character, who is related somehow to the word.  They are not acting out a scene, but only speaking as the character would.  When the first performer steps back, another comes forward as a different character, but one related somehow to the first.  They could be another family member, the character’s psychiatrist, a person they saw on the street, etc.  The next actor gives a monologue as another character related to one of the previous two, and the game continues, building up a web of related characters and some kind of a story connecting them.  If an actor delivers a second monologue, it should be as the same character they were before.  A good way to end the game is when the first character returns and finishes by tying everything together.

 

Typewriter

            play:  One of the actors will be “writing” the script for a play while the other performers will be acting it out as it is written.  The playwright will mime typing (it is a fun addition to have one of the actors play the typewriter, kneeling in front of the typist and making click-clack noised while the typist types on his head) and provide everything in the script except for the dialogue of the characters.  When he gets to a line spoken by a character, he says the characters name, and then he (or the “typewriter” at a signal of a light tap on the side of the head) goes “ding” which is the cue for the actor to speak.  He gives this cue every time a character will speak and the actors cannot speak unless this cue is given.  To start the game, you can get the suggestion of a genre, or an imaginary title.  The typist then says (as if he is reading out loud while he is writing) the title, and then the scene.  When he mentions a character, or says that someone enters the scene, one of the actors will go on stage as that character.  Usually a play of three short scenes is the ideal length.  If desired, a new suggestion of genre can be given for each scene.

            novel:  This is performed essentially the same way as the play, but the writer will not give cues before every line of the characters.  Instead, he will type entire paragraphs of narration, describing situations, events, or background, while the characters act out the story silently.  Then, the typist stops and the actors improvise a scene beginning where the writer left off.  The typist and the actors can switch back and forth in this way until the story is over.

 

Freeze & Justify

            The classic game.   A scene begins, with the two actors using as many gestures and physical movements as possible.  At one point, after the scene has gone on for a couple of minutes, one of the actors watching yells “freeze” and the actors stop in the exact position they were in when the freeze was called.  The new actor comes in and “tags” one of the actors, who leaves the scene.  The new actor assumes the exact position the previous actor was in, and then a new scene begins, entirely different from the one before, with new characters and a new situation, but somehow “justifying” the positions that they started from.  This continues with new actors yelling freeze and beginning new scenes from the frozen positions.  Variation:  to start the game, have an audience member come on stage and arrange two actors like mannequins in any position they want, which the actors must justify when the game begins.

 

Newscaster (headlines)

            Usually this game involves about  7 actors: two anchor people, an on-the-scene reporter, two witnesses, an “expert”, and someone to interview the expert—but it can be changed to accommodate just about any number of performers.  The actors will be delivering a news broadcast on a suggested, and usually ridiculous, topic.  It is a good idea to ask the audience for a newsworthy event, and then try and get a detail from them to make the story more interesting.  For instance, if the suggestion is “flood”, ask what it is a flood of, and they might say “jello” or “molten lava”.  There is usually one anchorperson who will control the game, introducing the next interview, and when the others have finished their bit they say something like, “and now back to Ted in the studio”.  The introduction by the anchors and the interview with the expert take place in the studio, but the on-the-scene reported interviews the witnesses in some kind of environment close to the story.  The general idea of this game, and possible variations, should be fairly self-explanatory.

 

Day in the Life

            Ask an actor (for a show it is best to ask a member of the audience) for some events that happened to them that day.  They may have to be prodded, or helped by being given specific questions, such as: did anything happen on your way here, did you have any unusual conversations.  Try and get at least three distinct things that occurred, involving somehow at least four characters.  Then have actors act out the “day”, using making a short scene out of each event.  The first time through the scenes should be fairly normal, but for the second time get a suggestion of a movie or book genre, such as “Science Fiction” or “Horror” and then have them act out the scenes again, this time adapting it to the given genre.

 

Movie Critics

            This game involves two actors who will be critics reviewing a motion picture, and any number of actors who will be performing scenes from the movie.  The stage is divided in two areas, the chairs where the critics are sitting and the “screen” where the scenes will be projected.  Rather than doing an actual movie, the audience should give the suggestion of an imaginary movie, and possibly a genre to which the movie belongs, such as “Hamster Trouble”: a romantic comedy.  If desired you can also get suggestions of famous Hollywood actors who will star in the movie.   The critics introduce their movie, one of them perhaps arguing that it is a cinematic masterpiece and the other one thinking it is garbage.  They should talk about specific scenes in the movie, giving a general idea but not describing them too clearly, and then say “let’s see the clip” and turn to the other part of the stage—this is the clue for the actors to start performing a short scene from the imaginary movie.  When the two critics start talking about the other actors should freeze, and then leave the stage area, until the critics introduce the next clip.  Usually three is a good number of clips for the game, but if it is going well the performers might want to add more.  It can be amusing for the critics to compare this movie to other films that actually exists, or to try and explain why the think it is the best movie of all time.

 

Historical Inventions

            A rather difficult game, but very rewarding when mastered.  The idea is to link a real historical event and an actual modern invention through a series of imaginary and ridiculous steps.  The event and invention are given by the audience.  The most difficult role of the game is probably that of the “narrator” who gives an introduction and will provide some connections between each scene.  He or she must be careful to also let the actors work in their own ideas and take the game in new directions—in other words, they need to work together.  The first scene of the game is the real historical event.  After running quickly through the event, the scene should give a hint as to what a possible effect could be.  The narrator comes out and summarizes what happened and leads into the next scene.  The next scene shows the result of the previous event, and in turn hints at a result of this event.  The game continues in this way until, by a series of causal links, the invention is finally arrived at.  Obviously, the actors need not stick with actual history, and the connections made should be amusing rather than plausible.  After the last scene has been performed (ending with the invention), the narrator can give an “overview”, with the actors pantomiming all of the scenes at high speed.  The challenge of this game is not to arrive at the invention too quickly or too directly.  The actors don’t need to “know where things are going” until the last couple of scenes.

 

Slide Show

            A simple game where two of the actors pretend to be showing a slide presentation of a trip they have taken.  Like other games, the stage is divided into their space and the space of the actor who will make up the frozen images of the slides, like miniature “tableaus” discussed before.  The two presenters introduce their vacation (the location is suggested by the audience) and then say “click” as they mime operating a slide projector, or remote control.  This is the clue for 2, 3, or 4 actors to get into some kind of a position, the more bizarre the better.  It is important that they get into position as quickly as possible, and once they are there that they do not move at all, just as a real “slide” would not change.  The two presenters then try and explain what was going on in the picture (the more difficult the explanation, and the more creative the presenters are, the more the audience will enjoy it).  When they are finished talking about one slide, they say “click” and move on to the next, the actors (you can either use the same actors for every slide or have two different teams take turns) quickly moving into a new tableau.

 

Character Displacement

Another quite versatile game, with much in common with “Freeze and Justify”.  In this game, however, the emphasis is on relating different scenes to each other and creating relationships between characters.  Nothing more than a one word suggestion is needed to begin, and then two actors start an ordinary scene.  When the scene reaches a natural break, an actor will yell “freeze” and come to take the place of one of the actors.  Unlike “Freeze and Justify”, the physical position of the characters is not important, and their bodies can become neutral in between the scenes.  Also different, is that the actor who remains in the scene will play the same character  that they were before, but in a different location and time.  The new actor, however, plays a character that hasn’t been seen before, but who is related somehow to the action previously established.  For example, if the first scene is of a mother giving her son a piece of candy, the next actor can yell “freeze”, replace the mother, and start a new scene as a dentist fixing the child’s tooth in his office.  The next scene then could be this dentist talking to another dentist on a coffee break, and so on.  The characters from previous scenes can return, and the idea is to form an interrelated web of characters and situations.  Usually the game ends when the first two characters are in a scene together again, and bring some closure to the action.

 

 

6 Person Games

Cocktail Party

            The stage is divided up into three areas, each with a pair of actors, usually seated.  The focus of this game is conversation rather than action or movement.  For less advanced groups, there can be a leader who will call out the number of the group to switch between one conversation and another, but ideally the pairs should be able to “edit” each other, that is, to interrupt the other groups and take the focus of the scene.  As if they were at a cocktail party, the three pairs (or groups, if you want to involve more people in the game) begin having conversations.  Word suggestions can be given to the groups before hand to give them topics, or they can simply start talking about whatever comes to mind.  The conversations, though, should be as different as possible.  In the beginning at least, they should have nothing to do with each other.  The point of the game, and what makes it interesting to watch, is that the conversations gradually start to incorporate elements from the other pairs, or to cross-germinate.  Words from one group can start appearing in the others, or general themes will emerge that are the same, ideas or even characters will start to jump from one conversation to another.  This illustrates a fundamental principle of improv scenes, that the more different things are to begin with, the more interesting it is to watch them come together.  The difficult part of this game is to make the connections between the scenes without forcing them, or making them seem unnatural.  What the actors will find is that if they simply listen to the other conversations, the connections and similarities will begin to happen naturally without their making any kind of an effort.

 

Cocktail Scenes

            The difference between “Cocktail Scenes” and “Cocktail Party” is simply that the pairs of actors will be doing things rather than talking about them.  Both of the games share the same principle of gradually bringing different topics and ideas together in unexpected ways.  There is more for the actors to think about in this game, however, because they have to deal with environment, action, miming, and staging.  In this and other games, it is important to make sure that the actors do things, rather than talking about things that were done or things that they will do.  The action on stage switches between three scenes, and the two pairs who are not acting should be “frozen” and listening carefully to what is going on, so they can incorporate ideas from the other groups into their own scenes.  This kind of improvisation can produce the most stunning effects for the audience, because it will seem like the actors had to have been “planning” the scenes from the beginning, to make them fit together.  An alternate way of starting these scenes is to get from the audience three different types of relationships between people, for example: doctor-patient, grandmother-granddaughter,  boss-employee, and start the scenes with these relationships.

 

Hidden Titles

            Having divided the stage up into three areas, like with “Cocktail Party” and “Cocktail Scenes”, the pairs of actors begin switching between their scenes, just as before.  The difference is that the first line of every new scene has to be identical to the last line of the scene before.  The line, of course, should be used in a completely different way.  If a husband and wife are fighting in one scene, and the wife says, “that’s it!”, then the next group can do a scene as treasure hunters looking for a rare artifact, and the first line of the scene is “that’s it!” pointing at the floor.  The scenes in this game can come together like they do in the “Cocktail” games, or the lines can be used each time as points of departure for something completely new.  Variation:  rather than having three pairs perform these scenes, set the game up like “Freeze and Justify” and the whole troupe may be involved.

 

Comic Book

            A fun game trying to reproduce the style of a comic book.  The story can have as many characters as you wish, but for every character there needs to be an actor for the body, and another for the voice.  Usually the characters are: Superhero, sidekick, Villain, evil sidekick, and victim, with two actors for each.  An off-stage microphone works great with this game, but if not, the voices can simply come from the side of the stage.  The suggestion from the audience could be something like an ordinary object, like “egg-beater” and this can determine the super-hero: i.e. “egg-beater man”—another object can be given for the villain.  More suggestions can be given if needed.  The body-actors should be paired with the voice-actors before the game starts to avoid confusion.  In addition there should be one “narrator” who provides the story apart from dialogue.  The game begins by one or more actors getting in a tableau, or frozen position.  The character’s mouths will either be open or closed.  If their mouth is open, then the voice-actor for that character should provide a line of dialogue for that character from off stage.  If their mouth is closed, they won’t say anything in that panel.  The narrator can speak whenever it is called for.  The panels should go by fairly quickly, and as a troupe you can decide beforehand a general layout of the story (start with the super-hero and his sidekick for a few panels, then cut to the villain, then go to the victim’s house, then the villain’s hideout and his confrontation with the hero…)  This game needs to be practiced in order to avoid confusion and speaking out of turn, and so the actors can work up to a good pace and level of cooperation.

 

Restaurant Switch

            This is one way to set up what is called a “split scene”.  The stage is divided into two parts, usually with two chairs on each.  These represent two different tables at some kind of a restaurant.  Aside from the four diners, there is also a waiter, who moves between the tables taking orders, filling glasses etc.  The rule is that when the waiter is on their side, the actors can speak, and when he is on the other side they must mime speaking or remain frozen.  The game can be treated otherwise just as “Cocktail Party” with only two pairs.  Variation:  get suggestions of two different kinds of restaurants, such as a fast food joint and a high class hotel bar, and the two sides of stage represent the two environments, with the waiter changing as he moves between them.  If you want 6 actors in the game, you can also add an owner of the restaurant, or another diner.

 

4 person

Foreign Film

            Also known as “Subtitles”.  Start with the suggestion of a title for an imaginary movie.  A suggestion of a movie genre can also be taken from the audience.  Two performers will be the “actors” in the scene, and they will be paired with the other two performers who will “translate” what they say into English.  An amusing way for them to do this is to run across the stage, bent over, as if they are subtitles running across a movie screen.   After the title of the movie is repeated, one of the actors will speak, but speak in gibberish (if they know a foreign language, they can use it, but the translation their partner gives should not be the correct one).  The translator will give the line in English, and then the next actor will deliver a line.  It is important to have them go by turns, or the game will get confusing and lines will be lost.  The more interesting the gestures and facial expressions of the actors are who are speaking gibberish, the more amusing it will be to have the lines “translated” in an unexpected way.

 

Dubbing

This game is similar to “Foreign Film”, except that instead of the other performers translating their language after they speak, in this game the actors only mime speaking, and the off-stage actors provide the dialogue at the same time, as if they were voices dubbed over the original.  A microphone is especially helpful in this game, but not necessary.  Variation:  a high-tech version of this game involves actually bringing a television on stage, turning it on mute, and having the actors provide the voices of the characters.

 

Conscience

            This is a game similar to “Foreign Film”, but all of the actors will be speaking English (or Romanian).  Two actors are on stage, and are paired with two more actors standing nearby.  One actor says the first line of the scene, and then their partner, or “conscience” says what it is they really mean by the line, or what they are thinking as they say it.  Then the other actor speaks, and the other conscience.   This is a good game for portraying strained and polite conversation with a lot of buried insults.

 

Movers

            The two principle actors in this game can speak as freely and in whatever order they want, but they are unable to move any part of their body.  All of their actions have to come from two “movers”, who will be adjusting their arms, legs, and heads during the scene.  The movers try and respond to what the actors or saying, and the actors can speak in relation to the positions they find their bodies moved into.  Variation:  Supermover:  same principle, but a superhero enters a scene (carried on stage) and rescues citizens from some kind of a villain.  None of the characters can move themselves.  The suggestion of an everyday object can be used to determine the superhero’s powers.

 

Silly Sports Event

            This can be used either as a performance game or as an exercise to practice “yes-and” or enthusiasm skills.  Have the audience give the performers a boring, mundane, household chore or task, such as brushing one’s teeth or cleaning the toilet.  One actor will then mime doing this action, but turning it into a kind of sports event.  She or he doesn’t speak:  the commentary is provided by three other actors who are playing the roles of sports commentators.  Their job is to make the event exciting, interesting, to provide intelligent commentary just as a real sports announcer would.

 

Object game

            The main difficulty with this game is that you have to get objects from somewhere that the actors haven’t seen before.  Sometimes is will work to ask the audience for objects they have with them, or for some of the actors to prepare objects beforehand.  The way it is played is by two pairs of actors taking turns imagining what the object could be, and showing the audience through quick visual gags.  A cooking pot, for example, could be a helmet from a suit of armor, a satellite dish, a land mine, etc.  Variation:  rather than working in pairs, this can be done as a group line game, with anyone who thinks of a gag coming forward.

 

3 Person

Lay-Sit-Stand

            The only rule for this game is that at any given time one of the three actors involved in the scene must be standing, another sitting, and another lying on the stage.  The challenge is in finding feasible reasons for why the three characters are continually standing up, sitting, and lying down.  It is a game to practice justification of movement.  In addition, it is also very fun to watch.  Variation:  for those who don’t like the idea of lying down on stage, there is also the very popular “sit-lean-stand” or “kneel-sit-stand”.

 

Flashback

            This game can actually involve many more than three performers, but because it is rather tricky to get the hang of, it is advisable to start with three and add actors as needed.  Aside from the two or more actors involved in the scenes, there is one who will announce the changes of time, and, if they wish, place.   Although the game is called “Flash-back”, it also involves flash-forwards, movements both forward and backwards in time.  The actors and the narrator must work together to control the scenes.  The first scene should imply something that came before, or will follow after, and then the narrator simply says the new time, such as “ten years later” or “on week before” and a new scene begins.  There is no limit on how far into the future or into the past the actors can go.  A fun gag is to say, “100 years later”, and have both characters lie down in their graves.

 

Forward/ Reverse

            With an imaginary remote control, one actor will be controlling a scene involving two others.  The actors in the scene will need to make slow and definite movements, say lines clearly, and pay close attention.  At any time the controller can say “pause”, causing the actors to stop, or “reverse”, and the actors will start performing the scene backwards from the point where it was stopped.  The controller can also choose to have them move in slow motion or fast forward.

 

Half Life

            Another game where concentration and memory is important.  Get a suggestion for a scene—because this game works best with a lot of movement, it might be a good idea to ask for some kind of a physical task, like fixing a flat tire.  Someone in the troupe should have some kind of a stopwatch, and should tell the audience the first scene will be three minutes long.  The actors then perform a scene for three minutes.  Next, they will perform the same scene in one minute and a half, with one member of the troupe timing them and telling them when to stop.  Every time the scene is shortened some lines and actions will be lost, but the actors should try and retain as much as possible.  Next the scene is performed in 45 seconds, then 30, then 15, then 7.

 

Pivotal Moment

            This can be a very interesting game when done well.  Two actors begin a scene, and a third waits with a bell he can ring, or some noise he can make.  At a certain point in the scene there should be a critical moment where some kind of decision must be made or something important has to be said, and just before this happens the third actor rings the bell.  The scene continues normally.  When it is over, the scene begins again, but this time at the point when the bell rings a different decision is made, the characters doing or speaking something other than what they did before.  The rest of the scene diverges from the first according to this choice.  The scene can be repeated as many times as they wish.

           

Emotional Positions

To play this game the stage area needs to be divided into three or more “zones”, with each zone corresponding to an emotion suggested by the audience.  If masking tape is available you can actually mark out the areas on the stage, or the actors can just remember where they are. A chair can easily be used as one of the zones, and right and left of the chair can be the other two.  Three actors perform a scene (off a word suggestion from the audience, and at all times during the scene their emotion is determined by where they are on stage.  If they move from one area to another, then their emotion has to shift accordingly.  Like many other games, the important thing is not just to make these changes but to find ways to justify the changes in the context of the scene.

 

Three-headed Psychiatrist

            The actors play the three heads of a famous psychiatrist brought in to answer all of the questions of the audience.  The answers are given by the actors saying one word each, taking turns and trying to form sentences.  This takes  practice, but the performers should try and get to the point where they can speak close to a normal speed, and have what they say make sense, at least grammatically.

 

Three-headed Broadway star

            Self explanatory.  Like “Three-headed Psychiatrist”, but with the actors singing one word each of a song from a made up Broadway musical.  You can get the name of the song from the audience.

 

Lines from a Hat

            This is a fun game, but requires a small amount of preparation beforehand.  If you are performing this for a show, then while the audience is being seated you can have a member of the troupe circulate through the audience and have them write on pieces of paper short lines.  These can be famous lines from movies, or song lyrics, or just lines that are made up on the spot.  Whoever collects the lines should check them for legibility and profanity.  Put the lines you have collected into a hat. When it comes time to perform the game, place the hat in the center of the stage, and have one of the actors choose one of the pieces of paper.  This will be the first line of the scene.  The scene continues for a while, and then another actor, at an appropriate point, reaches into the hat and takes out another line and reads it immediately.  The best way to handle the lines is by finding ways to lead up to them, such as, “and there was one piece of advice my mother always gave me, which was [and then draw the line from the hat and read it]”.  The humor comes from when the lines are unexpectedly apt, or when the actors do an especially good job of justifying them.  This game can involve as many actors as you wish, but three seems to be a number that works well.

 

2 Person

First Line/Last Line

            Also known as “skit sandwich”.  Suggestions are given by the audience of a first line and a last line of a scene.  The lines should not be mundane, such as, “Hi, how are you?” and “see you later”, because this would be too easy.  Try and get lines from the audience like “the frog looks healthy” and “well, I guess that’s the end of the world”.  Two actors then perform a scene using these lines as the opening and closing lines of dialogue.

 

One through Five

And advanced game, but a good exercise to practice concentration.  Begins usually with just one word suggestion from the audience.  The two actors begin a scene, but before it is finished move on to another one (another actor can call out the numbers of scenes to change them if this is preferred, or the actors can self-edit).  Before the second scene is finished they move on to the third, and so on.  When they reach the fifth scene, they go back through the scenes in descending order and conclude them.  This is an impressive game if the actor are good at creating very distinct characters and switching between them rapidly.

           

In-With-While

A nice and simple game, where the audience suggests a non-geographical location (in what?), who or what is there (with what, or with whom?), and what they are doing (while doing what?) The actors then perform a short scene using these suggestions.

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Musical scenes

            Music can be a great help in creating and performing scenes.  One way to incorporate music into a show is have a collection of CDs, numbered, and also numbered tracks that are appropriate.  Usually music works best that doesn’t have any words, and it is advisable to have a wide variety of styles.

 

Sound Effect scene

            A game similar to “Dubbing”.  A suggestion for a scene is given, but the one actor who performs it will not speak, acting the whole scene in pantomime.  Another actor is offstage, preferably with a microphone, and provides sound effects for the scene.  There is no dialogue.  The sound effect actor does not need to be constricted just to what the on stage actor does, but can throw in unusual sounds, like babies crying or gunshots, that the on stage actor must respond to.

 

Rule games

Alphabet Scene

            This is a game for two actors, who will get from the audience a suggestion of a non-geographical location, and a letter of the alphabet.  The rule for the scene is that every line they say has to begin with the next consecutive letter of the alphabet.  If the audience suggests the letter “J”, and the non-geographical location is a zoo, then the first actor could start by saying, “Jaguars are loose, you’d better run!”  and the next could respond, “Kill them, then,” and then the first could say, “Look, it’s not that easy,” and so on.  Usually, the game ends when the actors work their way through the alphabet back to the original letter.  Variation:  force the actors to go quickly, and if they make a mistake or hesitate, have another take their place and continue where they left off.  The performers can see who can stay in the longest.

 

Question Scene

            Like “Alphabet Scene”, but in this game the rule is that everything the actors say must be a question.  This actually goes directly against one of the basic principles of improve which is to never ask questions.  The game can in fact be inverted to only allow statements.

 

 Limited Words

One of the actors in this game is only allowed to say one-word sentences, and another is only allowed sentences with three words, and the last sentences with five words.  They get a suggestion of a non-geographical location, and then perform a scene with these restrictions.

2 Person List Games

 

Different Emotions

Before the game begins, the audience gives suggestions of several different emotions.  If a blackboard or dry erase board is available the list can be written there, otherwise they can be recorded on a piece of paper.  After the scene begins, one of the performers not in the scene calls out an emotion on the list, and the two actors begin acting with the emotion.  When the next emotion is called they switch to it, and this continues until the list is done or the scene is over.

Famous Pairs

This game works the same way as “Different Emotions” except instead of a list of emotions the audience gives a list of famous pairs, from television, movies, literature, or politics.

Different Words

Again, the principle is the same as the other list games, but this time the list is simply that of different words.  As the scene progresses the actors must incorporate the different words somehow into the scene when they are called out.

Genre Switch

The list of suggestions this time is of different television, movie, or book genres, which change the scene as they are called.

Group List Games

Old Job/New Job

            A slightly more complicated version of a list game.  There are two “positions” in this game that the actors will rotate through.  The first is simply a “helping” position, where they will support the other actor in whatever kind of scene he initiates.  The second position will be a character that combines elements from two different professions on the list.  One profession will have been his old job, and one is his new job.  The humor of the scenes comes from qualities or habits of his old job manifesting in his new job.  For instance, if his new job is a dentist, and he used to be a fisherman, then he could play a scene holding his patients mouth open with fishhooks while he operates.  When the scene changes, the “helper” now becomes the man or woman with the job, and the actor who rotates out chooses a new occupation from the list.  The new occupation is the “new job” and the occupation from the last scene is now the “old job”.  The occupations can be chosen from the list in any order.

           

Mixed Media

            This game is set up exactly like “Old Job/New Job”, except for the following differences:  the two “positions” are equal, and instead of combining elements of different jobs, the actors will be combining elements from different movies, books, and television shows.  You should get a fairly substantial list before the game begins, including examples from all the different media, and these will be combined and rotated through as the game progresses.  For instance, the actors might be combining “Moby Dick” with “Charlie’s Angels”.  It is a good idea to have the next media announced before the new actor chooses to come in, so they can perform with suggestions they are more familiar with.

 

Director’s Cut

            The actors in this game will be pretending they are at a rehearsal for a famous scene from a play or a movie, which will be suggested by the audience.  This will be a creative interpretation of the scene, though, and will be quite unlike the original.  The audience should give the troupe 6 suggestions of words before the game starts.  It works best to get two nouns, two adjectives, and two verbs.  One “director”, and three or so “actors” in the scene as if they are at a rehearsal, getting ready to run through the scene for the first time.  The director explain what the scene will be, and then they perform it the first time fairly straight.  The director is very dissatisfied with them, and gives them two suggestions to improve the scene.  The suggestions will be determined by two of the words given by the audience.  For example, if one of the words was “duck” and the scene was the airplane scene from Casablanca, the director could tell them that instead of getting on an airplane, they were getting onto a giant duck.  They run through the scene three more times, adding two of the suggestions each time, until at the end the director is finally satisfied.  The actors rather than going from two suggestions to the next two, should add the suggestions each time to the ones they already have, so by the end the scene is quite chaotic.

 

Cues

            Also known as “Entrances/Exits”.  As many actors as you would like can play this game, but the more actors there are the more difficult it will be.  For each performer that will be involved, the audience needs to give them a particular word.  A good idea if you have the materials is to have each actor write their word on a piece of paper and hang it around their necks.  This word becomes their “cue”.  If they are off stage and they hear this word, then they enter the scene.  If they are on stage and someone says this word, they have to exit.  The scene starts with two people, and as soon as one of the cues is given whoever has been given that word as a cue steps on stage.  Actors will exit and enter whenever their word is called.  Like in most games, the trick is to try and justify, to give reasons, however nonsensical, for the comings and goings.

           

Stop Action Games

 

Stop Action Games involve the “stop action” method of getting suggestions from the audience.  This entails starting a scene, and at various points stopping the action to have the audience shout out a word that is needed.  Usually this is done by the actors leading up to a word of a sentence, and then repeating the phrase with the word missing, looking meaningfully at the audience, until eventually someone shouts out a suggestion.  For example an actor could say, “And I met an old man whose name was…whose name was…” and someone in the audience would shout out, “Santa Claus!”  and the scene would continue with this suggestion.  The actor should always repeat the sentence with the new word or words included to be clear what suggestion she is using.

 

Missing Person

            The details of this scene can vary, but somehow two or more people are talking about someone who is not on stage.  It could be a family sitting on their porch, talking about a son who went off three years ago to find work, or friends waiting for someone to show up to their surprise birthday party.  The idea is that by talking about the missing person they get interesting information about him or her using stop action input.  For example: “No, Johnny never was the same after the accident with the…with the… [audience shouts ‘microwave!’]”  They can get the missing persons occupation, personality, nickname, or anything else to define him or her.  After enough is known about them to make for an interesting scene, the missing person comes on stage, showing all of the characteristics that had been discussed.

 

 

Crime scene

            One of the more challenging games, but very impressive when done well.  Two detectives are entering a crime scene.  Throughout the “investigation” they will rely on “stop action inputs” from the audience.  Exactly what the inputs the actors ask for can vary, but the following are some that have worked well in the past:  1) the detectives walk into the space and say something like “Now I’ve seen everything.  Who could have thought a crime like this could happen in a …” with the audience providing the location.  2)  after a time, one of the detectives smells something, saying, “why, that smells like …” and the audience gives the suggestion of what the smell could be.  3)  the detectives find the body, and say, “here’s the victim.  I recognize that face, it’s …” and the audience shouts out who it is. 4)  using the same technique, they find out how she or he was murdered.   5)  usually the detectives find one more  clue to make it interesting.  They can simply point somewhere on stage and say, “look, it’s a …”  To make this scene more interesting, after each new piece of evidence, the detectives can come up with a theory to explain what happened.  This theories should not be logical, but should be far-fetched and in no way anything that could actually have happened.  If more information is needed, a witness can also be brought in, but the actors should be careful not to have the witness say too much, or to report things as they “really” happened.  The audience finds out what really happened in the next scene, which goes back in time to before the crime took place.  The victim starts out alive, but by the end of the scene has to get murdered in such a way that accounts for every piece of evidence the detectives found.   Again, the fun of the game is in the actors thinking of a way the murder could have happened that explains the clues, but is nothing like what the audience expects.

 

Should have said

            This is a good nerve-racking game for rehearsal or performance.   Two actors begin a normal scene off of a word or non-geographical location suggestion from the audience.  Whenever one of the actors watching thinks that one of the performers could have said something more interesting, they yell “Stop!  Should have said!” and the performer goes back and says the last line over differently.  If the person who yelled still isn’t satisfied they can say “should have said” again and get a different line.  This happens as frequently as is wished for, but in order for the game not to get boring the “should have saids” shouldn’t occur too frequently, and the actors should try and redo the line as quickly as they can to avoid delay.

 

Choose Your Own Adventure

The success of this game might really depend on a cultural reference not readily available to Romanians: a series of books for young adults called “Choose Your Own Adventure” books.  They consisted of a story where at critical points “you”, the reader and also the main character of the book, were given a choice as to what action you wanted to take, and you would turn to different pages and follow the story that followed from your decision.  The improv game “Choose Your Own Adventure” works the same way.  The actors begin a normal scene, and at a certain point one of the off stage actors will yell “freeze!” and step in front of the scene.  They will give the audience two or three options, such as “If you (the main character in the scene) want to take the plane ticket and go to France, turn to page 211.  If you want to call the police, turn to page 73.  If you want to play with your Yoyo and ignore the man in the overcoat, turn to page 103.”  The audience then shouts out the page number they want (majority rules), and the scene continues on those lines.  There can, and probably should be, a time jump and scene change to make the scenes more interesting.  For instance, if the character takes the ticket, don’t start the next scene exactly where they left off, taking the ticket, but start the next scene on the airplane, or at the Eiffel Tower.

Endowments

Endowment games involve some of the actors in a game knowing a suggestion or suggestions of the audience, and trying in some way to give the information to other actors who didn’t hear what the suggestions were.

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Police Confession

            One actor will be playing the criminal, and leaves the room before the suggestions are given.  The audience then gives the troupe three suggestions involving a crime:  a person who was killed (usually a celebrity of some sort), why they were killed, and how.  Two actors will be playing policemen interrogating the criminal.  The criminal, before the end of the scene, has to figure out what his crime was, by listening to the clues of the other actors, and confess to it.  He will make guesses by confessing to “false” crimes, which the policemen of course will not believe.

                       

Superhero Endowments

While the actor who will be playing the superhero is out of the room, get from the audience where the superhero’s hideout is, what his superpower is, and the one thing he is susceptible to (like Kryptonite for Superman).  When he returns and the scene starts an evil villain must help him to guess these three things while acting out some kind of a scene (like a battle to the death in the hero’s hideout).  The superhero must say the Endowments out loud to move on.

Inconvenience Store

For this game, one performer leaves the room, and suggestions are given for three different objects.  To keep the game from being too easy, ask one question about the object to make it more interesting.  For example, if on of the objects is a land mower, ask “a land mower powered by what?” and then it could turn out to be a lawnmower powered by tomato soup.  The actor who didn’t hear the suggestions will be playing the owner of a store, or alternatively of a lost and found center.  Customers come in, one per each item, and have to get the owner to give them the object they need without speaking, or by only speaking gibberish.  One the owner guesses the item, and it’s special quality, then the customer takes the object and leaves, and the next actor enters.

Group Endowments

Home Shopping Network          

The actors are divided into two teams, with three performers per team.  One of these for each team will be an announcer, and they must leave while the suggestions are given.  Just like in “Inconvenience Store” objects are suggested, and something unusual is learned about them, what they are made of, what they are powered by, etc.  Usually three objects are enough.  The announcers return and take up positions on either side of the stage, with their team mates beside, and slightly behind them.  The idea is that they are trying to sell these objects on television, and they must speak constantly, making their sales pitch.  The two teams take turns, the actors trying to mime out the object so the announcer understands, and the announcer  “selling” the object while trying to figure out what it is.  Each turn should last about thirty seconds.  When one of the announcers guesses what the item is, they move on to the next one.  Variation: patients come into a psychiatrist’s office and the psychiatrist guesses, through hints and clues, what their problem is.

 

Party Host

            While one actor is out of the room, each performer is assigned a famous celebrity or character.  These can be from politics, movies, television, literature, or anything else, as long as they are well known.  When the game begins, the actor who was outside begins to mime hosting a party, and waiting for the guests to arrive.  They do, one by one, entering as the characters they were assigned, trying to let the host or hostess know who they are without coming out and saying it or being too direct.  Another guest can arrive before the last one has been identified, but generally no more than three characters should be on the stage at one time or it gets too cluttered.  Sometime one character can say or do something to help identify another.  If the situation gets desperate, an off-stage actor can give the room a “phone call”, making a telephone ringing sound, and the host or hostess will pick up an imaginary phone and listen to whatever kind of hint they can give.  Once a character is identified he or she makes their excuses and leaves. 

 

Historical Dance O’ Rama

            The music for this scene can either come from a CD/Tape player or a radio, or more interestingly can be provided by the actors themselves, in the “Do-Wop” fashion described above.  For particularly advanced groups they can even ask for a particular style of music and improvise a song without words to the genre specified.  One actor is the guesser, who will leave the room.  The endowments consist of a well known historical event, and five people or things that were at the event.  For example if the event is the assassination of JFK, the endowments could be JFK, Jacqueline Kennedy O’Nassis, the Limousine, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the bullet of the gun.  The guesser comes back in the room and the actors (who have each been assigned one of the objects or people) perform an interpretive dance of the historical event.  When it is over, the actor who doesn’t know the suggestions tries to guess what the event was, and then who or what the different dancers were supposed to represent.

           

 

 

Dating Game

            This game is set up like a dating show on television, and can be modified according to what shows the actors or audience are familiar with.  It is the “eligible bachelor” who leaves the room, and who will make the guesses later on.  Other characters are the announcer or host of the show, and three contestants who will be trying to win a date with the bachelor.  The identity of the contestants will be given by the audience.  These should be famous personalities from television, politics, movies, or literature.  When the game begins, the bachelor or bachelorette will ask each of the contestants questions, and they will answer in their character.  At the end, the bachelor or bachelorette guesses by first saying “I wouldn’t like a date with … because…” or “I chose to go out with … because …”  Variation:  Instead of specific characters, the suggestions for contestants could be more general, such as an overworked accountant, an axe murderer, or a python.

 

Group Line Games

 

181

This is a game relying on the performers ability to make puns and word play in the language they are using, so it may be difficult for Romanian students speaking in English.  The actors stand in a line on stage.  The audience suggests an everyday object such as a pencil, and then the performers try and come up with jokes involving the object.  Usually, they begin, “181 [whatever the object is] walk into a bar, and the bartender says…”  If the object is a pencil, the 181^st pencil could order a #2, or ask the bartender what’s the point.  After they run out of jokes they can start on a new object.

Worlds Worst

Standing in a line, the performers will work off of an audience suggestion of an occupation. They will deliver individual lines which will be the worst possible thing that someone with that occupation could say or do.  Variation:  the same idea, but with the worst things that could be given in a situation, i.e., at a wedding.

Limerick

Using the rhyme scheme of a limerick (AABBA, with 9,9,5,5, and 9 syllables per line) the performers will improvise a poem, stepping forward and saying one line each.  For each new limerick, the name of a city can be suggested, which will provide the A Rhyme.  For example, if the city is “New York”, then the actors could say

There once was a man from New York

Who always was late for his work

He wasn’t to blame

For one day he came

And had forgotten to iron out his shirt.

The limericks, of course, can use weak rhymes, and usually will be quite silly or nonsensical.  Variation:  Instead of creating a limerick, the actors can create poems in any structure they want, or even improvise unrhymed poetry, one line at a time.  It can also be fun to parody different styles, like beat poetry, or children’s books.  If you want to make the game competitive, you can eliminate actors when they can’t think of a rhyming line or when they make a mistake, until only one performer is left.

 

Radio Show

            The actors stand in a line, representing different frequencies on a radio dial.  The audience should have suggested a particular kind of radio station for each of the performers, (i.e. rock, news, talk show, easy listening).  One of the actors is the “dial” and kneeling in front of them points to them when he wants to tune to their program.  An interesting effect is to move the dial slowly along the performers and have them, when he is between stations, make a “static” sound, like, “shhhhhh” and to say just words or short bits of songs as the dial passes over them.  Whoever the dial is pointing at is giving bits of their radio program, and they stop as soon as the dial moves on.  The trick to this game is to not have the actors “start” their program when the dial points to them, but rather to pick up in the middle of a song, or the middle of a sentence, as actually happens when you are scanning through radio stations.  When the actors get good at this sort of game, they can also make the audience laugh by “accidentally” finishing each others sentences or song lyrics in a humorous way.  For example: “[easy listening station]  …oh, I’m so in love with…[switch to news program]…a chimpanzee that just escaped from the local zoo…[switch to cooking program]…that just tastes just lovely in a vinegar dressing.”  Another way to make the game more interesting is having the switches take place faster and faster as the game goes on.  Also, the actors can get an example of some kind of a disaster before the game starts, like World War III, for instance, and then at a sing from the “dial” (stamping a foot) all of the radio station gradually find out about the disaster and respond accordingly.  This also gives them an excuse to, one by one, go off the air, becoming static, and ending the game.

Conducted Story

This is a very entertaining game and great for practicing listening skills.   It is set up in the same way as Radio Show, except in this game the actors will be working together to tell a story.  The audience suggestion can be a made up title for a book, or a title that you create combining two or more word suggestions.  Once the performers have the title, the “conductor” points to someone and they begin telling the story.  After several sentences (the actors can be allowed longer turns at the beginning) the conductor lifts his finger and points it at someone else.  It is important that at soon as the finger is lifted, the speaker stops telling the story, even if he is in the middle of a sentence.  The next storyteller, whoever the conductor indicates by pointing at them, continues the story exactly where the last actor left off.  Actors will have a tendency to repeat the last word said, or to start a new sentence, which they should not do.  For advanced performers, they can even finish each others’ words.  To break up the game, the story can be divided into three chapters, with new suggestions from the audience for each one.  Variation:  Have each actor assigned a different genre of books, movies, or television show.  When it is their turn to speak, they continue the story in the style they have been given.  Alternatively, they can be given specific authors and try and tell the story as they think that author would.

One word story

            As in conducted story, the actors will be cooperating to tell a story, but this time they will be taking turns saying one word each.  In this way it is a lot like the “Three Headed Psychologist” game discussed earlier.  When a sentenced is finished, the next performer in line can say “period”, and then a new sentence is begun.  A suggestion of a made up title can be given by the audience.  Variation:  After one word story, the actors can try three word story, five word story, or one line story.  The game can also be played competitively, players being eliminated when they make a mistake.

 

 

 

Rules for Improv

 

Do not deny:  The reason improv scenes sometimes work so well is that two people are working together to come up with the material.  This means that neither one of the actors can have complete control of the scene, or have their “plan” for the scene followed exactly.  Actors should accept unequivocally any idea their fellow performers make, no matter how ridiculous they think it is or how much it conflicts with their vision of what the scene should be.  The unexpected developments that arise from conceding to and combining with other suggestions will always be more interesting than those any one actor could come up with, and if two improvisers accept each others ideas without hesitation, the audience end up feeling that they “couldn’t possibly” have improvised something that perfect on the spot.  On the other hand, if actors are always trying to ignore each other’s assertions because they don’t think they will help the scene, the audience will only pay attention to how the performers are trying to control the scene at one another’s expense, and this very quickly becomes boring to watch.

 

There are no mistakes:  Not only should an improviser never deny a suggestion or assertion, but they should refuse to think of anything that happens on stage as a mistake.  It is always nice (though it rarely happens) to perform a flawless scene, but it is often easier to gain the audience’s respect by handling a mistake well, and incorporating it into the scene.  If a fellow actor makes a “mistake”, it is not your job to correct them, but rather your job to figure out how, although it may have seemed that they were wrong, they were actually right!  If for example, you establish your characters name at the beginning of the scene as “Jim” and halfway through an actor calls you “John”, instead of saying, “my name is Jim, you moron,” you could say, “Don’t blow my cover.  As long as I’m on this case you should call me ‘Jim’”.

 

Give specific information:  Avoid talking about “it” or “the thing” or being sorry for “what you did”.  Although there can be some confusion at the beginning of a scene as to what is going on, matters should be nailed down as soon as possible.  The more specifics you can give, the faster the scene will develop and the more unique and interesting the conflict will be.  One detail will usually lead to another, whereas if you speak only in generalities the scene will flounder.

 

show don’t tell:  Actors have a tendency to make scenes excessively verbal, standing around the center of the stage, shuffling their feet, and telling the audience about things that, if they were to actually act them out, would make a great scene.  One of the most important rules in improv is never to tell the audience something that you can show them.  Avoid speaking in past or future tense, and mime actions as much as possible.