Book Improvization

Improv Encyclopedia
Version 2.0.6 - 18Jun2007 - improvencyclopedia.org

Introduction
Hello, reader! This is the paper version of The Improv Encyclopedia. This is a text version of the site found on
www.improvencyclopedia.org. The site gets updated more often than the paper version, so check the Internet for
the latest version.
In this booklet you will find tons of improv games and handles, show formats, warm-ups, references and improv
keywords. The Internet version is more fun to wander around in because of the hyperlinks in there, but we've done
our best to organize this paper version as comfortably as possible.
Organization
This booklet is organized in 4 chapters:

Categories: every game, exercise or handle is classified in one or more categories. The categories are listed
alphabetically, and you will find an index of all games in each category following the category. A game, handle
or exercise can be in more that one category.
Games: this is the main chapter, listing all games alphabetically. For every game you will find the
category/categories the game belongs in printed next to the game description.
Keywords: a chapter that lists some important improv terms, each with a short explanation.
References: a list of interesting people, books or websites.
At the end of the booklet you will find an index of all contents.
Referencing
The original text on www.improvencyclopedia.org is heavily cross-linked. Wherever useful, we use superscript to
refer to games, categories, keywords or references. This works as follows:
C
Warm-up would refer to the Warm-up category
G
Aerobics would refer to the game Aerobics
K
Chivalry would refer to the keyword Chivalry
R
Keith Johnstone would refer to a reference to someone named Keith Johnstone
Copyrights
Feel free to print this, copy it, give it to your friends and foes, use it (by all means, use it) , put it on your website,
change it, add to it. Just don't claim that you're the original author, and leave the references to
www.improvencyclopedia.org in the text. If you want to make money off this text you would need to contact us first:
mail to pingpongball@shoestringers.org.
Be advised that this text is machine generated off a database, so page breaks and layout may be a bit quirky; let us
know if you find any page rendering mistakes.
Feedback
Let us know what you think of Improv Encyclopedia; any feedback, positive or negative, is welcome by email to
pingpongball@shoestringers.org Enjoy!
Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 1

Categories
Accepting
K
Category These are exercises to teach Accepting .
Total 10 games.
- Accepting Circle
- Goalie
- Open Offer
- Pass Catch (see Sound Circle)
- Rumors
- Six Episodes
- Sound Circle
- Tug-O-War
- Yes Lets
- Yes Lets - or Rather Not
Association
Category These are exercises that train fast-thinking. You will find that a lot of the exercises in this category
G
are variations on the traditional Free Association game. Others train fast thinking in other ways,
and a few even focus on dissociation - you can use the latter to make the point that association is
G
easy and natural (seeIntroducing Association for more ).
Total 37 games.
- 3 some
- Alliterations
- Animalistics
- Association Jump
- Become
- Blind Association Circle
- Blind Freeze
- Clap Snap Association
- CopyCat
- Dissociation
- FLIP (see CopyCat)
- Family Portraits
- Firing Squad
- Free Association Circle
- Free Association
- Free Association Lines
- Freeze Tag
- Gibberish Dictionary (see Translate Gibberish)
- Introducing Association
- Jump
- Just Gibberish
- Last Letter
- Malapropism
- Name 6 Circle

- Open Offer
- Patterns
- Props
- Rumors
- Slappy Face
- Space Jump
- Surprise Movement
- Totems (see Animalistics)
- Translate Gibberish
- Walk-over Association
- What are you doing
- What would she be if
- Word Ball
Audience Participation
Category These are games in which the audience participates to some extent. Evidently, in just about any
improv show there we use audience suggestions, so to some extent each game should be in this
category. Instead, we've listed only games in which during the game, the audience is involved.
K
See also Ask-for for examples of what you can ask the audience.
Total 18 games.
- Alphabet Game
- Bucket
- Conducted Story (see Story Story Die)
- Day in the Life
- Ding Dong
- ID
- Last Letter Scene
- Nightmare (see Day in the Life)
- No P
- Only Questions
- Pockets
- Puppets
- Rhymes
- Story Story Die
- Sung Story Die
- Survivor
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Advice
- Zulu(2)
Audience Warm-up
Category Many improv shows start with an audience warm-ups. Use these games to get
the audience in a good mood, and to get them used to actually participating by giving suggestions.
Total 3 games.
- Audience Warm-ups
- Finger Applause
- Superman Jam

Characters
Category The focus of these games and exercises is on building characters.
Total 29 games.
- Aerobics
- Animalistics
- Animals
- Coming Home
- Death Con (see Voices From Heaven)
- Ding Characters
- Emotions Characters
- Fast Food Laban
- Fast Food Stanislawski
- Front Desk
- Goalie
- Hitch Hiker
- Imitate
- Jump
- Mr. So and So
- Nuclear Bomb Chicken
- Object Narrative
- Old Job New Job
- Opposite Characters
- Opposites
- Solo Doors
- Split Screen
- Story To A Chair
- Supermen
- The Bag
- Three Line Solo
- Voices From Heaven
- You're Fired
Concentration
Category These exercises train basic concentration skills. Also take a look at the category Look and
C
Listen : the games in that category are particularly for training players to be attentive to
what other players do: listening and awareness skills.
Total 58 games.
- 3 Series
- Accepting Circle
- Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
- Alliteration Introduction
- Alliterations
- Alphabet Circle
- Bappety Boo (see Bippety Bop(1))
- Barney
- Bear of Poitiers (see Catch'em)

- Big Booty
- Bippety Bop(1)
- Bippety Bop(2)
- Catch'em
- Clap Snap Stamp
- Click Bang you're dead
- Concentration Circle
- Cross Circle
- Digits (see No Doubles 1-10)
- Distorting Mirror
- Elephant
- Emotional Mirror
- Fruit Basket
- Fuzzy Ducky
- Give and Take
- Group Environment
- Group Freeze
- Group Mirror (see Mirror)
- Hand Slap
- Kitty in the Corner
- Ksss
- Letter Number Name
- Mexican Name Wave
- Mirror
- Move and Speak
- Name Game (see Cross Circle)
- No Doubles 1-10
- Non Sequitor
- One Duck
- One Two Three Four
- Pass Clap
- Pass Yes
- Peruvian Ball Game
- Receiver Right Clap
- Seven Up
- Shootout
- Shriner's Warm-up (see Cross Circle)
- Simon Says
- Sitting Standing Lying
- Slappy Face
- SloMo Tag
- Statues (see Group Freeze)
- Survivor
- Synchro Clap
- The Magnet
- Turning Circle
- Walking by Numbers
- What Has Changed
- Zapping
Continuation
G
Category These are games that consist of continuations of the previous scene. See also Scene Replay .
K
In many cases one will ask the audience how to continue the scene - see Ask-for for examples.

Total 16 games.
- Actor Switch (see Simple Continuation)
- Before or After
- Bermuda Triangle (see Hat Continuation)
- Continuing Emotions
- Continuing Styles
- Diamond
- Fast Forward
- Hat Continuation
- Pan Left Pan Right (see Diamond)
- Revolver (see Diamond)
- Rewind (see Fast Forward)
- Simple Continuation
- Switcheroo
- Turntable (see Diamond)
- Understudy (see Simple Continuation)
- Zoom-In Zoom-Out
Die
Category These are games in which the audience decides to 'throw out' players by yelling 'Die' when a
player doesn't stick to the rules of the game, or does not manage to get the task/game done
properly. After a die the game either ends or the player is replaced by another one.
Total 12 games.
- Alphabet Game
- Beatnik Poet
- Last Letter Scene
- No P
- Only Questions
- Rhymes
- Story Story Die
- Sung Story Die
- Survivor
- Zulu(2)
Endowment
Category Endowment is attributing other players with physical, emotional or other characteristics, or getting
other players to do something, or to behave in a particular way.
Total 25 games.
- Card Status
- Chain Murder (see LCD)
- Dating Game
- Double Endowment
- Endowments
- Famous Person Endowment
- Fortune Teller

- He Said She Said
- He Said While She (see He Said She Said)
- Hijacker
- LCD
- LOW (see LCD)
- Marriage Counsel Endowment
- Mr. So and So
- Murder Endowment (see Endowments)
- Occupation Endowment (see Endowments)
- Party Quirks (see The Party)
- Press Conference
- Rebel without a Clue (see Hijacker)
- Repair Shop
- Secrets Endowment (see Endowments)
- Silly Stinky Sexy
- The Party
- Veterinarian Endowment (see Repair Shop)
- Who Where Why Am I
Energy
Category These games are meant to get the blood pumping through those veins. These can be used as a
C
Warm-up , or to get the class moving again at the end of a long day.
Total 26 games.
- Big Fish Small Fish
- Bunny
- Cat and Mouse
- Catch'em
- Energy 1-10
- Exaggeration Circle
- Fusillade
- Jeepers Peepers (see The Scream)
- Killer Bunny
- Ksss
- Man Overboard
- My Fault
- Pass Clap
- Popcorn
- Primal Screams
- Shootout
- Supernova
- Synchro Clap
- The Scream
- Three Noses
- Virus
- Whoosh
- Zip Zap Zoop (see Whoosh)

Environment
K
Category These are games that teach players how to build an environment, as part of a Platform . By
environment we mean defining where we are, and placing (mimed) props we in that location.
When working with groups new to improv, you may want to teach environment first, and then
K
move on to Platform , by extending the where by incorporating the Who (and the Why).
Total 10 games.
- Coming Home
- Doors
- Front Desk
- Group Environment
- Human Props
- Move and Speak
- Object Morphing
- Real Estate Broker
- Solo Doors
- Three Line Environment
Exercise
Category This is rehearsal and workshop stuff. Most of the games and exercises listed here would probably
not be used in front of an audience.
Some exercises train particular aspects, others are just plain silly and might just as well be used
by girl scouts on a rainy day...
Total 210 games.

- 3 Series
- Accepting Circle
- Advancing and Expanding (see Make More Interesting)
- Aerobics
- Airplane (see Blind Lead)
- Alien Tiger Cow
- Alliances (see Excluding)
- Alliterations
- Alphabet Circle
- And Then (see What Happens Next)
- Animalistics
- Animals
- Artist Model Clay
- Association Jump
- Automatic Storytelling
- Back Dancing
- Barney
- Become
- Bidirectional Satellite TV
- Big Blob

- Bippety Bop(1)
- Bippety Bop(2)
- Blind Freeze
- Blind Harold
- Blind Hunt (see Scorpion)
- Blind Lead
- Blind Line Offers
- Blind Stalker (see Scorpion)
- Body Hide
- Boris
- Bunny
- Catch'em
- Circle of Knots
- Columbian Hypnosis
- Coming Home
- Complete Bodies
- CopyCat
- Crisis Situation
- Cross Circle
- Death and Retriever
- Ding Characters
- Ding
- Disc(1)
- Disc(2)
- Dissociation
- Distance Game
- Distorting Mirror
- Doors
- Double Opening
- Duck Duck Goose
- Elephant
- Emotional Mirror
- Energy 1-10
- Excluding
- Fast Food Laban
- Flock Dance
- Follow the Leader
- Follow your Nose
- Foot Soldiers (see Follow your Nose)
- Free Association
- Free Falling
- Freeze Tag

- Front Desk
- Fruit Basket
- Fusillade
- Fuzzy Ducky
- Gibberish Commands
- Gibberish Malapropism
- Give and Take
- Goalie
- Greetings
- Group Environment
- Group Freeze
- Group Order
- Hand Slap
- Hands (see Squeezer)
- Haunted House (see Scorpion)
- He Said She Said
- Hello (see Greetings)
- Hitch Hiker
- Honey Walk
- Human Props
- Imitate
- Jump
- Just Gibberish
- Killer Bunny
- King Game
- Last Letter
- Line Mirror
- Lost Friend (see Greetings)
- Machines
- Make More Interesting
- Man Overboard
- Mantra
- Mantra Introduction
- Master Servant Disaster
- Mexican Name Wave
- Mirror
- Move and Speak
- Mr. So and So
- My Fault
- Name 6 Circle
- Name Volley
- No Doubles 1-10
- Non Sequitor
- Object Morphing
- Object Narrative
- Objects
- Obstacle Course (see Blind Lead)

- One Line Scene
- One Mouth
- Only Questions
- Open Offer
- Open Your Hand
- Opposites
- Other Choice (see Ding)
- Overload
- Pass Ball
- Pass Clap
- Patterns
- Pivot (see Disc(1))
- Poison Arms (see SloMo Samurai)
- Popcorn
- Presents
- Primal Screams
- Queen Game (see King Game)
- Rash
- Repeater
- Replay Gibberish
- Reverse Chair Dance
- Rock Paper Scissors (see Alien Tiger Cow)
- Rumors
- Samurai
- Satellite Radio
- Satellite TV
- Scorpion
- Screamers (see Scorpion)
- Sculptors
- Seven Up
- Simon Says
- Six Episodes
- Slide Show
- SloMo Samurai
- Solo Doors
- Sound Circle
- Squeezer
- Story Spine
- Story To A Chair
- Supernova
- Surprise Movement
- Survivor
- Swedish Sculptors
- Switch Gibberish
- Synchro Clap

- The Bag
- The Magnet
- Three Line Solo
- Three Noses
- Three Sentence Story
- Tug-O-War
- Vampire Game (see Scorpion)
- Warehouse
- What Happens Next
- What Has Changed
- Word at a Time Letter
- Word at a Time Story
- Word Ball
- Yes Lets
- You
- You're Fired
Experts
Category This is a series of games in which experts about some subject are interviewed. The topic for the
K
interview is often provided by the audience (seeAsk-for ).
Total 2 games.
- Gibberish Expert
- Translation for the Deaf
Format
C
Category These are show formats. Here you will find Long Form formats, and formats that consist of
series of shorter games.
Total 13 games.
- BarPro
- ComedySportz
- Cut
- Five Four Three Two One
- French Braid
- Gorilla Theatre
- Harold
- Impro Match
- Micetro
- Soap (see Cut)
- Tapestry (see Five Four Three Two One)

- Theatresports
- Triptych (see Five Four Three Two One)
Gibberish
Category Gibberish is nonsense-language. Scenes in Gibberish are done in a non-existing language. When
doing gibberish scenes, remember that you can speak different kinds of gibberish languages. Try
experimenting with Japanese, French, Swedish, Zulu, German, and so on.
Total 17 games.
- Emotional Mirror
- Five Things
- Foreign Movie
- Gibberish Expert
- Just Gibberish
- LCD
- LOW (see LCD)
- Non Sequitor
- Poet Translator
- Replay Gibberish
- Subtitles (see Foreign Movie)
- Switch Gibberish
Group
Category These exercises help the players work together as a group. You'd certainly use these early on in
a series of workshops, but repeating these, even with a well established group, never does any
C
harm. See also Trust .
Total 48 games.
- Alien Tiger Cow
- Artist Model Clay
- Association Jump
- Back Dancing
- Blind Lead
- Blind Line Up
- Body Hide
- Circle of Knots
- Circle Sitting
- Duck Duck Goose
- Energy 1-10
- Excluding

- Family Portraits
- Follow the Leader
- Group Environment
- Group Order
- Heave Ho
- Hot Spot
- Human Props
- Line Mirror
- Machines
- Massage
- Millipede
- Objects
- One Mouth
- Popcorn
- Rash
- Sculptors
- Six Episodes
- Slide Show
- Solitaire
- Squeezer
- Swedish Sculptors
- The Magnet
- Tossing
- Tug-O-War
- What Happens Next
- Yes Lets
Guessing
Category These are games in which players need to guess something. These kinds of games are
sometimes referred to as 'naieve' games.
Total 18 games.
- Bong Bong Bong
- Endowments
- Five Things
- Fortune Teller
- Hijacker
- LCD
- LOW (see LCD)

- Repair Shop
- The Party
Introduction
Category These exercises are intended to get everybody acquainted and to learn each other's names. Use
C C
these early on in a workshop, if players don't know each other. See also Group and Trust .
Total 18 games.
- Aerobics
- Blind Line Up
- Body Hide
- Cross Circle
- Flock Dance
- Greetings
- Massage
- Name Volley
- Shootout
- Three Noses
Limitations
Category In these games the physicality or verbosity of the players or the scene is defined or limited.
Total 71 games.
- Actor's Nightmare
- Adjective Scene
- Ahab and the Whale (see Three Rules)
- Arm Game (see Helping Hands)
- Backwards Interview
- Backwards Scene (see Backwards Interview)
- Beatnik Poet
- Big Blob
- Blindfolded Scene
- Blind Harold
- Bong Bong Bong
- Bucket
- Bucket of Death (see Dry Cleaning Bag of Death)
- Call from Ray
- Card Status

- Crabtrees Conundrum
- Deaf Replay
- Death in a Minute
- Disc(1)
- Disc(2)
- Distance Game
- Double Blind Freeze
- Double Opening
- Dry Cleaning Bag of Death
- Emotional Family
- Emotional Quadrants
- Evil Stick of Gum
- Exit Game (see Walkout)
- Final Freeze
- First Line Last Line (see Last Line)
- Five Things
- Fortune Cookie
- Handicapped Fairy Tale
- Head in Bucket (see Dry Cleaning Bag of Death)
- Helping Hands
- Hesitation
- ID
- I\'ll have a coke (see Call from Ray)
- Last Letter Scene
- Last Line
- Location
- Marshmallow Mania
- Mousetraps (see Blindfolded Scene)
- Move and Speak
- No P
- One Line Scene
- Only Questions
- Oracle (see Word at a Time Expert)
- Parallel Universe
- Ping Pong (see Word at a Time Scene)
- Playbook (see Actor's Nightmare)
- Pockets
- Rhymes
- Scene in the Dark
- Sideways
- Split Screen
- The Bat
- Three Rules
- Timeline
- Touch to Talk
- Two-headed Professor (see Word at a Time Expert)
- Verses
- Walkout
- Without Sound
- Without Words
- Word at a Time Expert
- Word at a Time Scene

- Word at a Time Song
- You're Fired
Long Form
Category These are formats for longer improvised scenes, or even series of scenes.
We are not going to have a philosophical discussion here, but not everyone will agree that all
G
these are really long form formats. The Harold for example is basically a series of connected
scenes intertwined with improv games. Some will argue that because of the games, this is not
long form. Others again will state that any format that consists of different story lines that are not
G
really strongly connected (e.g.Triple Play ) is not really long form.
We do not particularly care (well as a matter of fact we do, but that's another story), so we just list
what some folks would consider long form. Your mileage my vary or course.
Total 32 games.
- Armando
- At The Oscars (see Feature Film)
- At the Movies (see Feature Film)
- Balladeer(2)
- Blind Harold
- Cut
- Deconstruction
- Doo Wop(2)
- DVD Special Edition
- Feature Film
- French Braid
- Goon River (see Goon River)
- Goon River
- Harold
- Invocation
- La Ronde
- Location
- Lotus
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Montage
- Moon River (see Goon River)
- Soap (see Cut)
- Soap Series
- Spoon River (see Goon River)
- Spork River (see Goon River)
- Sybil
- TellTales
- The Bat
- Triple Play
Look and Listen
Category These exercises train listening and looking skills. Since Improv is a group thing, it's important for
players to be aware what is going on, what others are saying and doing, so these exercises train
players on this.

Total 23 games.
- 3 Series
- Aerobics
- Blind Harold
- Card Status
- Complete Bodies
- Double Endowment
- Double Opening
- Hijacker
- Janus Dance
- No Doubles 1-10
- Overload
- Repeater
- Satellite Radio
- Satellite TV
- Scene in the Dark
- Survivor
- What Has Changed
- You
Narration
K
Category In these games and exercises, the focus is on Storytelling .
Total 27 games.
- Boris
- Double Endowment
- Double Opening
- Guest Game
- Just Gibberish
- Lets Not
- Movie Review
- Name the Monster
- Object Narrative
- Only Questions
- Rhymes
- Six Episodes
- Slide Show
- Story Spine
- Story Story Die
- Typewriter

- What Happens Next
Performance
Category These are games you'd use for performance.
Total 240 games.

- Actor's Nightmare
- Adjective Scene
- Alphabet Game
- Alter Ego (see Asides)
- American Idol
- Animalistics
- Armando
- Asides
- Audience Warm-ups
- Balladeer(1)
- Balladeer(2)
- Bartender
- Beatnik Poet
- Before or After
- Big Blob
- Black Box
- Blindfolded Scene
- Blind Freeze
- Blind Harold
- Blind Musical
- Blues Jam
- Bong Bong Bong
- Boris
- Bucket
- Call from Ray
- Cards
- Card Status
- Commercial
- Confessions
- Consciences (see Asides)

- Continuing Styles
- CopyCat
- Countdown (see Scene Replay)
- Dating Game
- Day in the Life
- Deaf Replay
- Death in a Minute
- Deconstruction
- Diamond
- Ding Dong
- Ding
- Director's Cut
- Doo Wop(1)
- Doo Wop(2)
- Do Ron Ron
- Double Endowment
- Dubbed Movie
- Emotion Replay (see Scene Replay)
- Emotional Family
- Endowments
- Evil Stick of Gum
- Evil Twin
- Famous Last Words
- Fast Forward
- Feature Film
- Final Freeze
- Finger Applause
- Five Things
- Foreign Movie
- Fortune Cookie
- Fortune Teller
- Freeze Tag
- French Braid
- Fusillade
- Game-O-Matic
- Gibberish Expert
- Goon River
- Guest Game
- Half Life (see Scene Replay)
- Hall of Justice
- Harold

- Hat Continuation
- Hats
- Helping Hands
- He Said She Said
- Hesitation
- Hijacker
- Historical Replay (see Scene Replay)
- Hitch Hiker
- Horoscope
- Human Props
- ID
- I Love You
- In-Out
- Invisibility
- Invocation
- Irish Drinking Song
- Janus Dance
- Jeopardy
- Just Gibberish
- LOW (see LCD)
- La Ronde
- Last Letter Scene
- Last Line
- LCD
- Little Voice
- Location
- Lotus
- Lounge Singer
- Machines
- Making Faces
- Marshmallow Mania
- Mega Replay
- Montage
- More or Less
- Move and Speak
- Mr. So and So
- No P
- Object Narrative
- Old Job New Job
- One Eighty Five
- One Mouth
- Only Questions

- Parallel Universe
- Pecking Order
- Pillars
- Pockets
- Poetry Corner
- Poet Translator
- Point of View
- Press Conference
- Props
- Protest Song
- Puppets
- Rashomon (see Point of View)
- Repair Shop
- Reverse Trivial Pursuit
- Rhymes
- Rituals
- Scene in the Dark
- Scene Painting
- Scene Replay
- Scene To Music
- Sideways
- Silly Stinky Sexy
- Slap Take
- Slide Show
- SloMo World Champion (see Sportz Center)
- Soap Series
- Sound Effects
- Sounds Like a Song
- Space Jump
- Speck (see Little Voice)
- Spit Take
- Split Screen
- Sportz Center
- Story Story Die
- Stunt Double
- Style Replay (see Scene Replay)
- Sung Story Die
- Superman Jam
- Supermen
- Survivor
- Switcheroo

- Switch Gibberish
- Sybil
- The Bat
- The Gerbil
- The Party
- Three Melodies
- Three Rules
- Through the Ages (see Scene Replay)
- Timed Scenes
- Timeline
- Touch to Talk
- Triple Play
- Trivial Pursuit
- TV News
- Typewriter
- Verses
- Walkout
- Without Sound
- Without Words
- Worlds Worst
- You're Fired
- Zapping
- Zoom-In Zoom-Out
- Zulu(1)
- Zulu(2)
Replay
Category These are games in which the gimmick relies on the replaying of a previously played scene.
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There will obvisously be Limitations that govern the replay.
Total 12 games.
- Deaf Replay
- Mega Replay
- Point of View

- Replay Gibberish
- Scene Replay
SingSong
Category These are games that involve music or songs. Improvising song on-stage is actually not as
difficult as is may seem, and it's usually a killer for the audience.
In this section your will find various stuff: ideas for songs, workshop methods to teach players how
to improvise songs, ideas for dancing along with music, and suggestions for improv musicians.
The latter may be a bit controversial: the musician should really be an improviser as well, and be
allowed to improvise. However, not all groups have access to talented musicians that are able to
improvise, so for the not-so gifted here (grin) we provide some ideas for chord successions one
can sing to.
Total 19 games.
- American Idol
- Balladeer(1)
- Balladeer(2)
- Bartender
- Blind Musical
- Blues Jam
- Doo Wop(1)
- Doo Wop(2)
- Do Ron Ron
- Hot Spot
- I Love You
- Lounge Singer
- Protest Song
- Scene To Music
- Sung Story Die
- Three Melodies
Solo
Category These are things you can do all by yourself. Most items in this category are exercises, but some
stuff can be used for performance as well.
Total 5 games.
- Lounge Singer
- Solo Doors
- Story To A Chair
- Sybil
- Three Line Solo

Spontaneity
Category These games help you blank your mind, and train players to acknowledge the things they
subconsciously think.
Total 16 games.
- Barney
- Become
- Crisis Situation
- Ding
- Mantra
- Name the Monster
- Open Your Hand
- Presents
- Sound Circle
- Surprise Movement
- Warehouse
Status
K
Category These are games or exercises that focus on Status .
Total 3 games.
- Card Status
- Pecking Order
Timed
G
Category These are games that are somehow timed. See Timed Scenes for suggestions.
Total 9 games.
- Death in a Minute
- Scene Replay
- Timed Scenes

Trust
Category These exercises are great for the group to build trust. You would use these early on in a workshop
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to teach the players to rely on each other. It's part of the team building; see also Introduction
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and Group .
Total 25 games.
- Back Dancing
- Blindfolded Scene
- Blind Lead
- Body Hide
- Circle Sitting
- Fingertips
- Free Falling
- Heave Ho
- Janus Dance
- Massage
- Scorpion
- Solitaire
- Swedish Sculptors
- The Magnet
- Tossing
Verbal wit
Category These games usually do not develop into scenes, and quite often turn into (or deteriorate into)
series of one-liners. Can still be fun, if played well, but it's not exactly improvised theater .
Total 13 games.
- Alphabet Game
- Confessions
- Famous Last Words
- Jeopardy
- One Eighty Five
- Poetry Corner
- Rhymes
- Trivial Pursuit
- Worlds Worst
- Zulu(1)

- Zulu(2)
Warm-up
Category These games are meant to get everybody in a cheery mood, establish trust between the players,
and sharpen concentration. Apart from that, most have no performance value, and are rarely used
to teach any particular skill. Most of these games would just as well work to entertain the kids on a
rainy day at the girl scouts.
You'd use these games at the start of a rehearsal, or as part of the preparation for a show.
Total 106 games.

- 3 some
- Accepting Circle
- Alien Tiger Cow
- Alliterations
- Alphabet Circle
- Assassin
- Association Jump
- Barney
- Big Booty
- Bippety Bop(1)
- Bippety Bop(2)
- Blind Freeze
- Blind Line Up
- Bunny
- Cat and Mouse
- Catch'em
- Circle Sitting
- Clap Snap Stamp
- Cross Circle
- Dissociation
- Duck Duck Goose
- Eights
- Elephant
- Emotional Mirror
- Energy 1-10
- Family Portraits
- Firing Squad
- Flock Dance
- Follow your Nose
- Free Association
- Freeze Tag

- Fruit Basket
- Fuzzy Ducky
- Greetings
- Group Order
- Hand Slap
- Honey Walk
- Hot Spot
- Jump
- Killer Bunny
- Ksss
- Last Letter
- Malapropism
- Man Overboard
- Massage
- Mexican Name Wave
- Millipede
- Mirror
- No Doubles 1-10
- Non Sequitor
- Objects
- One Duck
- Pass Ball
- Pass Clap
- Pass Yes
- Patterns
- Play Tag
- Popcorn
- Presents
- Primal Screams
- Rash
- Rumors
- Samurai
- Seven Up
- Shootout
- SloMo Samurai
- SloMo Tag
- Sound Circle
- Squeezer
- Stretching
- Supernova

- Synchro Clap
- The Scream
- Three Noses
- Turning Circle
- Virus
- Whoosh
- Word Ball
- Yes Lets

Games
3 Series
Game Everyone in a circle. Pick a category (e.g. make of cars, girls names, kinds of food, kinds of plants,
Concentration whatever). First person states an example of the category, and points to someone else. Keep
Exercise pointing. That someone else does the same, with a different item in the category, and so forth, until
Look and Listen
everyone points at one person.
Then repeat the pattern. Make eye contact when passing your item to the next person. Drop the
pointing arms when everyone is comfortable and the series is collectively memorized.
Then do the same with a second category, and make sure the pointing pattern is different. Repeat till
everyone is comfortable.
Then do the same exercise, without pointing, and running the 2 categories at the same time. Add a
third, fourth category if you wish. No pointing arms any more!
The idea is not only to listen for the item right before yours in the series (so you know when it's your
turn), but also to make sure that when you pass an item to someone else, that someone else
actually hears you. If not, then repeat your item, to ensure the series does not get broken.
3 some
Game Fun warm-up. One player offers something, e.g. I am a slice of cheese. 2nd player jumps in and
Association adds something to the offer, e.g. I am a slice of bread. 3rd player jumps in and again adds to the
Warm-up setup, e.g. I am a pickle. First player leaves, taking one of the others with him. Restart from the
remaining player, who restarts by saying what/who she is.
Accepting Circle
Game Get everyone in a big circle. One player starts by making a little gesture, perhaps with a little sound.
Accepting His or her neighbor then tries and does exactly the same. And so on. Although we expect the
Concentration
gesture/sound not to change, it will.
Exercise
Warm-up
Notes
Watch for movements that suddenly change left/right arm or leg. This is not really supposed to
happen, but it will. Once happened, it should be accepted by the next player.
Also watch/listen for little moans or sighs that players might make before or after their turn - these
should also be taken over by the next player.
Actor's Nightmare
Game This one is played by 2 players, one of which gets their lines on paper (like a script). The other
Limitations
player should justify whatever the scripted player says.
Performance
Notes
You can use existing plays for this, but also lines from comics.
Whoever gets the script should not forget to play/act - only her lines are defined, not what she does,
or how she does the lines.
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Also known as Playbook .

Adjective Scene
Game Ask for an adjective (e.g. sad). Play a scene in which the players are as sad as possible.
Limitations
Alternatively, give every player a different adjective.
Performance
Aerobics
Game This is a fun observation game.
Characters Place all players in a line. The first player starts walking around the room, walking a large circle. The
Exercise
second player starts following the first one, and tries to move like the first player. After a few rounds,
Introduction
Look and Listen the first player goes to the back of the line, and the third player starts following and imitating the
second one.
Notes
Tell players to be themselves; don't try and walk around funny (it's not the Ministry of Silly Walks
after all).
Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves

Game Excellent warm-up. Everyone in a circle. We are going to establish a rhythm, by saying, all together
Concentration 'Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves'. Keep repeating this.
Energy Warm-
One person starts making a gesture to this rhythm, say, tapping your head with you left hand. When
up
the sentence is repeated, the player next to her takes over this gesture, while the first one starts a
completely different new gesture. Third time the sentence is done, player three does the first
gesture, player two does the second gesture and player one invents a new one again. And so on.
This is also a concentration game, though it's not really difficult. All one has to do is watch the
previous player, and next time, take over her gesture. When you're watching what everyone else is
doing you're going to get lost though.
Alien Tiger Cow

Game K
Fun game to warm up and to teach players some Chivalry .
Exercise Everyone in a circle. There are 3 things a player can be:
Group
Warm-up
An alien: hold you index fingers up next to your head, as little antenna's and say 'Bleeb bleeb',
bending inwards into the circle;
A cow: bend forward, hold your right hand on your tummy and go 'Moooo'
A tiger: push your right hand forward, imitating a claw and roar.
On your sign, every player decides to become one of the three. The idea is for everyone to become
the same, which obviously won't be the case, the first time. We re-do this until everyone is in sync.
Variations
Invent your own animals (or things) and let players become juke boxes, birds, whatever.
Play 'majority wins': animals/things that are most in the minority drop out. Also known as Rock Paper
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Scissors .

Alliteration Introduction
Game Excellent game for players to get to know each other's names.
Concentration Everyone in a circle. A player starts the game by introducing himself by making a gesture, and
Exercise
alliterating to his name, e.g. "I'm Wonderful Wendy" or "I'm Smart Steve". The next player point to
Introduction
the first, repeats the previous player's name, attribute and gesture, and does something similar
about himself.
And so on. Game ends with the first player having to do each other player's gesture, repeating their
names and attributes.
Alliterations
Game You will need a tennis ball or a towel tied in a knot for this one. Everyone sitting or standing in a
Association circle. You give one person the ball, and ask him to name as many words as possible that start with a
Concentration
'P' (or any other letter), in the time it takes for the ball to get passed along the circle. Doubles don't
Exercise
Warm-up count, obviously.
Notes
Tell players not to watch the ball go round when they're 'it' - they'll just panic and freeze. Tell them to
try this with closed eyes.
Variations
Pair up the players and use a stopwatch. Ask the left players on the left to name as many words as
possible starting with a 't', and ask their partners to count, for 15 or 20 seconds. Then switch.
Alphabet Circle
Game Great warm-up game to sharpen concentration.
Concentration Everyone in a circle. One player starts by throwing an 'A' to another player. That player throws as
Exercise
fast as possible a 'B' to someone else. And so on.
Warm-up
If you work with a large group, you can divide them into 2 circles, call 'em Team Gold and Team
Silver, and time how fast they can get to 'Z'.
Variations
Any player has the option to change the sequence from A-Z to 1-10 and vice versa. Time it. Or
change to 1-10
Alphabet Game
Game This is a scene consisting of 26 lines of dialog. The first line starts with a given letter (say 'R'). The
Audience reply to that line must start with a 'S', and so on, until the whole alphabet has been covered. After
Participation 'Z' comes 'A'.
Die
Performance Players that hesitate, or use the wrong letter 'Die', and are replaced by another player. The
Verbal wit replacement needs to take over the character of the player she replaces.
Notes
Urge players not to 'stick' to the game - if you can't think of a good sentence to advance the story,
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it's better to just 'die' than to screw up the story (see Chivalry ).

American Idol
Game This is a spoof of the format of (American) Idol, the TV show in which new singers are discovered.
Performance One player is the host, another is the bad judge, and 2 others are candidates. Both candidates
SingSong
introduce themselves (or are introduced by the host) and then sing their song based on an audience
suggestion. Afterwards the judge tears them apart.
Animalistics
Game Ask the audience for animals. Players play a scene, in which the characters are based on these
Association animals.
Characters
Exercise
Performance Notes
Players do not 'become' the animals, they only take over characteristics of the animals.
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Characteristics may be physical, vocal or Status based. For example, 'chicken' might inspire
a player to a cowardly character, moving about jerkily.
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Also known as Totems . - this can be played as an exercise: write totem names on slips of paper.
Give every player a totem before they play a scene. You can extend the animal name; make it more
specific. Play with things like Bald Eagle rather than Eagle; or Silver Moon, Sitting Bull, etc.
Animals
Game Make sure you have an even number of players. Give everyone an animal, but make sure that there
Characters are 2 of each, and that nobody knows which other player is which animal.
Exercise
Then give a number of activities, which the animals perform. Try
Eating. Eating when you're really hungry
Drinking. Drinking when you're really thirsty
Lovemaking
Grooming
Fighting
Sleeping
At the end, ask the players to find the other animal of their kind. Ask the others if they found out who
was which animal.
Variations
Let 2 players be humans.
Armando
Game This is a long form, named after its creator, Chicago Improv teacher and player Armando Diaz. The
Long Form format starts with a storytelling-style monologue, based on an audience suggestion. After the
Performance monologue, players play scenes inspired by the monologue, and the monologue may even continue,
later on in the performance.

Artist Model Clay
Game 3 players. One is a lump of clay - behind her is a second player who is a model. Model takes a pose,
Exercise which the 'clay' is not supposed to see. The third player becomes the artist, who will model the clay
Group
after the model. The artist is not supposed to touch the clay, can't speak and it not allowed to show
the clay what to do or to become.
When done, let the model inspect the artwork and see if details fit.
Variations
Limit the time the artist has to build to statue.
Asides
A scene is played, which any player can stop at any time by yelling freeze. At that point, the player
Game steps out of the scene, and tells the audience what his character is really thinking, after which the
Performance scene continues. The other characters of course are not supposed to know what players are
thinking, but the players do, and should use this.
Notes
Players can use this to reveal their hidden motives. Other players can play into this, or purposely
ignore this knowledge.
Gimmick: characters may actually have other things on their minds than what's going on in the
scene. E.g. a driver stopped by a cop may be thinking about the groceries his wife told him to get at
the supermarket.
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See also Commenting . See also Scene Painting for another game that uses a similar technique.
Variations
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The thoughts of the players can also be provided by players off-stage. Also known as Alter Ego .
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Also known as Consciences .
Assassin
Game Great warm-up for a group of 7+ people. Everyone picks someone to be their bodyguard, and
Warm-up somebody to be their assassin. Don't say out loud who picked who for what.
Game starts, and everyone tries to protect themselves from their assassin, by trying to keep their
bodyguard between themselves and their assassin.
After several minutes of chaos everyone reveals who was picked for what.
Association Jump
Game This is physical association game. All plays mill about the room. At any time, trainer yells a player's
Association name. That player 'jumps' into a frozen position. Trainer can (but does not have to) sidecoach by
Exercise G
shouting 'directions' (see Fast Food Laban ) like 'horizontal', 'up', 'down', 'sideways', 'big', 'small',
Group
Warm-up
'light', 'heavy'.
The other players watch our subject jump into a position, and then build around that player, inspired
by whatever the frozen position out subject jumped into. The end result is a still scene.
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Tip: precede this exercise by Jump .

Game Audience Warm-ups
Audience
Warm-up Often an improvised show starts with an audience warm-up. Here are some suggestions:
Performance Do a Mexican wave (audience making fluent waves with their hands above their head).
Have he pianist/keyboard man make all kinds of sounds and have the audience imitate
them
Ask the audience to stand up and do some physical warm-up. Have them shake their arms
and legs.
Have the audience introduce themselves to strangers, tell a secret their spouse/partner
doesn't know about to a stranger, have them hug a stranger, tell your neighbor waht you ate
today, your pin code
Do an interview with the audience, where the MC is one character (say, a headmaster) and
all of the audience another (say a naughty child). The audience needs to reply to the
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interview in one voice (all saying the same at the same time - seeOne Mouth ). Not an
easy one, and if the audience does not feel like doing this it really sucks. When it works it's a
real thrill.
divide the audience in 3 or 4 groups, and give each group a sound. Rehearse the sound with
each group. Then tell a silly story, and use these sounds as sound effects. (We saw a pretty
gruesome one in which one group was a car (roar), another a dog (bark) and the third group got
a kind of splashing sound. The poor dog got run over by the car... not exactly nice but the
audience had fun with it)
Do a cheering competition between the men and the women.
Rehearse different kinds of applause (from the 'polite' applause when a scene sucks, over an
'ooh' applause for a touching scene, to a wild roar for a hilarious scene). Have them rehearse
voting for a team by cheering the team name (if that's your format). Rehearse a 'Die'
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( seeDie ) if i you're going to be playing scenes in which the audience can decide to throw
a player out of the game.
Give the men and the women a different sound and play with that. Tell them they are
members of a wild tribe, the women go 'Ugh' when you raise your left hand and the man go
'Hagawaga' when you raise your right hand.
Automatic Storytelling
Game This is an exercise you can only do once with a group. Use the exercise to show that making stories
Exercise is not all that difficult.
Narration
Split the group in 2. Half of the players leave the room while you explain the game to the others: we
are going to make stories in pairs. We will tell the other players that we came up with a great story,
and they have to guess it. The catch is that they can only ask yes/no questions, and we do not really
have a story. We will answer 'no' to every question that starts with a vowel or with a conjugation of
'to be' (or some other criterion). In addition, after having answered 2 consecutive No's we will always
answer a yes.
Let the other players back in and pair them up with the others. Each couple starts guessing the story,
unknowingly creating a story as they go. Continue till they get it.
Origin
R R
This exercise is described by Keith Johnstone in Impro for Storytellers .
Back Dancing
Game Played in pairs. Actors stand back to back, and dance on different kinds of music. Back must stay in
Exercise
touch at all times.
Group
Trust
Backwards Interview
Game Ask for a topic for a TV interview. Then 2 players do the interview backwards. That means that the
Limitations first sentence uttered is the last one in the interview, perhaps something like: Thanks for that
Performance
enlightening explanation. (to the guest) To all of you viewers at home, thank you for watching, and
see you next week. And then players work their way backwards.
Various gimmicks can be played. For example, in your responses, you can pimp players. Examples
would be: "Thank you for that very energetic answer to the question", pimping the other player to do
something very energetic.
Variations
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The 'backwards' gimmick can be used to play any scene - Also known as Backwards Scene . . In
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that way, don't base your play on verbal wit only; use gestures and Object Work as well.
Balladeer(1)
Game One player is the balladeer, who starts singing a ballad about an audience suggestion. The other
Performance players actually play what the balladeer sings about, in slow motion.
SingSong
This is actually group story-building, as the players are inspired by the what the balladeer sings
(obviously) but also, their actions can/should inspire the balladeer.
Notes
K C
You're not limited to ballads, of course. The same Handle can be used for a Long Form structure:
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see Balladeer(2) .
Origin
The Improvoholics mailed us to claim they developed this game. Well thanks guys.
Balladeer(2)
Game G
This is like the short form version Balladeer , but now as soon as the balladeer stops singing or
Long Form finishes the song, the characters start playing and talking independently. When their scene is done
Performance the balladeer starts a new song, and so forth.
SingSong
Barney
Game Silly warm-up game. Everyone in a circle, one person as a 'caller' in the middle. Caller yells a letter
Concentration to one of the players; that player must come up with a name of a person, an object or a service that
Exercise
can be sold, and a location, all starting with the letter given. Example would be 'B' which leads to
Spontaneity
Warm-up "Barney sells Bread in Bulgaria". Anything goes, as long as it comes out right away; if not the player
becomes caller.
BarPro
R
The (slightly negative sounding) name is attributed toKeith Johnstone and refers to shows
Game consisting of short games, played in small rooms, like bars and tiny comedy clubs.
Format In this simple format, a limited number of players (4-6) play improv games, introduced, and usually
directed by an MC. In certain troupes the players take turns MC-ing and/or directing.
There are usually no judges, no score boards and no prizes to be won. Suggestions are taken from
the audience, drawn out of a hat or provided by the MC.
Due to the lack of space, there are usually no props or attributes, except for perhaps a coat hanger
with clothes and a couple of hats; players typically mime their props. As far as we know the name
BarPro is not copyrighted.

Bartender
Game Ask for a silly problem. Player 1 goes into a bar and explains his woes to the bartender in a song.
Performance
The bartender then fixes the problem in another song.
SingSong G
See also Three Melodies .
Beatnik Poet
Game Tell the audience we are going to improvise a bad poetry night at pseudo- intellectual coffee house.
Die Ask for 2 unrelated objects or concepts. All players perform a poem that has both suggestions. If
Limitations
they miss out a suggestion or if they don't rhyme, the audience yells Die! and the player commits
Performance
suicide on stage.
Become
Game This one can be player with all players at a time, or you can ask the group to watch as players come
Association up with different ideas on how to do this.
Exercise
Ask the players to become
Spontaneity
A jar of mayonnaise
A pack of cigarettes
Dentures
At first, this will probably not lead to much. Add side coachings, like:
You are a jar of mayonnaise. Opened or not? Full or empty? Fresh or not? Show it.
You are a pack of smokes. Empty or full? Filter cigarettes or not? Where are you? In someone's
pocket or on a shelve in a shop? Show it.
You are a flower. What kind of flower? Blooming or not? In a vase or in a field? What color?
Freshly picked or not? A present to a lover or at a funeral?
You are water. Still or not? In a glass? A jar, a puddle, a lake or an ocean? Fresh or dirty?
You are stone, air, sand, fire.
Your are blue, red, green. You are a clock. Big Ben or grandfather clock? Working or not. Is
your time right or not? A watch? Who is wearing you? A nun or a pimp? How could you show
that?
You are French fries. McDonalds or Wendy's? Hot or cold? Any ketchup? On a plate or in a
cardboard box? Eaten or not? Yummy or yuck?
After a while, players should be able to come up with the side coachings for themselves. Encourage
the players to try out different kind of stuff, see what they come up with.
Before or After
Game A short scene is played. After that the host asks the audience whether they want to see what
Continuation G
happened before this scene, or what happens after this scene. This is a variation on Fast Forward .
Performance
Bidirectional Satellite TV
Game G G
Fairly difficult combination of Satellite TV and Satellite Radio : players in pairs, establish a
Exercise beat. Every beat, player 1 offers a movement and player 2 offers a word of a story. At the same
Look and Listen
time, players mirror each other, with a delay of 1 beat.
Big Blob
Game Players perform a scene in a location that contains an enormous blob of blubber. Something yukkie.
Exercise Players must walk or move through this blob as the scene continues, but their characters are not
Limitations
supposed to acknowledge that this Big Blob is there.
Performance
Big Booty
Game Everyone in a circle. One player is Big Booty. The others, going clockwise, are numbered: 1, 2, 3 and
Concentration so on. Now Big Booty establishes a 4-beat rhythm, saying Big Booty, Big Booty, Big Booty (followed by
Warm-up a rest) - repeat this until everyone got the rhythm. The game then goes as follows: Big Booty passes
the buck to someone else, saying Big Booty to 7 (say) (this takes 2 beats, one for saying 'Big Booty'
and one for saying 'to 7'). Number 7 then passes in 2 beats to, say number 2, saying '7 to 2'. It then
continues until someone makes a mistake: if and when that happens everyone says (in 2 beats) 'Oh
Shit', after which we repeat Big Booty Big Booty Big Booty (+ rest on 4th beat), twice. After that, the
player that made the mistake becomes Big Booty, and everyone's number changes. New Big Booty
starts the game again.
Big Fish Small Fish

Game Fun energizer game. Everyone in a circle. We are going to pass a pattern along the circle. Everyone,
Energy at their turn does either:
Exercise
Say Big Fish, and hold both hands in front of you, about 3 inches or 10cm apart. "It" then passes
Warm-up
to the next person in the circle.
Say Small Fish, and hold both hands in front of you, about 15 inches or 50cm apart. When this
is done, the direction changes.
Players that miss (e.g. say Small Fish and keep your hands too close together or say Big Fish and
move hands wide) do a forfeit, or die with a loud noise.
Bippety Bop(1)
Game Silly warm-up to get the blood flowing. A players in a circle, one player in the middle. The player in
Concentration the middle closes his eyes, holds right hand pointing in front of him, and spins around. When done
Exercise
spinning, open your eyes and say, as fast as you can 'Bippety Bippety Bop'.
Warm-up
The player you're pointing to, and his 2 neighbors, need to build an elephant in less than the time the
middle player needs to say 'Bippety Bippety Bop'. An elephant consists of a trunk, made by the
middle player, by holding your nose with one hand, and extending your other arm through the arm
that holds the hand that holds the nose (does this make any sense?). The neighboring players each
form a big ear, using both arms. Don't forget to attach the ears to the elephant's head.
Any player that cannot get his/her part done by the time the middle player does 'Bippety Bippety
Bop' becomes 'it' and takes place in the middle of the circle.
Variations
You can really invent any object or create to replace the elephant. Try
a car, with 2 wheels and a set of wind screen wipers
a cow, with an udder and 2 horns
a washing machine, with 2 players building a 'box' with both arms, and the middle player waving
her arms in a circle in front of her. All go 'rumble rumble'
a bunny, with 2 paws (middle player) and 2 rabbit ears (neighbors)
G G G
Also known as Also known as Bappety Boo . . See also Bunny . See Elephant for a more
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elaborate version of the game. See Bippety Bop(2) for a variation that goes by the same name.

Bippety Bop(2)
Game G
This is a variation on Bippety Bop : all players in a circle, one player in the middle who is 'it'. This
Concentration player picks a player in the circle and yells 'bippety-bippety-bop' at her. If he manages to get to 'bop'
Exercise
before she can say 'bop', she becomes 'it'.
Warm-up
Other possibilities are:
Just say 'bop' if anyone else reacts, that person becomes 'it'
Say 'Elephant', after which 3 players build the elephant: the player picked does the trunk (hold
nose and squeeze your other arm through) and her neighbors doe the ears. If any of the 3
players screws up or does not react he or she becomes it.
Say 'mixer': the player in the middle becomes a mixer, holding arms up in the air, sort of
horizontally, while her neighbors position themselves under her hands, and turn around their
axises
Say 'toaster' : the player in the middle becomes a slice of bread, and her neighbors become the
toaster, by 'building' the toaster with their arms around the bread. The slice of bread pops up an
down too when done!
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Feel free to invent other objects (suggestions can be found underBippety Bop ).
Black Box
Game This one is played by 2 players. One holds a (mimed) black box, which has 3 buttons, one of which is
Performance red. These buttons control a player; one button might be the 'jerk your leg' button. The exact functions
of each button are not defined.
The other player enters and asks if he can play with the box. Player 1 agrees, but adds something
like "Whatever you do, don't push the red button".
Player 2 begins to play with the buttons, controlling player 2. Then, we slowly work up to the use of
the dreaded red button, which will make player 2 do something not-so-obvious. This can be anything,
but it should not be preconceived. The red button might become a Mood swing button, a Start
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Screaming, Start Giggling, Sing Opera, or Switch-to- Gibberish button.
Blind Association Circle

Game G
This one starts just like Free Association Circle : players in a circle, establish a rhythm, and freely
Association associate on previous player's word. As this is going on, the trainer will tap all players gently on the
Exercise shoulder, at 3 times:
Look and Listen
first tap: players close their eyes but continue the free association, sticking to the rhythm
second tap: everyone starts walking around (carefully!), eyes still closed.Players have to
recognize the voice of their ex-neighbour in the circle to know when it's their turn.
Third tap: all players, still eyes closed, and still associating, try to reconstruct the circle. Exercise
is over when everyone is in a circle again. Trainer should keep an eye on players to make sure they
don't run into things. It helps if there's not too much clutter around, of course.
Blindfolded Scene
Game Players are blindfolded and then play a scene.
Limitations
Performance Variations
Trust
Have the players play barefoot and have mousetraps on the stage. Not very nice but we've seen it
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done. Also known as Mousetraps .

Blind Freeze
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Game This one is just like Freeze Tag , but here the MC calls Freeze, and calls in another player.
Association If you're not using an MC, any player might call Freeze and call in any other player.
Exercise G
Performance
Many groups find this game more exciting than Freeze Tag , as players don't know when they get
Warm-up
pushed in the game, and hence are less prepared, and crazier, more exciting stuff tends to happen.
Blind Harold
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Game This is really a listening exercise, though it has been performed as a Long Form for
Exercise G
audiences. Basically, this is a Harold , played with all players sitting down with their eyes
Limitations Long closed. For a performance one would turn all the lights off in the theater.
Form Look and G
Listen See also The Bat .
Performance
Blind Lead
Game One player is blindfolded, and the room is filled with obstacles (put a couple of chairs everywhere,
Exercise leave all kinds of junk on the floor). The idea is that the rest of the group will lead the blindfolded
Group
player through the room, by talking.
Trust
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Also known as Airplane . A helpful reader offered us an explanation for the name 'Airplane': The
blindfoldee (or just eyes closed) is led through a maze composed of furniture and the other actors.
He is an "Airplane" lost in the fog being talked down by the "Air Traffic Controller", who must remain
in his/her "Tower". Standing on a chair/rehearsal block lends visibility for the controller. The airplane
also only has a limited amount of fuel left (1-3 minutes, whatever) to reach a safe landing (arriving at
the Tower). The airplane is also allowed two "brushes"-limited contact with an obstacle. The third
brush or a direct hit or stepping on something directly causes a "crash". They may step around, over
or under the obstacles. Also, the airplane can only fly forward. It can turn in any direction, however.
The directions must be given from the pilot's point of view; a good exercise for fledgling directors.
You can also destroy all the trust you've built up in your class by completely clearing the deck and
torturing the Pilot. Believe us, someone will suggest it.
G G
Also known as Obstacle Course . See also Fingertips for a similar exercise.
Blind Line Offers

Game Line up the players, give'em each a number. Call out 2 numbers. Those players step on stage
Exercise K
immediately, with a physical Offer (do something, eat an apple, wipe the floor, whatever) as well as
a vocal offer (say something).
The idea is that the players accept and explore each other's offers and figure out what the scene is
about.
Blind Line Up
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Game This one is like Group Order , except that everyone keeps their eyes closed, and no talking
Group is allowed while the group lines up.
Introduction
Warm-up
Notes
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This is more a group exercise than Group Order (which is more about agreement), so initially
you probably want to take it easy on the silly stuff, like line up by order of mental health...
Always interesting to see what strategies the group comes up with.
You can't really use alphabetical order if the group does not really know each other.

Blind Musical
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Game This is like a musical version of Pockets : ask the audience to write simple sentences on slips of
Performance paper. Hand each player 2 or 3 slips (they're not allowed to read them yet). Play a scene or series of
SingSong
scenes. Players draw slips of paper at random, and every time they do, they start a song that starts
with the sentence on the slip.
Try to integrate the info on the slips into the story, of course!
Variations
Leave the slips of paper on the stage for players to pick up.
Blues Jam
Game Ask the audience for 5 things that give them the blues. Then improvise a blues jam about those
Performance elements.
SingSong
Body Hide
Game Excellent exercise to get to know each other, and to learn to trust and touch each other. 5
Exercise volunteers. 4 of these must try and hide the fifth person, using nothing but their bodies. The other
Group
students stand around the group and try and see pieces of the fifth's clothes, shoes, skin.
Introduction
Trust It's great fun for the other students to watch and try and find uncovered pieces of person. Don't tell
them they go next, with one person less.
Variations
Try this game with less and less 'hiders'. If the task becomes impossible, tell them they can use
parts of walls. Using a corner is easiest, of course, but let them figure that out themselves.
Bong Bong Bong

Game Silly game, inspired by a Korean TV show (so we're told).
Guessing 4 players, 3 stand with their ears closed, backs turned to the scene. The 4th player gets as a
Limitations
suggestion a common expression.
Performance
The idea is that this player has 1 minute to communicate this suggestion to the 2nd player, using
K
only mime and Gibberish . Number 2 then communicates (what he has understood) to number 3,
who does the same to number 4. At the end yell Bong Bong Bong and have players 2, 3 and 4
explain what they thought they understood.
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A similar technique is used in LCD .

Game Boris
Exercise
Narration 2 players play an interrogation scene. One is the interrogator, the other is a suspect. The interrogator
Performance randomly throws unconnected elements to the suspect, who needs to incorporate these and get
himself into (even more) trouble.
And then we have Boris, who is a nasty, huge, but invisible thug assisting the interrogator. Every
time the interrogator does not like the suspect's answers (and also when the suspect does not
incriminate himself enough), the interrogator calls on Boris to torture the suspect, prodding him to
confess or incriminate him even further.
Notes
we do not establish the crime beforehand
the suspect mimes being tortured by Boris
the investigator can tell Boris what to do (break his leg), but it is more fun to leave the choice of
torture up to the suspect
if the torture does not go far enough to the investigator's taste, he can always call in Boris' evil
twin brother, Igor (also invisible)
as a gag, the suspect can also incriminate Boris (who can turn out to be a witness/accomplice to
the crime).
Origin
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Attributed to Keith Johnstone .
Game Bucket
Audience
Participation Before the show ask the audience to write simple sentences on slips of paper. Those go in a big
Limitations bucket.
Performance A scene is played, and at random moments the players don't just invent a line of dialogue, but use
a line off a piece of paper drawn from the bucket. Anything said is accepted, heigthened and
integrated.
Bunny
Game Extremely silly game, to pump up the energy. Get everyone in a circle. One player becomes the
Energy body of a bunny - this is done by holding both arms in front of your chest, elbows touching your rib
Exercise
cage, and letting hands hang. Her 2 neighbors become the 'ears' of the bunny, by waving a hand
Warm-up
next to the middle player's ears. All 3 say 'bunny bunny bunny' together, until the middle player
'throws' a 'bunny' to another player in the circle. This player becomes the bunny body, and his
neighbors get to do the ears.
Play this game at a high speed. Mumbling 'bunny bunny' en masse gives a nice energy boost.
Variations
Play in slow motion. Hilarious!
Alternatively, you can really invent any object or create or replace the bunny, as long as you invent a
sound along with it. Try
a car, with 2 wheels and a set of wind screen wipers, going 'vroom vroom'
a cow, with an udder and 2 horns, going 'moo moo'
a washing machine, with 2 players building a 'box' with both arms, and the middle player waving
her arms in a circle in front of her. All go 'rumble rumble'
an elephant, with 2 big ears and a trunk, making an elephant sound (if you don't know what an
elephant sounds like, just invent a sound).
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See also Bippety Bop . See also Killer Bunny .

Call from Ray
Game A scene is begun. At some point in the scene an onstage player has to receive a "Call from Ray" (or
Limitations any other name agreed upon). The call can come in any form, like phone call, SMS, smoke signals,
Performance
telepathy or whatever, and Ray himself may not appear in the scene.
Variations
You can come up with any sentence that needs to come up. A variation would be to use "I'll have a
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coke" - Also known as I\'ll have a coke ..
Cards
Game Ask the audience to write short sentences on cards. Give 2 players 3 cards, which they put in their
Performance pockets. Then they play a scene. At any point in time, instead of saying whatever they think they
might say, they take a card, and read what's on the card. Whatever is said should be justified. See
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also Actor's Nightmare .
Card Status
Game K
Excellent Status game.
Endowment 4 players. Ask an audience member to pick 4 cards out of a deck, and attach a card to each player's
Limitations Look
forehead, so that players can see each other's card, but not their own. Use a rubber band or a piece
and Listen
Performance
of string for that.
Status The idea is to play a scene, in which the status order of the characters is defined by the cards.
Evidently, players don't know their own status, so the other players will have to endow them.
Notes
Set up a location where status is important. Examples would be a Royal Palace or a highly
organized bureaucracy (the White House ?).
Variations
players can only see their own card, but not the others'
give players multiple cards, and let them switch cards in the middle of the scene. Statuses
(statii ??) should change accordingly.
as an exercise, let players play a scene and then ask them to line up in status order to see if
they 'got' their status right.
Cat and Mouse

Game All players in pairs. One player is cat, one other player is mouse, and all others stay in pairs, arms
Energy hooked together. Cat chases mouse; when mouse is caught then mouse becomes cat and vice
Warm-up versa. However, mouse can escape chase by hooking into any pair of other players. At that point the
player at the other end of the pair becomes cat and the cat becomes mouse.
Catch'em
Game One player is 'it' and stands at one end of the room, facing the wall. The other players at the other
Concentration end of the room. Players need to try and get to the player who is 'it' without 'it' seeing them move.
Energy The player who is 'it' can turn around at any time - at that point everybody else needs to freeze.
Exercise
Warm-up
Anyone who is caught moving is out.
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Also known as Bear of Poitiers . (seeGames for Actors and Non-actors )

Circle of Knots
Game Form a circle, holding hands. Then, any player can start moving about, making knots in the circle. Do
Exercise
this gently, and keep holding hands.
Group
Variations
Try a line instead of a circle
Try with eyes closed or blindfolded
Circle Sitting
Game Have everyone stand in a circle, really close to each other, facing inwards. Then ask everyone to
Group make a quarter turn left. Make everyone stand even closer to each other. When ask the whole group
Trust
to sit down. If everyone is really close, they will end up sitting on one another's knees, and the whole
Warm-up
construction supports itself.
If well done it's even possible to make the circle walk. Indicate which foot to start with ;-)
Clap Snap Association

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Game This one is like a Free Association Circle , except that the rhythm is more explicit. Here's how to
Association do the rhythm: each beat consists of 4 phases:
Exercise
Slap both hands on your thighs
Warm-up
Clap your hands
Snap your left hand fingers
Snap your right hand fingers
With every right hand snap, a word should be thrown to your neighbor. Once the rhythm is
established, you can leave out the snaps - that'll make things more understandable.
Variations
G G
You can use this for both Last Letter games or Free Association Circle .
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Try this with two circles. Have one circle associate freely, and another circle on Last Letter .
Whenever a player misses a beat she should switch circles.
Notes
If you do this with 2 circles, you will probably find that the rhythms for both circles synchronize.
Clap Snap Stamp

Game All players in pairs, facing each other. We're going to count from one to three, each player one
Concentration number at a time, and we keep repeating this. So player number one would go one, three, two, one,
Warm-up three, and so on.
Once they get this, we replace the 'one' with a 'snap' (snap your fingers).
Once everyone is into that, we replace the 'two' as well, with a hand-clap.
Finally, we replace the 'three' as well, with a stamp of the right foot. Play at high speed!

Click Bang you're dead
Game Description: all players sit in a circle. Only one player should know how to play and what the secret
Concentration is; this player is the leader at first, until others catch on. This person points at random people in the
Exercise
circle each time saying either "click" or "bang"; they should make it sound and look like what theyâre
Introduction
doing has to do with math or the order they are going etcâ¦
The secret: it really doesnât matter who is pointed to, what is said, when they are pointed to, who it
begins with or who it ends with, it just depends on who speaks first after the clicks and bangs are
done. So the person who begins (the one that knows whatâs going on) will declare whoever talks
first dead by saying "youâre dead". That person isnât "out" or anything, itâs just for effect. The game
continues until the players catch on. If somebody thinks they get it, the leader gives them a chance
to say the clicks and bangs and they get to announce who is dead; the leader will then be able to tell
if they understand the secret if they announce the right person as being dead.
Make sure that once the players begin to catch on, they donât spoil it for the others by letting the cat
out of the bag. Also, the game is best if played with ten or more people.
Contributed by Jeannie Smith from Hawai. Thanks for that Jeannie!
Columbian Hypnosis
Game Played in pairs. One player holds her open hand, fingers upward, about 2-3 inches from her
Exercise partner's face. She then starts moving her hand about slowly, while her partner tried to keep his face
Trust
at exactly the same distance from her hand, like her hand is pulling of pushing his face about.
Switch sides and partners after a couple of minutes.
Notes
This is really also an exercise for the hypnotized, as she needs to ensure that her partner is able to
follow her.
Variations
Use both hands.
Origin
R R
Described in Augusto Boal 's Games for Actors and Non-actors .
ComedySportz
ComedySports was started by Dick Chudnow in 1884 in Milwaukee. It's a format of competitive
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Game improvisational comedy that resembles Keith Johnstone 's Theatresports . The format is
Format currently played by a dozen-plus teams all over the USA, united in the Comedy League of America.
In a ComedySportz show 2 teams complete for points given by the audience. A referee oversees the
match, times the games, calls fouls and gets audience suggestions. A match consists of something
like 7 to 12 games, drawn from a repertoire of over a hundred games (you'll find most of these
games in the Games section of Improv Encyclopedia).
In terms of gimmicks, you have the 'brown bag foul', which is a brown paper bag placed over the
offending player's head.
Coming Home
Game Ask players to think of someone they know. Then ask them to play how that person would
Characters come home from work. Players need to pay attention to
Environment
Exercise
The environment: what does that person's house look like? Is it neat and tidy or is it a mess?
Big house or small apartment?
What does he do? Does the character change clothes or showers or has a beer first? Does
he eat? If so, what? Microwave dinner, carryout, pizza delivery or cornflakes?
What mood is that character in?
How was work today?
Variations
You can come up with other situations in which characters enter a location.
Commercial
Game Ask for a product (existing or non-existing). Then play a commerical for that product.
Performance
Variations
you can do this as a radio commercial. Cut the lights in the theater. ( seeScene in the Dark
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. you can play the whole development of the commercial, starting with the brainstorming
by the marketing guys, the work of the production company coming up with a slogan, jingle,
etc. You can even play the bloopers at the actual taping of the commercial.
Complete Bodies
Game Players in pairs. One player takes a position, using all parts of her body. The other player
Exercise completes that position, by folding over/in/around the first player, without touching her. First player
Look and Listen
then completes second player in another pose, again without touching.
As a next step, do the same, but tell a story, one sentence at a time, providing a sentence every
time you move.
Concentration Circle
Game Place all players in a circle and number them sequentially, starting with a random player. The
Concentration players then establish a rhythm, for example by swinging their left hands up and down. Have
Exercise
player
Warm-up
1 start; when her arm is up she shouts/throws a number. The player with that number needs to
throw another number at the next beat.
Players that fail (if they did not recognize their own number) or that break the rhythm become the last
player in the circle, and that changes the numbers for a bunch of players. Restart with player one.
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See also Big Booty .
Confessions
Game Not exactly theater but fun when played well. The MC gets a bunch of 'confessions' from
Performance the audience. These can be really lame, like e.g. 'I vote democratic', 'I used to be a man', 'I
Verbal wit sold a kidney', whatever.
Then players line up. One player steps forward, and gets a confession from the host. Player
utters the confession in a character, and immediately another player jumps in and offers a witty
reply. Do this as long as players have ideas for replies. Then replace the first player by a new
one, give her a new confession and repeat ad libitum.
Continuing Emotions
Game A 'neutral' scene is started, and is then interrupted (frozen) several times by the MC. The scene is
Continuation then continued but all characters switch to an emotion provided by the audience.
Performance
Continuing Styles
Game A 'neutral' scene is started. This scene gets interrupted several times by the MC, and then continued
Continuation in a film/ literature/ drama/ TV-program style provided by the audience.
Performance
The platform and the story need to continue flawlessly.
CopyCat
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Game CopyCat goes like a verbal Freeze Tag . A scene is started. At any time, a player at the side can
Association step forward (the playing players hold off for a moment) and repeats a line that was said in the
Exercise
scene. Whoever originally said that line, steps aside, and the remaining players start a new scene
Performance
starting with the line that was repeated.
Variations
Feel free to actually continue the ongoing scene rather than to start a completely new one. Feel free
to replace all the players instead of just the player who said the last line.
Rather than just stepping in and repeating a line, you might want to call 'FLIP' (or freeze). This
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variation is known as Also known as FLIP ..
Crabtrees Conundrum
Game This game is taking from Mrs. Crabtree from South Park. 2 players start a scene and every now and
Limitations then a player will say "What'd you say?" And the other player must come up with a completely
Performance
different phrase that rhymes with the one just said.
For instance. Christine, I think you are as sick as a dog!! What'd you say? I said I think we should go
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for a jog, it's a really nice day.. and so forth. See Ding for a similar game.
Crime Endowments
ï»¿[ Endowment Guessing Performance
Game
One player is endowed as the head of a criminal organization and gathers with the others to plan or
act out the crime. He is endowed with âsomething to steal, hijack or kill, âa method or weapon, and
some wild card such as a code word or i a disguise.
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This is sort of a generalisation of Hijacker .
Crisis Situation
Game Great exercise for spontaneity. 2 players on stage approach each other with a crisis, and an object
Exercise unrelated to the crisis. After each has presented his or hers, each solves the other's crisis with their
Spontaneity
own object. Replies must be instantaneous and may be ridiculous.
Example:
Player A: My wife left me and I'm stuck here with this t-shirt
Player B: I got robbed and all I have left is my good looks.
Player A: Here's my t-shirt; you can sell it and make some money.
Player B: Erm... Marry me.
Cross Circle
Game Perfect game to learn each other's names.
Concentration Everyone in a circle. One person (A) starts by calling another person's name (B). At that point, A
Exercise
starts walking towards B. Before A gets to B, B needs to call another name (C), so B frees her spot
Introduction
Warm-up in the circle, for A to take. C then needs to call yet another name and start walking, so B can take
C's spot.
Variations
Instead of calling names, players can pick another player by making eye contact (and nodding
to acknowledge that eye contact has been made). This demands a lot of concentration.
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You can have more than one cycle going, if the group is big enough. Also known as Name Game .
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Also known as Shriner's Warm-up .
Cut
Game C
This Long Form game is played with 6 to 15 players. 2 players start a scene, perhaps based on
Format an audience suggestion. In the middle of the scene, any other player can call 'Cut', and start
Long Form another scene, dragging one or more other players in the scene.
All scenes are interrupted this way, and the idea is that all scenes come together in one story.
Cut scenes can be continued later. Usually, every player sticks to one character.
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This game can be played with or without a director. Also know as Also known as Soap ..
Variations
Usually, we decide on a category before the start of this game. Possible categories are
Soap series, like The Bold and the Beautiful, Dallas, Eastenders
Hospital drama, like E.R.
Cop drama, like Hill Street Blues
Romantic Comedy, like The Love Boat
Crime series or murder mysteries
Dating Game
Game This is played like a Blind Date show. One player leaves the stage, and the audience provides
Endowment endowments for the 3 others. Examples might be No. 1 is stupid, No. 2 is a serial killer and No. 3
Performance
thinks he's a macho.
4th player gets to ask 3 questions, and each of the others answers it. After the questions player 4
should guess what the endowments were.
Day in the Life

Game The MC picks a member of the audience and interviews this person about their average (work) day.
Audience Questions asked may include 'What is your job?", "Where do you live, with who?", "What are your
Participation
hobbies?", "How do you get to work?", "Who are your colleagues?", and more. The players then
Performance
improvise a day in the life of this audience member, based on the elements provided by the
interview.
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See also Ding Dong .
Variations
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Instead of playing a real day, play a nightmare - Also known as Nightmare . . Host can ask what
the audience member is afraid of or does not like.
Deaf Replay
Game 2 players play a scene while 2 others watch the scene, with their ears covered. When the scene is
Limitations over, the 2 others re-play the scene. Obviously they'll do the same movements, but the dialogue will
Performance
be different.
Replay
Death and Retriever

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Game This one is like Scorpion , but in this version killed players are not 'out', but can be revived.
Exercise Everyone eyes closed, one player becomes the killer (tap him on the shoulder) and another one
Group
becomes the retriever. The retriever gets a towel of a scarf around her neck.
Trust
Dead players scream when they are killed, keep their eyes closed and stand still. When the retriever
bumps into someone that does not move (a dead body) she can revive the dead by rubbing them
with the towel.
When the retriever gets killed, she screams and stops moving. When another living person bumps
into the retriever (recognized by the scarf), the retriever is revived, and the one that revived the
retriever becomes the new retriever.
Play till everyone is dead or bored.
Death in a Minute
Game 2 or 3 players play a 1 minute scene, in which one player must die.
Limitations
Performance Notes
Timed
Tell players to take risks. Why not just drop dead after 5 seconds and leave it up to the other player
to justify the death.
Deconstruction
C
Game This is a Long Form format. It starts with one rather long scene, which is followed by other,
Long Form probably shorter, scenes that somehow connect to the first scene. Possible connections are:
Performance
Characters return
Characters of situations mentioned in the first scene appear in the subsequent scenes
Subsequent scenes take place in the same environment as the first scene
The reason why the first scene should be fairly long is that it should provide enough information for
other scenes to build on. The name 'Deconstruction' can be interpreted as "Take a first scene, and
then deconstruct it by using characters, locations, situations, played or referred to, and play/re-use
those in further scenes".
Origin
Deconstruction originated at ImprovOlympic in Chicago.
R
For a long discussion about the format and its origin see Chicago Improv .
Diamond
Game 4 players in a square; 2 in front, 2 behind them. The MC or host asks for an audience suggestion for
Continuation the 2 players in front. Then the host asks the players to turn the square (to the right or to the left). So
Performance
now we have a different combination of players in front. These 2 get an audience suggestion. Turn
again and ask for suggestion again and do this once more. Then have players take their original
position.
The game is played as follows: the 2 players in front start a scene; the 2 players in the back move to
the side to clear the stage. Players play until the host yells "Call", at which time all players step back
to their original positions in the square. MC then calls Right or Left, and square turns accordingly.
The 2 players in front start playing a scene based on their suggestion until MC calls again.
This is repeated. When 2 players are up front for the second or third time, they continue their
previously played scene. They can either plainly continue it, or continue at some time in the future (a
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day later, a year later, a century later). Also known asRevolver . Also known as Pan Left Pan
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Right . Also known as Turntable .
Ding Characters
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Game This is like Ding : players play a scene. When a bell is rang, they both need to drop into a
Characters completely different character, but the scene continues.
Exercise
This exercise is unlikely to lead to good scenes, but it's a great help to teach players to drop into
clear and varied characters instantly.
Ding Dong
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Game This is a variation on Day in the Life : pick an audience member and ask her some questions
Audience about her day. Then play that day. Every time the players 'guess' something incorrect the volunteer
Participation
says 'Dong'. Players try to correct until they get a 'Ding'.
Performance
Example. Player is in bed in the morning and the alarm clock goes off: BZZZ. You get a 'Dong'. Try
again and alarm clock starts playing the radio. Another 'Dong'. Try again and player is woken up by
the neighbour drilling a hole in the wall. 'Ding'. You got it. Continue with breakfast, and so on.
Ding
Game A scene is played. Whenever the MC ring a bell (or yells 'Ding'), the player that is doing
Exercise something/saying something needs to say/do something else.
Performance
Spontaneity
Notes
Doing 'something else' is quite often interpreted as doing/saying the opposite of what you did before.
One can be more creative, e.g. repeat what was said in a different emotion.
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If you use this as an exercise on Spontaneity the trainer can 'Ding' quite often (very frustrating for
the players, but they will come up with stuff they never would have thought of before). Disadvantage
of this is that the story/characters tend to get lost. Use sparingly for performance. Also known as
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Other Choice .
Director's Cut
Game A normal scene is played. At any moment a player not in the scene (or a player dedicated to this
Performance G
particular role) stops the scene ( seeCut ) and has the actors replay the scene with different
emotions, characters, roles. Like a director instructing actors on how to play.
Disc(1)
Game Tell the players to imagine the stage is a disc, only supported right in the center of the stage. We are
Exercise going to play a scene, in which the disc needs to be balanced at all times. Anytime a player moves,
Limitations
or a new player enters, the others need to rebalance the disc, and every move needs to be justified.
Notes
G G
Also known as Pivot . There is another version of this game - see Disc(2) .
Disc(2)
Game Imagine the stage is a large disc, supported in the middle. The goal is to keep the disc balanced.
Exercise Game starts with a player entering the disc; he is the leader. As soon as the leader stops milling
Limitations
about on the disc, another player must jump in and restore the balance. The new player becomes
the new leader, and the previous leader becomes a follower.
As soon as the balance is restored, the leader can start walking around; the other player stays where
he is. As soon as the leader stops again, the follower(s) move and restore the balance. After that,
the leader becomes one of the followers, and a new leader jumps in.
The group of followers may split into groups of equal size, and restore the balance that way.
Keep in mind that followers don't start moving until the leader stops.
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See also Disc(1) .
Dissociation
Game This game can be done individually, or you can have one player do it in front of the class. Players
Association say as many words that have nothing to do with each other, until they start associating. Restart as
Exercise
soon as you've got an association.
Warm-up
Example: cat, deodorizer, house, green, grass. Here we restart, because grass is obviously an
association on green.
Notes
You can use this game to show that association is natural, and that it is actually difficult not to
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associate. See also Malapropism .
Distance Game
Game Two players stand a few feet apart facing each other and have the most boring 4-line interchange
Exercise possible. They then each secretly pick a specific distance they want to be from the other person and
Limitations
repeat the interchange while maintaining the distance. The maintaining of distance automatically
seems to affect people's emotional commitment and inflection. The key is to have a specific distance
in mind down to the inch. If one person picks 1 foot but the other picks a foot and a half. You will see
some interesting conflict because of that extra half a foot.
Variations
Play a scene where the players are connected by a stick, a piece of rope or wood. You can even use
a match stick.
Distorting Mirror
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Game This is a variation of the classic Mirror exercise. Played in pairs, one player is designated as the
Concentration mirror. This mirror distorts the image; perhaps it blows everything up, makes everything wider, taller,
Exercise
smaller, narrower, prettier, uglier.
Doors
K
Game Excellent introductory exercise for building environments and Platform . All players in 2 rows. 2
Environment facing players play the exercise, the others watch.
Exercise
Player 1 sets a (part of a) platform by miming a door. As soon as player 2 has an idea about where
player 1 might be, player 2 steps into the scene and offers a line of dialog, expressing where we are.
Player 2 answers player 1, acknowledging player 1's offer. This ends the scene.
The audience should know after these 2 lines of dialog where the players are, and who they are, or
what their relationship is to one another.
Notes
'Doors' can be anything that separates one physical location from another. Players can mime real
doors, but also gates, curtains, you name it. Encourage players to try out as many types of 'doors' as
possible. Use sound to enhance the platform, e.g. a door in a submarine makes a different kind of
noise than an elevator door.
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See also Three Line Environment .
Doo Wop(1)
Game This is another structured song format, sung as a 1950's doo-wop. It can be structured in various
Performance ways.
SingSong
Here's one in 5 beats: ask for an object. Then
Lead singer sings verse about the object
All sing Chorus, in the style of I love my (object)
Verse 2: explain how you found your object
(all) chorus on how you love your object
Verse 3: That fateful night ... explain how you lost your beloved object. This can be done as a
parlando (i.e. you speak to the music, rather than sing)
(bridge) Explain how bad you miss your object
(all) chorus on how you miss your object
Verse 4: explain how your replaced your object by a new (or other) one
(all) chorus on how you love your new object (finale!)
Feel free to drop e.g. the first of second chorus if you feel it drags you down. Feel free to modulate
after the bridge, or not.
Notes
Here's a possible chord progression:
Verse: C Am Dm G7 (3 times) C Fm6 C G7
Bridge: G7% Am% (3 times) D7% G7 Ab7 (modulate to Db)
Chorus: C C/E F G (3 times) C Dm7b5 C
Doo Wop(2)
Game This is another structured long form. Get a topic, line up the players, and start improvising a song
Long Form around the theme, usually without using a piano player (it would get too structured and cluttered if
Performance you so). Use the suggestion to improvise instruments (or their sound) with. Players can offer bits of
SingSong K
Narrative by singing over the 'music'. Once the narrative patterns are clean, any player can step out
of the song and start a scene based on what was established.
When the scene is done the 'music' resumes till someone else starts a scene. Nice if the scenes
start to connect, or if characters from different scenes meet and interact.
Notes
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This is a bit like a Harold but without the games. Or like a French Braid where the glue
between the scenes is the song.
Do Ron Ron
Game 4 players sing a song about a subject, given by the audience, on the tune of Do Ron Ron.
Performance
SingSong
Variations
Invent your own choreography and have the players dance as they sing.
Double Blind Freeze

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Game This is an extension of Blind Freeze : 2 players in scene, the others line up with their backs to the
Limitations scene. Whenever the audience yells Freeze! the 2 players at the end of the line replace the 2
Performance
players on scene, and start a new scene, from the positions the original players were in.
Double Endowment
Game Another great game to train listening skills.
Endowment Pick a place where a scene will be played, and 2 players. Tell each player what they need to get the
Look and Listen
other player to do, without the other player knowing this. Players are not allowed to explicitly tell the
Narration
Performance other player what to do.
Example: an arena in ancient Rome. Player 1 needs player 2 to taste the sand in the arena, and
player 2 needs to get player 1 to tie a knot in a lion's tail.
Notes
Works best is players take risks. If they to the 'wrong' thing the audience will probably just laugh, and
that should be enough to signal the player he's going the wrong way.
Double Opening
Game 2 players each make a (strong) opening sentence, at the same time. After that, adhering to both
Exercise openings, find the scene that makes sense for both.
Limitations Look
and Listen
Narration Variations
Do the same, but have both players react to each other's opening simultaneously. Then have the
original players react to the reaction simultaneously. Rather difficult, but teaches the importance of
listening to one another.
Dry Cleaning Bag of Death

Game We need three or four players. During the scene, one player is always off-stage, with his head inside
Limitations a dry cleaning bag, slowly suffocating. He is not allowed out of the bag until some other player finds
Performance
a way to to exit the scene and 'liberate' the suffocating player. New player puts his head into the bag
until freed by another player, and first liberated player finds a way to justify his entrance into the
scene.
Variations
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Use a bucket of water instead of a dry cleaning bag. Also known as Bucket of Death . . Also known
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as Head in Bucket ..

Dubbed Movie
Game 2 or more actors play a scene, but they don't speak, although they can move their mouths as if
Performance they are speaking. 2 or more players sit in front of the action, and provide the speech. The effect
is (or should be) like watching a dubbed movie.
Duck Duck Goose

Game Invent a name for a non-existing but simple children's game. As soon as you call out the name,
Exercise all players start to play the game. They can use sounds and gibberish, but no real language.
Group
See if the group can come to playing along the same rules.
Warm-up
Variations
Just have the group start playing the game, and afterwards have the group come up with the name.
DVD Special Edition

Game Start off with a trailer, narrated by one of the players, followed by some quick scenes, maximum 5
Long Form lines per scene. Then show the cast (every character in the movie), and follow with the whole movie.
Performance This can be done with out without director.
After the movie you can do the special features. You can do deleted scenes, bloopers, you name it.
A nice format for those transitioning from short form to long form, as the start of the performance is
a bunch of short scenes.
Eights
Game Excellent game to warm up those muscles.
Warm-up Everybody scatter around, stand up relaxedly. Ask the players to make an '8' movement with
their left big toe, then their left foot, then whole left leg. Repeat with right toe/foot/leg.
Repeat with left index finger, left hand, left lower arm, left arm. Repeat with right hand/finger/arm.
Try both arms. In opposite directions.
Make 8-shaped movements with your pelvis. Try horizontally and vertically. Try changing direction.
Ditto for left shoulder, right shoulder, both shoulders. Ditto for your head.
End exercise by making eights simultaneously with as many parts of your body as possible.

Game
Concentration
Exercise Elephant
Warm-up
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This one is like an extended version of Bippety Bop . Start with 3 things:
an Elephant, consisting of a trunk, made by the middle player, by holding your nose with one
hand, and extending yo ur other arm through the arm that holds the hand that holds the nose
(does this make any sense?). The neighboring players each form a big ear, using both arms.
Don't forget to attach the ears to the elephant's head. Make an elephant sound.
A palm tree: the middle player is the tree, her neighbors become the waving leaves of the tree.
Make windy noise
A car: the middle player holds the steering wheel, the neighbors do the wheels. Make car
engine noise.
One player in the middle. Point to a person and yell Elephant (or Palm Tree, or whatever was
agreed). Then choose another player and yell something else. Do this at high speed.
Now for the extension: when someone makes a mistake, look at what the person does, and add that
to the list of possibilities. For example, someone might be waving their arms incorrectly in from of
them, trying to build the trunk of the elephant. If the group things this resembles, say, a swimmer,
we decide on adding a swimmer to the list of options. Say the middle player does the arms and her
neighbor do the legs.
Repeat until you have so many options that everyone goes wrong...
Emotional Family
Game Usually played with 4 players, but can be done with more or less players.
Limitations As a suggestion ask for a family activity, then start a normal scene.
Performance
As soon as all characters and their relationships have been established, freeze the scene, pick a
player, and ask for an emotion for that player. The scene then continues, and the player is overcome
with that emotion.
Repeat till all players got an emotion. The scene has to keep evolving after each emotion
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assignment, and of course players shall try Justifying the emotions.
Emotional Mirror
Game Players in pairs, facing each other. One starts talking in gibberish, with a specific emotion (angry,
Concentration happy, in love, you name it). The other instantly copies the emotion of the first player, and speaks in
Exercise
his own gibberish. No need to try and copy the other player's gibberish, and both players keep
Gibberish
Warm-up talking, no pauzing allowed. After about 10 seconds, the second player changes emotion, and the
first one immediately follows her.
Emotional Quadrants
Game Divide the scene in 4 quadrants, and allocate 4 different emotions to each quadrant. Players play a
Limitations
scene, but need to take on the emotion of the quadrant they are in.
Performance
Notes
Encourage players to move about, in order to force changes of emotions. Don't forget to
justify emotion changes.

Emotions Characters
Game Players in pairs, arms loosely hanging (not folded, not stuck in pant pockets). Players look at each
Characters other with pity. No words or sounds allowed, and no use of hands.
Exercise
Ask everyone to change partners. Players are asked to look at each other lustfully.
Change partners again. Players are asked to look at each other joyfully.
Then yell any of the three emotions. Players need to find back the partner with which they did that
emotion and do it again. Repeat this several times. Then ask players to walk around the room. When
they meet one of their 3 partners, they return to the look that went with that partner. In between
partners they stay neutral.
You can try more or different emotions, of course.
Endowments
Game This is a general handle for a ton of endowment games:
Endowment one player leaves, the audience gives an occupation, and this player need to be endowed with
Guessing
that occupation. Game is over once the occupation is guessed - Also known as Occupation
Performance
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Endowment . .
audience provides a location and a murder weapon (and perhaps an occupation for the victim
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as well). Player that was sent out needs to guess these - Also known asMurder Endowment ..
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Attention - this is not the same game as LCD .
Audience provides 3-5 objects. Players try to endow the other player to use those object -
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Object Endowment .
2 players. Audience provides a secret for both; players do not hear their own secret but know
the secret of the other. Then they try to endow the other players with their secrets - Also known
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as Secrets Endowment . .
Audience provides a new brand of superhero. E.g. toothbrushwoman. Audience also provides 2
strengths and perhaps 1 weakness for this superhero. Others try to endow player one with the
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name, strengths and weakness of the new brand of superhero - Superhero Endowment .
Energy 1-10
Game Everyone in a big circle, squatting down. We will count 1 to 10, all together, moving up, with
Energy increasing energy level. 1 is hardly audible, 10 is as loud as possible, everyone standing straight,
Exercise
hands reaching up.
Group
Warm-up It's important to watch each other, to ensure we're all at the same energy level. Also make sure that
the increase in energy is nicely gradual.
Evil Stick of Gum

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Game This is a variation on Little Voice . In this game one character has a piece of gum in her mouth, and
Limitations this piece of gum is capable of talking.
Performance
The point is that other characters in the scene do not know about this piece of gum, and hence
mistake the gum's words for the characters.
Since our piece of gum is evil, it tries to get it's owner in trouble.
Evil Twin
Game 4 players. 2 will play a scene. The other players are the other's evil twins. At any point, the 'twins'
Performance can shout 'freeze' after which they tag out their twin, and continue the scene and do something evil.
After that, they move out again, and the original twin brother needs to justify the evil, correct or
repair the damage done and continue the scene.
Notes
Great setups for this game are things like first dates, or meeting your in-laws for the very first time.
Exaggeration Circle
Game All players in a circle, or a long line. One player starts a little gesture, with or without a little
Energy sound.. The next player takes it over and makes it bigger. The last player does the whole thing to
Exercise
the extreme.
Warm-up
Notes
Make sure the players stick to the original gesture/sound, and don't just do their own thing.
We should be able to see the movement grow organically.
Excluding
Game 4 players play a scene, in which one of the players gets excluded.
Exercise
Group Notes
This is a group exercise, in the sense that players should be sensing where the majority of the
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group is going (seeAlien Tiger Cow ).
Tell players not to be afraid of 'being nasty' - be extreme in your exclusion (that makes it easier, also
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for the player that is excluded - see Mr. Nice Guy ). Whoever gets excluded should gladly accept
this and react accordingly.
Excluded players can go to extremes to be re-included - hilariously funny if even this is
thoroughly ignored by the others.
Variations
Let the exclusion evolve; allow a player that got excluded to get 2 others to join him and exclude the
fourth one. This only works if the excluded player first allows herself to be excluded (a littleChivalry
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here).
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Also known as Alliances . . This game was originally created as a pattern game for long form
shows at the Theatresports London Impro Lab in the late 1980's. The whole point of the game is
NOT to actively try and exclude anyone. The exclusion of one player should happen as a result of
the other players making alliances with one another. If you don't do this the scene doesn't form very
good patterns and the players get too competitive. You also miss the slow, sliding status drops and
the desperate attempts to hook into an existing alliance, that happen when a player is starting to
realize that they are being excluded.
A good way to start this game would be:
Start in a black-out seated round a table
While the lights are still down the entire ensemble starts to laugh (as if someone has just told
the punchline to a hilarious joke)
The lights slowly fade up as the cast's laughter winds down and the alliances begin to form
By the end of the scene, which climaxes in a final, dramatic exclusion, we usually end up
with four to six threads and a clear protagonist
Big thanks to Alan Marriott of Crunchy Frog Collective and Grand Theft Impro (London, England) for
the additional info on Alliances.
Family Portraits
Game Fun game to get everyone to work together.
Association Players are going to 'build' family portraits. Ask for e.g.
Group
Warm-up
Family of accountants, bean counters
Family of fat/skinny people
Family of Pop Stars
Family of snakes, rats, cats
Family of garden tools
Tell the players you will want to see who's who in the family. We also want to see who gets along
with who, who's the black sheep of the family, and so on. This only works if players watch each other
closely.
Famous Last Words

Game MC asks the audience for famous (living or dead) people, or characters in movies, cartoons or
Performance songs. Players line up and invent 'famous last words' for the subjects given by the audience.
Verbal wit
Famous Person Endowment

Game 1 player gets a number of famous persons; one for each other player in the scene. Then a scene is
Endowment
played with all players, and player 1 endows the others with the personalities given by the audience.
Guessing G
Sort of the inverse of The Party .
Performance

Game Fast Food Laban
Characters
Exercise Laban was a movement theorist, and this exercise is based on (a simplified form of some of) his
ideas. Take 3 categories:
Timing: Sudden or Sustained
Weight: Heavy or Light
Space: Direct or Indirect
Then try and make characters that behave/speak following combinations of the 3 categories:
punching : sudden / heavy / direct
slashing : sudden / heavy / indirect
wringing : sustained / heavy / indirect
stroking : sustained / light / indirect
dabbing : sudden / light / direct
smoothing : sustained / light / direct
pushing : sustained / heavy / direct
Notes
The attributes go with the characters, not necessarily with the actual performer's body. A
heavyset person may move about delicately.
Variations
You can introduce this in a fairly simple way, by asking the players to move about the
room, according to directions or orientations:
be a 'horizontal' or 'vertical' person
be downward, or upward
be light or heavy
Then experiment with these: be suddenly light (bird taking off from a tree) or continuously light (be a
cloud).
You can do this using different kinds of music. What direction / weight / movement does a
certain song or theme inspire?
Then try to experiment with characters: who or what would be vertical person be (a general?).
What/how would be continuously light person be (stoned?). Suddenly light (flirty?). See
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alsoFast Food Stanislawski .
Origin
R R
Attributed to Keith Johnstone . See Impro for Storytellers .

Game
Characters
Exercise Fast Food Stanislawski
Have 2 players perform a scene, perhaps give them a title or a location, but also give them a
subtext for their character. Subtexts might be:
you want to seduce the other
you are a nerd
you like to make people laugh
you want to impress others
you are a nasty person
you try to be ordinary
you are an optimist/pessimist
you will never find a girlfriend/boyfriend
Notes
If you are using this in a workshop it might be a good idea to ask the players how one would
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behave given a certain subtext. Stress that you are looking for Truthfulness .
This is an excellent technique to find a character. You can actually use this for performance -
just give yourself a subtext when you jump onto the stage and see what happens.
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See also Status .
Origin
R
Described in Impro for Storytellers : the book contains an appendix on how to play for
different subtexts.
Fast Forward
Game For this handle we need a 'director', or the MC can take on this role. A scene is started. The director
Continuation
can at any point interrupt the scene, and fast-forward (or backward) to another point in time. The
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story is then continued in that time. This technique can create flash backs. Also known as Rewind .
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See also Director\'s Cut .
Feature Film
Game This is a collection of scenes, all based around (the making of) a movie. One character we definitely
Long Form have in this format is a Director, who can direct the players to re-play poorly played scene, and who
Performance K
can offer parts of the storyline or Tilts . before they actually get played.
Apart from seeing the scenes from the movie itself, we can (but don't have to) see scenes of what is
going on behind the scenes (so you can have a totally different sub-plot going on there, if you want).
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Some groups also involve the guy that actually wrote the script (as inTypewriter ).
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Also known as At the Movies . . Also known as At The Oscars . : where we start the
performance with an Oscar nomination (or win) for the Director.
Final Freeze
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Game This is an extension of Blind Freeze : players try to do callbacks from previous scenes in the
Limitations
Freeze. Recycle characters, situations, or even continue scenes that were frozen before. Performance

Game
Audience
Warm-up Finger Applause
Performance
Have the audience clap not their hands, but start with 2 fingers. Then gently add more fingers until
the whole hand is used.
Variations
Try folks clap hands with their neighbors. Left hands up, right hands down; so every person claps
his right hand into his neighbor's left hand and vice versa.
Fingertips
Game Played in pairs. Players touch all ten fingers, and one player closes her eyes. The other player leads
Trust the blind player by his fingertips. Make sure you have some obstacles in the room to navigate
around/over/under.
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See also Blind Lead for a similar exercise.
Firing Squad
Game This is an association game, sometimes used in workshops to 'punish' a silly or inattentive student.
Association All players, except one, the victim, form a long line. The first player in the line throws any word to the
Warm-up victim, who responds as fast as he/she can with the first word that comes to mind. The next player in
the line then throws another word, usually unrelated to the previous word, and again the victim
needs to respond as fast as possible. Repeat till everyone has thrown a word.
Variations
This can be done as a continuation game: when done, the victim takes last place in the line, and the
first player becomes the victim.
You can even have multiple victims walking the line at the same time. Make sure there is enough
'space' between the victims, otherwise, with the first hesitation, victims will start bumping into one
another.
Five Four Three Two One

Game G
This is a long format, origin unknown, and has resemblance to a Harold . 5-4-3-2-1 can be played
Format with 4 to 12 players. In this format the audience provides 5 different themes, objects, emotions,
Long Form locations or situations. Then, the game is played in 5 rounds.
In the first round 5 scenes are played, each based on one of the audience suggestions. These
scenes are totally unrelated. After the first round the audience decides which of the 5 scenes seen
should be discontinued.
In the second round, the 4 remaining scenes are continued, and links start to appear between these
scenes. Again, after this, the audience decides which scene to dump.
This continues until after 4 rounds there are only 2 scenes left. In the fifth round these scenes come
together in one final scene. This format can be played with or without props and/or director(s).
Variations
This can also be played without dropping a scene line. In that case you'd probably use 3 rather than
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5 scenes. Also known as Triptych . Also known as Tapestry .

Game
Gibberish
Guessing Five Things
Limitations
Performance K
One player leaves the stage while the Host asks for an everyday activity. Then, audience and
host will change 5 things about that activity. Example: suggestion is feeding the cat. One might
change the following:
change the cat into something else, say a tiger
change the verb into some other verb, say deep frying
change the location from where one might feed the cat. Say the Vatican.
change the character. Say character changes from cat-owner to postman
add interaction with a famous person, say Elvis.
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After that the 1st player is brought back in and a scene is played in Gibberish . The other
players have exactly 5 minutes to make the first player guess each of the five things. Depending
on the original suggestion, feel free to change whatever.
Flock Dance
Game This is a physical warm-up. The group forms a pyramid: one player becomes the top, 2 players
Exercise behind her, 3 players on a third line, and so on.
Introduction
The top player starts moving about the room (perhaps use music to guide the players). The second
Warm-up
line follows the first player, and mimics her movements, and the third line follows the second line.
The top player can alternate however she wants (and can be guided with e.g. a change in the
music).
The top player can even turn around, and face the second line. Confusion will be complete. Other
variations can happen when the top player bumps into the last line, and takes over their movements.
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See also Aerobics
Follow the Leader

Game All but one in a circle, one player in the middle. The middle player closes her eyes, and the rest of
Exercise the group quietly chooses a leader.
Group
Middle player opens her eyes and tries to find the leader. The whole group follows the leader, in
everything he does. As soon as the middle player finds out who the leader was the game is over.
This only works if movements are clear, not too fast, and if the group 'follows the leader' as fast and
as precisely as possible.
Follow your Nose

Game Silly physical warm-up. Have everybody mill around the room, and shout a body part. Players then
Exercise start moving around as if they are leaded by that body part. Continue with another body part.
Warm-up End the game on a really silly note by leading with e.g. your internal organs. Also known as Foot
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Soldiers .
Foreign Movie
C
Game 2 players play a story in Gibberish , 2 others translate. The idea is to build the story together: the
Gibberish
'actors' give elements to the translators, and the translators can help steer the action for the 'actors'.
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Also known as Subtitles .

Fortune Cookie
Game Open a fortune cookie, read it aloud. Then play a scene based on the fortune.
Limitations
Give every player a fortune cookie; each player then need to show that fortune in his or her
character.
Fortune Teller
Game One player covers his ears while the others get 'predictions' from the audience; one prediction per
Endowment other player. First player then plays a fortune teller who must be endowed by the others to predict
Guessing
the given predictions.
Performance
Variations
Off-stage players can "posses" (like as ghosts) the fortune teller and give him or her tips.
Free Association Circle

Game Everyone in a circle and we establish a rhythm, by swinging a hand. Once a rhythm is established,
Association one player starts by tossing a word to his neighbor, who associates on the word and tosses another
Exercise
word to his neighbor.
Warm-up
It's important to stay in the rhythm. Tell the players to just say 'banana' if they feel they can't think of
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a word, as long as the rhythms does not get broken. See also Word Ball and Clap Snap
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Association .
Variations
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Try this in combination with Last Letter . See Blind Association Circle for another variation.
Free Association
Game This is the classic association exercise. There are various ways of playing this (see Variations and
Association C
see other games in the Association category.
Exercise
The Basics
Warm-up
In a free association we will ask players to say the first thing they think about when hearing (or
seeing, feeling, smelling or tasting) anything another player provides.
It should be stressed that anything is valid, as long as it is not preconceived: the association should
be based on what the previous player has offered.
Variations
Here is are list of Free Association games:
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Free Association Circle
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Free Association Lines
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Walk-over Association
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Word Ball
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Firing Squad

Free Association Lines
Game Yet another way to play association games. Place all players on 2 lines, facing each other. One
Association player starts walking to another player in the other line. Just before he gets to that other player, he
Exercise
throws her a word. The receiver starts crossing the line towards someone else, and the first player
takes her place in the line. The receiver now becomes the thrower, throwing the first word she can
think of to another player, who then starts walking, and so on.
Variations
Try with 2 or more walkers at the same time. Many players, especially new ones, tend to find it
easier to freely associate when there are multiple walkers: they feel less 'on the spot' (as no-one is
watching them in all the commotion) and they don't really have the time to get in their heads.
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Can be combined with Last Letter .
Free Falling
Game Nice, but a bit dangerous exercise to build trust. In it's simplest (and safest) form all players stand in
Exercise a circle, one player in the middle. The player in the middle closes her eyes, slowly turns around, and
Trust
then lets herself fall backwards (or forwards). The other players need to catch her.
Variations
Be careful with this: have one player stand on a chair or a table , the others in front of him. Player
closes his eyes and lets himself fall, hopefully he will be caught by the others.
Freeze Tag
Game 2 actors start a scene. At any point in time another player can call Freeze. This player then tags out
Association one of the 2 actors, and takes his place. Both players then start a new scene, justifying their
Exercise
positions.
Performance
Warm-up
Notes
The way this game is played quite often goes a bit against good improv, as many groups hardly take
the time to develop a story line. If played this way, it's more a game of wit, and you would probably
use it early in a show as an audience (and player) warm-up.
Alternatively, you can take your time and play every scene for several minutes, see what develops,
and only at the end of each scene tag into another scene.
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To avoid preconceptions, see Blind Freeze . See also Space Jump for an extension of this game.
French Braid
Game This is a very simple format, which consists of a number of (unrelated) scenes, that get interrupted,
Format Long and then continues at a later point.
Form
It is played as follows: 2 or more players start a scene. At any time, when another player or players
Performance
enters the stage, the scene is interrupted (or fades out) and the new player(s) start a new scene.
This is repeated until all players have played.
Then the series is restarted with the first scene. This scene continues, or starts at a later point in
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time (or later in the story, like aFast Forward ). The scene gets interrupted again, and so forth.
The whole is repeated several times.
This is typically played without a director - the players decide when to interrupt an ongoing scene.
Players typically play one character.
Front Desk
Game We play a scene, set in the lobby of a hotel. One or more players play the receptionist(s) and the
Characters others play guests arriving or checking out, bell boys, repairmen, you name it.
Environment
Players construct the environment together - as soon as a door, a plant, a desk or whatever is
Exercise
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'placed' by any player, all other players should respect it. See also Group Environment .
Fruit Basket
Game All players but one sitting a circle, one person in the middle. The person in the middle calls out a
Concentration category or some descriptive that might apply to some or all of the other players. E.g. all women, all
Exercise
blondes. When called, if a player matches the description must leave her chair and find another
Warm-up
chair. Person that doesn't find a chair becomes the next in the middle. When 'Fruitbasket' is called,
everyone changes chairs.
Fusillade
Game Great exercise in fast thinking, but seen done in performance as well. Would be an excellent
Energy challenge for a theater sports match!
Exercise
All players line up in 2 lines, facing each other. MC or trainer yells a word/title, and next player in line
Performance
gets 30 secs to do his or her thing, based on the suggestion. After 30 seconds new title/word is given
and next player goes.
Fuzzy Ducky
Game Silly concentration game and great warm-up. All players in a circle. We will count numbers
Concentration clockwise, except that:
Exercise
any number that is a multiple of 3, or contains a 3 (like 13) becomes 'Fuzzy'
Warm-up
any number that is a multiple of 7 or contains a 7 (like 17) becomes 'Ducky'
any number that is a multiple of 3 and 7 (like 21) or contains both 3 and 7 (like 73 and 37)
becomes 'Fuzzy Ducky')
G
Any player that ends up muttering 'Duzzy Fucky' is put in front of the Firing Squad .
Game-O-Matic
Game This is like 'invent-your-won-game' : ask the audience for the name of an unexisting improv game,
Performance then invent the rules on the spot, and play it.
Kind of risky, but if the group has been playing short form improv games for quite a while, coming up
with rules is easy.
Gibberish Commands
K
Game Another exercise on Jabbertalk : players in pairs. Have each play issue a command to her partner,
Exercise in Gibberish. Players can't move on until the command is understood and executed. Simple things
Gibberish
will do, like 'pass me the salt, please' .
The idea is not to mime the command, but to try and make it obvious for the way the command is
issued, and the environment that has been set.
Gibberish Expert
Game One player is an expert on a subject, often provided by the audience. Furthermore, he's from a
C
Experts foreign country (perhaps also supplied by the audience). The expert gives a lecture inGibberish
Gibberish
and a second player translates.
Performance
Variations
Have the expert tell a story, instead of giving a lecture.
Gibberish Malapropism
C
Game This exercise flexes your mind and is a good exercise for Gibberish games. Have the players walk
Exercise K
about in the room, point to any object, and give it another name in Jabbertalk .
Gibberish G
See also Malapropism .
Give and Take

G
Game This is a variation on Walking by Numbers : all players find a position the room. One person must
Concentration always make sound and one person must walk. This can be the same person who is walking and
Exercise
making sound but it could be one person walking while a different person is making sound.
The focus can be given (i.e. a walker stops walking) or can be taken (i.e. someone else starts
walking; the original walker must stop then). Feel free to try with multiple walkers.
Goalie
Game Great high-tempo exercise. 1 player up front. He's the goalie. The other players all think of an
Accepting opening line for a scene, and a character. When everyone has their opening line and character, we
Characters
bombard the goalie with these offers, one at a time. Goalie needs to react right away to an offer,
Exercise
acknowledging the opening and character, snap into an opposite character and reply to the opening.
Immediately after that the next player comes up with his or her offer.
This exercise is good for teaching players to react right away, and to snap into a character almost
without thinking.
Goon River
Game This is a format that consists of monologues. The story is not played, but told. The players (typically
Long Form 3 or 4) line up in front of the audience, Based on a single audience suggestion they all tell the same
Performance story, each as their own character in that story.
The play usually starts with every character introducing him or herself. The order in which
characters speak is not really important, as long as they all speak.
After the introductions, things start to happen. Every character reflects on what is happening
from their own perspective, and each character adds elements to the story.
K
Keep going (and make sure that every character keeps contributing) andReincorporating as long
as things stay interesting.
G G
Also known as Also known as Spoon River . , Also known as Moon River . , Also known as Goon
G G
River . and Also known as Spork River . .
G
See also Voices From Heaven for a short form game version which is really based on the
same handle.
Origin
Origin unknown, but the story goes that the name of the format would be inspired by a book Spoon
River by Edgar Lee Masters (hop on to www.outfitters.com/illinois/fulton/masters.html for more info
on Spoon River).
Notes
This is a great way of exercising monologues!
Referring back to the work of Masters, many groups tend to end the format with the death of (one or
more of) the character(s).

Gorilla Theatre
Gam This format is played with 3 experienced players, one MC and another player, dressed up as a
e Gorilla. The Gorilla is the prize to be won; the best player of the evening gets to spend a week
Format with the Gorilla, and of course this is quite a privilege!
The Gorilla enters with last week's winning player (real or faked). The MC explains that the score for
the evening will be counted by means of bananas; the player that end up with most bananas at the
end of the game wins another week with the Gorilla.
The audience is trained to 'vote' by yelling 'Banana' (for a good performance) or something else, like
'Die' or 'Forfeit' for a bad performance.
Each scene is then played by 2 players, and directed by the third. The beauty of it all is the fact
that not the players are judged by the audience, but the director.
Players take turns directing, and after each game the audience either awards the director a
banana, or a forfeit. Bananas are pinned on a scoreboard, or pinned onto the winning player's
costume - cardboard bananas are preferable in the latter case.
A forfeit is like a punishment for a poorly directed scene. Possible forfeits might be calling your
mom and explaining why you've been such a lousy director, or having to sing a song about your
R
bad scene. A list of Gorilla forfeits can be found in the Lists section on Improvland .
The director gets to choose the scene or the game to be played. Perhaps a list of games to be
played this night is on the stage, and directors can write their names next to the games they want
to direct. The director directs the scene, gives players side-coachings, can interrupt the scene,
introduce tilts or make the players repeat (part of) the scene. To ensure that bad scenes don't drag
on forever, or to prevent directors to play tons of 30-second scenes in order to improve their
chances, certain troupes limit the amount of time for directing to like 20 minutes per player.
This format can be played with or without attributes and props. The Gorilla might even be used as
a prop, or even as a player, although the Gorilla should not try and steal the show. The Gorilla is a
player, so he too should be prepared to take risks, and he's supposed to be naughty.
This is a fairly advanced format, as the players not only need to play well, they also need enough
insight to effectively direct scenes. This is also a rather nice format, as players are not rewarded;
2 players playing well together generate a banana for the director, and this way the format
prevents competition between the players.
Origin
R R
Attributed to Keith Johnstone , and described in Impro for Storytellers .
Greetings
Game All players start milling about the room. You then ask them to greet each other, perhaps just by
Exercise shaking hands. Players just shake hands, move on, and greet the next player they meet. Then
Introduction ask the players to greet each other in a more specific way. Possibilities are:
Warm-up
greet each other like you greet a long lost friend
greet someone you don't really trust
greet an ex-lover
greet someone you really hate
someone you have a secret crush on
someone you had a one-night stand with
someone that sold you a crappy used car
someone with bad breath
greet someone like you are a cowboy, a soldier, a nanny, a Russian farmer,...
G G G
Also known as Hello . Also known as Lost Friend . See also Presents .

Game
Concentration
Environment Group Environment
Exercise
Group This is a group exercise in building environments. One player starts by entering a 'space' through
a 'door', and then leaves that space, through the same or through another door. Any doors placed
remain where they are, and the characteristics of the door are not to change.
Then another player enters the same space, and places a mimed object in that space, either by
physically placing the object (carrying, wheeling or pushing it into the space, or by just 'using' it,
for example by hanging her coat over a chair. Second players leaves the room, either through one
of the established doors, or by placing a new exit.
This continues until every player has done their thing. Each player needs to respect, and
perhaps use all objects placed by previous players.
Notes
K
Watch for players Gagging - anyone placing a jukebox in what has clearly been defined as
a church is just trying to be funny and screwing up the scene.
Group Freeze
Game Everyone starts milling about the room. Any player may decide to stop walking at any time. As soon
Concentration as one player stops walking, everyone needs to freeze in position. As soon as everyone is froze,
Exercise
start walking again.
Obviously, the idea is for the group to freeze as quickly as possible.
Variations
Let all players make noises, hum, whistle as they mill about. The noisier, the more challenging the
G G
exercise becomes. Also known as Statues . See also Walking by Numbers .
Group Order
Game Nice warm-up exercise to help the group function/agree as a whole.
Exercise Everybody starts milling about the room. You then ask them to line up , according to various criteria.
Group
Examples are:
Warm-up
order by age
order by weight
order by shoe size
order by mental health
order by personal hygiene
order by number of ex-lovers
order by blue
Notes
Keep the silly criteria (order by blue) till the end. Usually, the players will start realizing that it doesn't
really matter what the order is, as long as the group agrees on the order.
K
Criteria like mental health or personal hygiene are quite interesting to train on Chivalry .
G
See also Blind Line Up .

Guest Game
Game In this game we play in scene in which one player is a guest, somewhere. We do not know who he
Narration is, or why he is visiting, or what his relation might be with the characters at the location. All other
Performance
characters in the scene behave strangely or suspiciously, as if they have a secret. The idea is that
by the end of the scene we understand their secret.
For example, a player might ring a doorbell at a house, ready to pick up his date. We never get to
see the date, and all characters in the scene slowly provide hints as to what might have happened to
the date. The game is over when e.g. we (the audience) discover that all occupants of the house
have been hauling garbage bags out of the hous, all containing body parts of the date... It need not
always be gruesome, though...
Hall of Justice
Game Fun game for 5+ players, involving superheroes and villains. Get 4 suggestions from he audience,
Performance e.g. hammer, coffee, influenza and briefcase. This will give us 2 superheroes: Hammerman and his
sidekick coffeewoman. We will also have 2 villains: influenzaman and his aide briefcasegirl. The
other players play the villain's victims.
Villains and heroes should try and use as many attributes of their suggestion as they justifiably can.
Handicapped Fairy Tale

Game Very silly but very effective. Ask the audience for a fairy tale. Then give every player one or more
Limitations characters in the story. Ask for a handicap or peculiar state of mind for each character and play the
Performance
fairy tale.
Hand Slap
Game All players in a circle, down on the floor. Cross arms, and then put hands flat on the ground. Each
Concentration hand in turn pats/slaps the ground, in order. Hands that miss are eliminated.
Exercise
Warm-up

Harold
Game Harold is a long format, and consists of a number of sub-formats. It basically consists of
Format Long 3 components:
Form
Performance
Scenes, with 2 to 4 players
Games
Monologues
The format starts with a suggestion from the audience - this could really be anything. Players will
start associating around the suggestion, and then an opening game is played. In this game, a lot of
associated elements round the audience suggestion are presented. The opening game might be a
song, a monologue, or simply a group association based on the audience suggestion. The idea is
to use the elements and themes that come up or about in the opening game in what follows.
Then follow 3 rounds of scenes, all based on the themes found in the opening game. Each round
exists out of 3 scenes, all unrelated, but each loosely based on the themes and associations form
the opening game. Since these themes originated for the same audience suggestion, the
audience will (hopefully) feel some links between the scenes.
After the first round of 3 scenes, an improv game is played; this game is unrelated to the 3 scenes
played before. Then, in the second round, each of the 3 previous scenes is continued, and more
or less obvious links between the scenes start to emerge. This is again followed by an improv
game, and then the 3 scenes are played into a conclusion.
It's quite possible that in the third round not every scene is continued; scenes may disappear or
even merge with one another.
A Harold can be played with a decent number of players (up to 12 or so), players can act in multiple
scenes, as the same or as different characters. A Harold can be played with or without props, with or
without directors.
Whether one sticks to the 3 rounds or not is really not relevant; anything and any combination
of games and loose scenes that finally more or less come together can be considered a
Harold.
Origin
R R
This is an American format, described in Del Close 's book Truth in Comedy . We're not
sure whether it's copyrighted - if you know please let us know.
Hat Continuation
Game Start a scene, and identify each of the characters by means of a hat. The MC will interrupt (freeze)
Continuation the game from time to time, and switch the players' hats. After the switch each player becomes the
Performance
character that previously wore his or her hat.
The story needs to continue and should make sense.
Notes
K
A gimmick is Commenting on the fact that characters 'jump' in space when the hats gets switched.
Use sparingly.
G
Also known as Bermuda Triangle .
Hats
Game A very silly game. 2 improvisers put on hats, preferably similarly sized. Scene ends when one
Performance player grabs the other player's hat or tries to do so and misses. Any grab, move to grab or
defensive movement needs to be fustified. Try and play the scene for reality.
Variations
Start with a 20 second window in which no grabs are allowed, so that the scene and
the relationships between the characters can evolve.

Heave Ho
G
Game This is like an extended version of Tossing to be played with 16+ players. All players but one form
Group 2 lines, facing each other, and link hands to form a platform, which is used to heave the last player
Trust
from one end of the line to the other.
Best to remove shoes, coins, and any other objects that might fall or hurt someone.
Helping Hands
Game Scene played by 4 players, playing 2 characters. Each character consists of one player, who does
Limitations the voice, holding his hands behind his back. Another player stands behind player 1, and provides
Performance
the 'hands'.
G
The story should be a give and take between voices and hands. Also known as Arm Game ..
Variations
Have 2 players provide the arms, one each.
He Said She Said

C
Game Excellent game to show how Endowment works. 2 players; each player will state the action the
Endowment other player must perform, followed by his own line.
Exercise
Example:
Performance
1: "I want a divorce"
2: "She said, while grabbing a knife from the kitchen table." At this point player 1 needs to take a
knife. Player 2 continues with his own line. "Sure Honey"
1: "He said, while turning to the sports page of the paper". Now, it's quite clear that player 2
should be paying more attention to the paper than to his wife. Player 1 continues with her own
line. "You're not listening to me"
and so on.
Players refer to each other as 'he' and 'she', and endow each other with the next action to take. This
can be quite funny, if you endow your partner to do crazy or not-so-nice things to you (or to
K
themselves, but that's would not be Mr. Nice Guy ).
Variations
Can be done with 4 players: 2 provide the lines, and the 2 others provide the 'directions' - each
director provides the action for one of the 2 talkers.
Can also be one with 3 players: one provides directions and both other players do their own dialogs.
Notes
Keep the action do-able and active. Making someone else 'think about something' is hard to play,
G
and not very active. Also known as He Said While She .
Hesitation
Game In this game a scene is played, in which at any time, any player may 'hesitate', and ask the audience
Limitations for help. Anything provided by the audience must be justified and incorporated.
Performance
Examples:
James, hand me that .... (signs the audience for a word) -- Lollypop.
Ah, I was sailing the 7 seas in my .... Newspaper. Yes, Newspaper, finest vessel ever built by
..... (martians)
Hijacker
Game Excellent game to train listening skills.
Endowment 4 players, one leaves the room. Pick a means of transportation, and an object. The idea is that
Guessing player number 4 needs to guess the means of transportation, and then use the object to hijack the
Look and Listen
Performance others. Finally pick a goal for the hijacker to achieve.
The players need to provide hints to the hijacker, but they cannot explicitly tell the hijacker what to
G
do, with what or why. Also known as Rebel without a Clue .
Notes
Works best is players take risks. If they to the 'wrong' thing or use the wrong object the audience will
probably just laugh, and that should be enough to signal the player he's going the wrong way.
Hitch Hiker
Game Use 4 chairs to build the interior of a car. One player starts driving the car, and another player
Characters becomes a hitch hiker, hiking a ride. The hitch hiker character has a particular character tick or
Exercise
particular emotion, which the driver takes over.
Performance
Other hitch hikers join in, each with their own characteristics or emotions, taken over by the driver
and the passengers in the car as the hiker joins. When the car is full, one of the players leaves the
car to make room for the new guest.
Notes
Don't forget to justify leaving the car.
Honey Walk
This is a group exercise. Tell the players they have an oxygen mask, and then talk them thru the
Game exercise: players are to move about in successively thicker substances. Go from thin air, mist, warm
Exercise water, oil, honey, Jell-O, wet cement to hard cement.
Warm-up End the game by having them 'frozen' in cement and break out with a big bang.
Notes
Coach the players to imagine really moving about these substances. They should be able to 'feel'
the mist between their fingers, the honey in their hair.
Horoscope
Game Take a magazine with a horoscope. Ask an audience member for their birthday, read their
Performance horoscope and then play a scene based on that horoscope.
G
Can be combined with Day in the Life .
Hot Spot
Game All players in a circle. One player steps into the circle and starts singing a known song. As soon as
Group this player shows any signs of stopping (because she doesn't know the lines any more, gets tired or
SingSong
embarrassed) another player needs to step in and take over (singing a different song).
Warm-up
Notes
This exercise is not about improvising songs, but more of a group thing. Players need to know that
the group will support them when they're out of breath. The idea is to keep singing.

Human Props
Excellent exercise for building environments. Ask one player to start doing an activity that somehow
Game defines (broadly) a location. E.g. when someone starts typing she might be in a (home) office. The
Environmen other players then become the other objects in the environment.
t
Exercise
Group
Notes
Performance Tell the first player she can start using the props built by other players in the environment (if she
recognizes them). Tell players to go for the obvious: in just about any room you could be a plant,
a door or a table, after all.
When done, ask the first player to name any 'object' built in the environment.
Variations
You can use this as a handle for a performance. When a player is asked to sit down, and there
are no chairs on the scene, another player can become the chair for the first player to sit on.
Other examples are ticking clocks in haunted houses, cabinets and closets, you name it.
ID
Ask a number of Ids, driver's licences from audience members. Play a scene in which the
Game characters are based on the Ids. The host may ask these folks questions about their lives.
Audience G
Participation See also Day in the Life .
Limitations
Performance
I Love You
Game A simple song structure for 2 singers. Singer 1 sings 4 lines; the first 3 are about the other character;
Performance line 4 is simply "I love you". Then player 2 does the same about the first character. May rhyme but
SingSong
that's not a must.
After that, the 2 parts are repeated, but interweaved, one player at a time, and ending, singing
together, with "I love you".
Example:
Player 1: You sing so well, You dance so great, You act so fine, and I love you
Player 2: Your voice is so deep, your lips are so full, you move with grace, and I love you
Interweaved: You sing so well (player 1), Your voice is so deep (player 2), You dance so great
(1), your lips are so full (2), you act so fine (1), you move with grace (2), and I love you
(together)

Imitate
Game This is an exercise for characters. 2 players will play a scene in a shop. The quality of the scene is
Characters irrelevant here, really; just get into the shop, order what you need, pay for it and off you go. Give us
Exercise
an object (a carrot) and we got a scene in a carrot shop. One player is designated as shopkeeper,
and the other will play the customer.
The idea is to give the 'customer' a basis to build a character. She will enter the shop in that
character, and the other player (the shopkeeper) tries to imitate the character as closely as possible.
Use the following tricks as stepping stones for building characters:
Ask 'customer' to talk to you in different voices. Pick one of these and there she goes.
Ask the 'customer' to pull different kinds of faces. Pick one and there she goes.
Pick a body part (elbow). There she goes; taking the suggestion 'elbow' as inspiration for her
character.
Pick an emotion and there she goes.
Ask her to move around a bit, dance and let her freeze. The position in which she is frozen is
her inspiration for the customer character.
This is an exercise for both players, but what is exercised is different for both:
for the customer, the exercise is building a character out of a silly suggestion. Note that there
are not good or bad characters; anything in the position/suggestion given to the player can be
used as inspiration, even if the 'link' between the suggestion and the actual character is not
obvious. The only goal is to come up with interesting, strong characters.
for the shopkeeper this is a listening/watching exercise. The idea is not for the shopkeeper to
build a character based on the suggestion; it is for him to imitate as closely the character treats
of the customer.
G
See also Opposite Characters .

Impro Match
Game This format does not have a specific name and is mainly popular in French speaking countries.
Format There seem to be leagues in just about every French speaking country; there's even a league
playing this format in the Congo! These leagues meet every year to play a world championship. The
game is modeled after an ice hockey match: 2 teams of 6 players, 3 men and 3 women, perhaps
with one coach per team play each other during 3 30-minute rounds, in a 'ring' resembling an ice
hockey field. The game is lead by a referee and 2 aides.
The referee draws challenges out of a bin; challenges can be mixed or separated. A mixed scene is
played by players of both teams; a separated scene is played twice, each time by players from one
team. Challenges consist of:
Title for the scene: can be anything
Number of players per team: can be unlimited, or specified. In some countries they may even
specify the genders, like '2 females for the red team, unlimited for the blue team'
Category: could be anything, but examples would be Science Fiction, Drama, Dostojewski,
Western, Musical, Opera, Without words or Without sound, or To Be Continued. For the latter
one, the scene played by the first team is to be continued by the second team
Duration: a number of minutes, ranging from 20 minutes to 30 seconds
During the scene the referee walks though the scenes, and blows 'faults' on a whistle. Possible faults
would be: Dragging (slow play), Invalid number of players, Violation of the theme (or title), Confusion,
Obstruction or Foul Play, Blocking, etc. Every fault is indicated by a particular gesture. When entering
the theatre, the audience receives a 'fault card' explaining which gesture indicates which fault. Fault
can be awarded to an entire team, or to individual players. When a team collects 3 faults, the other
team receives an extra point. When a player collects 3 personal faults, he or she is expelled from the
game for 5 or 10 minutes.
Every member of the audience also receives a slipper. This can be thrown into the ring when the
audience doesn't like a scene, or even better, at the referee, whenever he or she makes an
unpopular decision.
After each round the team captains may ask the referee for an explanation on the faults that were
blown, and then the audience gets to vote. Every team has a color, and the audience gets colored
cards to vote with.
After 3 30-minute rounds we know which team won the match. Finally, a celebrity or local hero gets
to award 'stars' to the 3 best players.
This is a very rigid format, in which just about anything, except the scenes themselves, are fixed.
There is a whole protocol to be followed to play a match, and even the number of separated and
mixed scenes is set in stone. The idea is that the rigidity of the format contrast well with the
anything-is-possible concept of the improvised scenes.
This is a difficult format, as teams really play against each other. Quite often even players in the
same team will play against each other, as everyone wants to get awarded a star at the end of the
night.
Origin
This (copyrighted) format was developed by 2 Canadians: Yvon Leduc and Robert Gravel.
In-Out
Game Every player gets a word from the audience. When that word is said by any player, this player must
Performance leave the scene if he's in it, or enter the scene if he was not in it (yet). Entering and leaving the scene
must be justified.

Introducing Association
Game This little technique can be used to show a new group how natural associating really is. You can only
Association do this with a new group, that has not played any association games before.
Exercise
Place all players in a circle. Ask one player to say a word, no matter which one. The player to her
right then says no matter what word, and so on. Do not tell them they should try and 'associate'.
You (and hopefully the group) will notice that patterns of 'related' or 'associated' words emerge. Use
this as an introduction to show how natural associating is to humans, and then proceed with the
other association games.
Invisibility
Game Scene in which one oe the characters in invisible to the audience. Characters act and behave as if
Performance this invisible character is visible to them.
Variations
One player off-stage provides the voice for the invisible character.
Invocation
Game K G
This is a kind of Opening for Long Form . It goes in three steps.
Long Form Get a suggestion from the audience. Then this suggestion is praised by each player in turn.
Performance K
Same suggestion is praised again, but now Endowing with human attributes, naming
the 'suggestion' as humans.
Expand the language to something. Go poetic, gibberish-french, whatever.
After that, the players take on the characters that evolved during the previous rounds.
Then, the Long Form is played using those characters.
Irish Drinking Song

Game 4 players sing a song about a subject, given by the audience, on an Irish-souding tune, one line at a
Performance time. 4 lines makes 1 verse; after the frist verse, a second verse is started by player number 2; and
SingSong
so forth. After 4 verses every player has both started and ended a verse and the song is over.
Played quite often in Who'se Line is it Anyway. You'll find plenty of examples on YouTube.com.
Variations
Invent your own choreography and have the players dance as they sing.
G
See also Do Ron Ron for a similar structure.
Janus Dance
Game C
This is can be used as a Trust exercise, as well as in performance.
Look and Listen
2 players perform a slow dance together; each with their head on the other's shoulder. Hence they
Performance
are not looking at each other. While dancing they perform a 2-3 minut scene.
Trust
This gives for great listining practice, since players aren't looking at their partners. If is also good for
overcoming (physical) awkwardness between partners that are not familiar. And it is a great exercise
for physical work in the dance, as in physical expression of the character's feeling.

Jeopardy
G
Game This games is not unlike Worlds Worst : have the players close/cover their ears. Then ask the
Performance audience for questions and answers. Examples would be:
Verbal wit
What is the color of an American school bus? Yellow.
What is dyslexia? Not being able to make words out of letters.
Write down the answers, not the question.
Then give the players an answer and let them come up with questions that might be answered
correctly by that answer. It's kind of like 'what would the worst/sillies/funniest question be that could
have this answer?'
Jump
Game C
This is at times a physical Warm-up , a physical association game, and a game for character work.
Association The game is played individually but all players can do this simultaneously.
Characters All players mill about the room. At any point the trainer yells "Yes!", at which point all players 'jump'
Exercise
into a position. Trainer can (but does not have to) sidecoach by shouting 'direction' (seeFast Food
Warm-up G
Laban ) like 'horizontal', 'up', 'down', 'sideways', 'big', 'small', 'light', 'heavy'.
The idea then is to let the position into one has jumped inspire the player to a character, a situation.
The inspiration comes from associating the position with, euh, well, whatever comes to mind.
G
See also Association Jump for an extension of this exercise.
Just Gibberish
Game K
Excellent exercise for players that suffer from chronic Waffling .
Association Play a scene, completely in gibberish, no translations provided. The scene should be perfectly clear
Exercise
to the audience - we should be perfectly able to translate every gibberish sentence, and the story
Gibberish
Narration
should make sense.
Performance
Notes
K
This will only work if the stories are extremely simple, and if the Platform is made clear right
from the start.
Some players tend to do this as a scene without words, but that is not the idea of the exercise.
Killer Bunny
Game G
This is like Bunny except that at any time, the middle bunny is allowed to lift her hands above her
Energy
Exercise head, lunge to either right or left side and eat one of her own ears, after which the ear player would be
Warm-up out. However, any other player in the circle can prevent any ear from being chewed by yelling Die
while bunny's arms are up in the air, in which case the middle bunny would be out. Silly, indeed.

Game
Exercise
King Game
One player is the king or the queen. Other players are to try and pleas his/her Royal Highness. They
do this by entering the room, and offering something. The queen either tells them to
continue, in case she's interested.
die, in case the queen is bored
freeze, if the queen might be interested
Players that are allowed to continue may approach the queen and the queen may unfreeze frozen
players at her discretion. The game is over when a player is close enough to actually touch the
queen.
Notes
The queen can kill a player for any reason: she may not like the message, or she may not like the
way the message is presented. The queen can give hints why she does not like the offer: "You know
I don't drink coffee, so die!". The queen should be really difficult..
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Also known as Queen Game . . This is a PC site/document after all.
Kitty in the Corner

Game Classic children's game. 4 to 6 players stand at corners of the playing area, one player in the middle.
Concentration 2 players try to make eye contact, and then switch places, while the middle player tries to capture a
Warm-up corner.
The faster the pace, and the higher the stakes (make diagonal eye contacts!) the more fun.
Ksss
Game Nice warm-up, easier to play than to explain. Players in pairs. Establish a beat (by slapping your
Concentration thighs). Once beat is established every player has the choice between 4 different movements:
Energy Warm-
Move both hands up
up
Point both hands left
Point both hands right
Point both hands down
So, every beat goes like, slap, point, slap, point and so one. Except, when the 2 players happen to
make the same movement (i.e. in the same direction) then after the next slap they both make a 5th
movement: point both hands towards the other player, miming a gun, and say 'psssst'. Next beat they
do what they want again.
La Ronde
Game C
This is another Long Form format. The name is based on a novel by Arthur Schnitzler, called
Long Form Traumnovelle, in which a series of characters sequentially bed each other, from first to last back to
Performance first.
The format is fairly simple: we play scenes in which at every scene switch, the 'oldest' character
disappears and a new scene is played with the remaining character, and a new one. The form ends
when the circle closes and the last and first characters do a scene. Obviously, there is no need for all
characters to bed each other!
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Switching scenes is done by tagging out (like inFreeze Tag ). The idea is to see different aspects
of a character, in different situations, interacting with different characters.
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For a long discussion about the format see Chicago Improv .

Game
Association
Exercise Last Letter
Warm-up
C
This is an Association game, where instead of naming the first word you think of upon hearing a
previous word, you name the first word you think of starting with the last letter of the previously heard
word.
Variations
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Try in combination with Walk-over Association or Word Ball .
Last Letter Scene

Game A scene is played, in which every next line spoken needs to start with the last letter of the
Audience
previous line.
Participation
Die
Limitations
Performance
Last Line
Game Get a line (any line) from the audience. Players play a scene that concludes with the given line.
Limitations
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Ask for a first line as well. Also known as First Line Last Line . .
LCD
Game This game is called Location, Career, Death (LCD).
Endowment One player on stage, the others off stage. The audience provides a location, an occupation and an
Gibberish
object, only known to the player on stage. Second player enters and a scene is played in gibberish.
Guessing
Performance Player one needs to communicate the location to player 2; as soon as player 2 thinks he's got it, her
claps his hands and spins around. Then player 2 needs to guess the occupation; clap and spin when
you think you got it. Finally, the object needs to be revealed. As soon as player 2 has the object, he
needs to kill player 1 with it.
Then the next player comes on stage and the game recommences, until all players have played.
Afterwards, line up the players and ask them where they think they were, what their occupation was
and what the murder weapon was - usually quite far off the original suggestion, much to the
audience's amusement.
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Also known as LOW . (Location, Occupation, Weapon). Also known asChain Murder . See
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also Hijacker for a similar game without the Gibberish component.
Variations
Use a bell, every 10 seconds or so; at the bell players need to clap and spin and proceed to the next
step, even if they are not sure about the where, who and what. Kind of LCD on speed.

Game
Narration
Lets Not
Excellent game to train narrative skills, but a bit controversial.
Play in pairs: start with a location (e.g. a beach). One player give the suggestions (e.g. let's find a
talking crab). The other player either accepts the offer, and both play accordingly, or refuses the
offer. When an offer is refused the first player needs to make a better offer.
Notes
This is a bit controversial in the sense that players may object to refusing offers; after all, we teach
players to accept offers. Explain that the goal of this exercise is twofold:
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teach players to drop their own ideas (seeChivalry ) and happily change course in their story
teach players which offers are 'fun' and which ones are not. The player accepting or refusing the
offers should accept any offer that 'feels good' or that advances the story, and only reject offers
that don't sound like fun or don't seem to offer any potential for an interesting story.
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See Ding and Yes Lets - or Rather Not for similar exercises.
Letter Number Name

Game Warm-up game that's also good to get to know each other's names.
Concentration Everyone in a big circle. You start by 'giving' your neighbor your name. Just lift your right arm and
Exercise
call your name to your neighbor. He does the same to his neighbor, and names run around the
Introduction
Warm-up circle.
Then do the same with the letters of the alphabet. Give an 'a' to your neighbor, making a 'giving'
gesture with your right hand. Your neighbor continues by passing a 'b' to his neighbor, and so on.
Ditto with the numbers 1 to 9. Use another gesture, e.g. pass the number by tipping your right foot in
the direction of your neighbor.
When everyone's got this, try all of this at the same time. Start by passing your name, and as soon
as the name thing has advanced 2 or 3 players across the circle, set a letter thing in motion, and
then a number thing. If you have enough players, just mix and match.
Notes
Pay attention to how much gets lost - does everything you set in motion eventually get back to you or
not? You can coach players by saying they only need to pay attention to what their neighbor does, not
what's going on elsewhere in the circle.
Variations
Feel free to pass other things, each with it's own gesture. Possibilities are:
months of the year;
notes (like 'do', 're, 'mi', ....)
Line Mirror
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Game This is an extension of the Mirror game. Have all players line up in two face-to face rows, about
Exercise three feet apart, holding hands (within a row). All players can slowly start moving, but keep holding
Group
hands, and all movements get mirrored by the other row.
Variations
If you have enough players, form one long U-shaped row, so that the ends of the U face each other.
The repeat the exercise as described above.

Game Little Voice
Performance
One player plays a scene. The other player(s) play the voice(s) of objects in the environment in
which the first player plays.
Anything can have a voice. Examples:
a player walks in a forest and an ant starts talking to him
a player is in the bathroom and his toothbrush starts talking
Variations
You can script the text of the little voice, and have the player justify anything that is said. See Actor's
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Nightmare . See Evil Stick of Gum for a different variation.
Notes
Make sure players immediately make clear what exactly is doing the talking. Either the voice makes
this clear, or the other player:
Oh my god, a talking duck with a machine gun!
Bet you've never seen a talking couch, have you?
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Play Name the Monster in combination with this game. Also known as Speck .
Location
Game Get a location (say the Post Office). The whole long form is played in one and the same Post Office.
Limitations Different characters wander in and out, you can even do time shifts and playbacks, but the
Long Form environment of the scene is limited to the location given.
Performance
Lotus
Game This is just a series of scenes in which each new scene evolves out of the dynamics of the previous
Long Form scene. Divide the stage in 3 playing areas. Put at least 2 players in each area. Then in each area a
Performance scene is played. The first group starts with nothing. As soon as the second pair or group
understands the dynalics of the first scene, they start theirs. Ditto with the third group or pair.
This is done 3 times, to yield 9 scenes. Every time a group or pair starts a new scene, the previously
created characters are used again.
Variations
Start with 3 monologues.
Lounge Singer
Game Ask for an unlikely place to find a lounge singer. One player does a solo song, Frank Sinatra style.
Performance You'll get something like "Welcome to the pediatrician's Office".
SingSong
Great opener!
Solo

Machines
Game MC/trainer comes up with a (real or invented) machine. The players make the machine; every player
Exercise
becomes a part of the machine. We want to see/hear the machine work.
Group
Performance
Variations
Tell the players the machine goes into overdrive, until it explodes. Or tell the players the power's out,
and the machine slowly grinds to a halt.
Make More Interesting

Game Simple exercise, useful for players that are too verbal.
Exercise One player starts a scene. As soon as the trainer claps his hands, the player needs to make
whatever he was doing more interesting, without advancing. If our player was opening a briefcase at
the clap, he needs to make 'opening a briefcase' more interesting; he is not allowed to take
something out of the briefcase, as that would be advancing; player needs to stick to 'opening the
briefcase'.
Notes
Simple to explain but not so easy to play. When done well you move into the clownesque. Think
about Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy or Mr. Bean.
Variations
At a second clap, allow the player to advance the scene. Also known as Advancing
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and Expanding .
Making Faces
Game ' A silly handle attributed to Keith Johnstone. A number of players sit, forming a line. The middle
Performance player is the Master; the others are his servants. The master is planning something (a party or
whatever) and is giving his servants instructions. Whenever the master is not looking at a particular
servant or servants, these try to make faces behind the master's back. If they are caught they are
fired and replaced by another player.
The idea is for the servants to take really big risks; and for the master to play this very strict, showing
no mercy, creating a sense of danger.
Malapropism
Game This game flexes your mind. Have the players walk about in the room, point to any object, and give it
Association another name.
Warm-up
Notes
You can use this game for players that have difficulty with association: it shows that association is
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natural, and that it is actually difficult not to associate. See also Dissociation .

Game
Energy
Exercise Man Overboard
Warm-up
This is a nice elimination warm-up. Everyone spreads out in a staggered line, like in an aerobics
class. Then someone calls one of the following:
'Land ahoy' - and everyone hops on one foot, doing a salute with one hand
'Hit the deck' - all down on the floor in a push-up position
'octopus' - make groups of 2, one person on hands and knees and someone else over him or
her in the same position
'Man overboard' - groups of 2, one bending back and knees and the other on the first's back
(piggy-back style)
'two three four' - all sit down and start rowing Whoever
is last drops out. Repeat till all but one are out.
Mantra
Game Let the players play a short scene. Then ask them to repeat the following mantra in their head, and
Exercise replay the scene 'I'm so happy, I'm so happy'. In many cases, you will find that the whole scene
Spontaneity
becomes happier.
Variations
Try with other mantras, like 'I hate you', and see what the effect is.
Let players choose a mantra, and then play a scene.
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See Mantra Introduction for more about mantras. See also Impro for Storytellers for a discussion
on the use of Mantras.

Mantra Introduction
Game Here's a way to make a point about blanking one's mind, subconscious thinking and spontaneity.
Exercise Have all players sit down comfortably, if they want to close their eyes they can do so. Then ask them
Spontaneity
to blank their mind, to try and think about nothing at all. Let them do this for 2 minutes or so. While
they do so, make sure to walk around, to make some minor noise (blow your nose, clear your throat,
walk around) - but don't overdo this. If you can hear cars drive by in the street, or other people in the
building, or hear birds sing then you don't even have to make a noise.
Then ask the players who managed to think about absolutely nothing at all. Ask those who say they
did whether they heard the birds, the cards, you clearing your throat. If they did, weren't they thinking
about that, then?
Now ask the players to close their eyes, and to keep repeating the sound 'mihad' in their heads.
Have them do this for about 3 minutes. Then ask them again who thought about nothing but 'mihad'.
If they are honest they should all admit they thought of all kinds of stuff.
The point is that our minds just never stop working. Even if you're trying to concentrate on a
repeating sound in your head - a Mantra - your mind will still wander.
We are all capable of thinking about several things at a time, some people can keep up to 7 lines of
thought going in their minds. Who has never driven a car, being perfectly concentrated on the traffic,
without thinking about work, the groceries, the kids ?
You can use this exercise to show students they never need to be afraid of a brain freeze - our
brains manage to come up with so many things all the time - if you let them.
Mantras are used as a technique for (Transcendental and other) meditation. The idea is to keep the
most active part of your consciousness busy, and at the same time let unconscious processes and
lines of thought surface. This is similar to what happens in our dreams, but it has been proven (we've
been told) that these meditation techniques can be more relaxing or cleansing than sleep. Don't take
our word for that, though.
Notes
You can choose any gobbledygook word for a mantra for this exercise, as long as it's not an existing
word (don't use 'banana') or strongly resembles an existing word ('banano' wouldn't do either) - that
could trigger people to think about monkeys, or a jungle, or whatever.
Don't use 'mihad' if you're working with a class of Muslim fundamentalists; they might start thinking
about a Jihad ;-)
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See also Mantra for examples how you might use Mantras to play scenes.
Marriage Counsel Endowment

Game One player is sent out of the room while the host gets 2 relationship problems from the audience. 2
Endowment other players play a couple with these problems, and player one is the therapist. Players need to get
Guessing
the therapist to figure out what the relationship problems are.
Performance
Marshmallow Mania
Game Play a scene in which the audience is not supposed to laugh. Any player who provokes a laugh, gets
Limitations
a piece of marshmallow in his/her mouth. Players are allowed to chew, but may not swallow.
Performance G
See also The Gerbil .
Variations
Use grapes instead of marshmallow.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Game Begin with 2 players, each on a chair. In character they start to talk about what happened to them in
Long Form the past. Players take turns talking.
Performance
Then follows a series of scenes, and for every new scene location the chairs are moved. When
returning to a scene location played before, return the chairs to the position they were in in the
original scene in that location.
End with the 2 chairs back front stage, as in the beginning of the play. At the same time (of course)
conclude the whole story. Usually played with 2 players, but more is possible.
Origin
Attributed to Dan Goldstein.
Massage
Game Place all players in a circle. Have everyone put their hands on their right neighbor's shoulders and
Group give 'em a shoulder massage. Turn directions after a minute or so.
Introduction
Trust
Warm-up
Variations
Use some judgment to see what is appropriate; that will depend on the group/ the people you are
working with. You can place players in pairs, and have everyone massage the other's temples,
calves, etc.
Master Servant Disaster

Game 2 players, one is the master, the other is the servant. The master will ask the servant for something
Exercise simple. The servant always blocks the question, and explains why this should not be possible. The
Narration
master always accepts this, and asks for something else (which turns out to be impossible as well).
Status
Every time the servant has to explain why this should not be possible, the situation gets worse, until
the whole thing turns out to be a disaster.
An example:
Perkins, get me a glass of brandy.
Yes sir. Oh, sir, that won't be possible sir, we're out of brandy.
Well, get me a glas of whisky, then.
Yes sir. Ah, sir, um, we're out of whisky too, sir.
Oh? Well get my any kind of alcohol, then.
Ah sir, we're out of alcohol sir.
Perkins, have you been drinking again?
Well, the staff had a little party last night, sir.
I see. Well get me a glass of water from the kitchen then.
Yes sir. Ah, sir, the water pipes are bust sir, sorry.
Well, get me some water from the pond then.
Ah, yes, sir, uh, sorry sir, the pond is dry, sir.
And so on, until it turns out that the staff had a little party, accidentily set the kitchen on fire, used the
water from the pond to fight the fire, and so on. Eventually, the only room still standing is the
master's study, the rest of the castle has burnt down and all staff are dead. And all this for a perfectly
logical explanation.
The idea is for the servant to connect all elements the master brings up, into one and the same
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disaster. In this respect this game resembles Boris .
Mega Replay
Game Divide the players in 2 groups. A scene is played by the first group from a well known story, fairy
Performance tale, historic fact. This scene is then replayed by the other group, in a different emotion, age or style.
Replay
After that the first group replays as well, again in different emotion, style or age. You can repeat this
several times.
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See other replay games like Scene Replay and Replay Gibberish .
Mexican Name Wave

Game Players in a circle. Let them do a Mexican Wave: one player lifts both arms in the air, and down
Concentration again. When his arms are totally up, his right neighbour starts doing the same, so a 'wave' of hands
Exercise
circles around the circle.
Warm-up
When they've got this, at the same time, pass your name around the circle, going the other way.
Names are passed by pointing to your left neighbor and saying your name.
Confusing, indeed!
Micetro
Game G
Pronounce as 'Maestro'. Comparable to Gorilla Theatre , but a bit easier, and can be played with a
Format
fairly large number of players (up to 20), and 2 directors. The names of all players are on a big score
board. The directors choose for every game the appropriate number of players, perhaps by fishing
name tags out of a hat. The directors explain the game, perhaps ask the audience for suggestions,
direct and correct the scene.
After each scene the audience decided, by cheering or applause how many points the scene should
be awarded. Each player gets as many points as the scene he or she played in was awarded. Once
everyone has played in a scene, the players with the lowest score drop off, and the whole thing
starts again. The directors ensure that (certainly with large groups of players) that there are more
group-scenes at the start of the evening, and more 2-person scenes or even monologues toward
the end of the evening.
This is a fun format that can be played with mixed bunches of experienced and not-so-experienced
players. Since players are immediately judged, it is perfectly possible to pitch a start player after the
first round. Since this system is basically somewhat unfair, and everybody knows this, no one should
take elimination too personal (well, that's the idea anyway).
For beginners it's a nice format, as the directors will correct obvious blunders. And since all players
in a scene get the same score, this format limits competition between players in a scene.
Origin
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The (copyrighted) format is attributed toKeith Johnstone , and also described in his book Impro for
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Storytellers .
Millipede
Game Great fun but be careful not to hurt each other. Make sure there are no objects along the walls of the
Group room. All players in a circle, linking arms. Then move the circle to one of the walls, and 'squash' the
Warm-up circle, until it becomes 2 lines, one line of players with their backs to the wall, and another line in
front of the first, players facing each other.
Have this whole construction wheel along the walls of the room at high speed. Tell players to be
careful and not to make fists or they might slam into someone's face.

Game Mirror
Concentration
Exercise Players per 2, facing each other. They can move (arms, legs, eyebrows) slowly, and the other player
Warm-up will mirror them. This is a game of give and take - no-one should be (continuously) leading. Keep
movements slow.
Variations
Do this with the whole group: everyone in a big circle, and everybody mirrors everybody else. Also
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known as Group Mirror .
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See also Line Mirror .
Montage
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Game This is just a name for the most generic form of Long Form : a Montage is just a series of scenes,
Long Form connected or not.
Performance
More or Less
Game This is a nice show format.
Performance Any number of players from 5 upwards. Every player takes turns presenting a scene. First player
starts, asks audience suggestions if needed, and directs the scene to the extent needed. After a
couple of minutes the director asks the audience: more or less. Audience yells their preference, and
if More sounds loudest, scene is continued. If audience yells Less then the scene is not continued
and another player presents another scene.
Origin
Originated at the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada.
Move and Speak

Game Play a 2-player scene, in which no-one is allowed to talk unless they create a new object and a
Concentration movement along with it. All created objects stay where they are, and moving a previously created
Environment object does not lead to permission to talk.
Exercise G
Limitations See Touch to Talk for a similar game.
Performance
Movie Review
Game 4-10 players. Ask the audience for a movie title. 2 players will do an interview: one will be the
Narration
reviewer. As the movie is discussed, other players play parts of the movie.

Game
Characters
Endowment Mr. So and So
Exercise
Performance This is a game that's more suited for rehearshal than for performance, though I can work on stage as
well. Here is how it works.
Players call for new characters, by giving them names that refer to character or physical traits.
Things like: Ah, here comes mr. Bad Irish Accent; I think we need Mrs. Pathological Liar for this one;
Dear dear, if that isn't Sir Eats-People. And so on.
The idea is to challenge the other players with weird and unexpected suggestions, and forcing htem
to come up with an extravagant character right away. In a sense this is really institutionalised
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Pimping . Another game in which a similar pimping is used would be Supermen .
My Fault
Game You need 2 plastic bottles, each with a little bit of water (not too much or they'd be too heavy). Make
Energy sure your bottles are sturdy. or everyone will get wet.
Exercise
Have everyone walk around leisurely, and hand 2 players the bottles. The idea is to make eye
contact with someone. As soon as a player has eye contact with a player with a bottle, the bottle is
thrown. If at any point the bottle is dropped, both the thrower and the receiver lie down on the floor
and shout 'My Fault' as loud as possible. After than, one of them picks up the bottle and the game
continues.
Side coaching: tell the players to take risks, to try and make eye contact with a player at the other
side of the room.
Variations
Tell the players the bottle is red hot, and they need to throw it as fast as possible, or they'll burn
their hand.
The bottle becomes extremely light, or extremely heavy, and the players act accordingly.
Name 6 Circle
Game You will need a tennis ball or a towel tied in a knot for this one. Everyone sitting or standing in a
Association circle. You give one person the ball, and ask him to name at least 6 (or any other number, depending
Exercise
on the size of the circle), in the time it takes for the ball to get passed along the circle. Things to ask
for might be
sour tasting fruit
foreign makes of cars
names of seas
B-movies
Italian foods
Variations
Have one person in the middle of the circle. This person provides the category, and indicates how
many replies are expected from a player in the circle. If that player does not live up to the challenge,
he takes the place in the middle of the circle.
Notes
Tell players not to watch the ball go round when they're 'it' - they'll just panic and freeze. Try this
with closed eyes.
Don't ask for 1940's Nobel Prize winners, or simply 'emotions'.
Name the Monster
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Game Play in pairs, one word at a time (seeWord at a Time Scene ). Choose a location (e.g. walk in the
Narration forest). Players must meet a monster, give it a name, and run away from it.
Spontaneity
The 'monster' can be anything: an evil witch, a dragon, a frog with a machine gun, a smelly French
cheese, anything.
Variations
Take this game a bit further, and ask the players not to run away from the monster, but do
something. Fight it, beat it, get eaten (and continue in the monster's stomach or in heaven/hell),
make friends with it, tame it, capture it, ride it, whatever.
Notes
The real goal of the exercise is to get used to explicitly naming the problem (the 'monster' in this
case).
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Use this game e.g. in combination with Little Voice , to teach players to actually name whatever is
talking to them.
Name Volley
Game Divide the class into 2 groups, maximum 6 players per group. We are going to play a mimed game of
Exercise volleyball, in which every player, as they pass a ball, shouts the name of another player, who then
Introduction
needs to catch and pass the ball.
We want to be able to 'see' the ball at any point in time.
No Doubles 1-10
Game Nice concentration game.
Concentration Everyone in a circle. We will count from 1 to 10. Any player can start by saying '1'. Then any other
Exercise player can say '2' and so one. If 2 players say a number at the same time we start all over again.
Look and Listen G
Warm-up Also known as Digits .
Non Sequitor
Game Place players in pairs, let them hold a casual conversation about their work, the weather, anything.
Concentration There will be 4 signals (hand clap or blow a whistle):
Exercise
Gibberish
First signal: keep the conversation going, but behave strange, make bizarre gestures and jerky
Warm-up body movements
second signal: keep the strange movements going, and continue the conversation in gibberish
third signal: keep calm, but continue the conversation in gibberish
forth signal: stay calm and talk normal
No P
Game Players play a scene (perhaps based on an audience suggestion) but they cannot use the letter 'P'
Audience (or any other letter). When a player uses a 'P', the audience screams 'Die' and the player is
Participation replaced by another on. The scene continues, and the new player needs to take over the character
Die
Limitations of the player he replaces.
Performance

Nuclear Bomb Chicken
Game You can do this only once with a new group. Tell them they are all chickens in a henhouse, and a
Characters nuclear bomb is about to drop on the henhouse within 30 seconds, Ask the players to play the
Exercise
chickens as truthfully as possible, then give them the start signal. Any chicken that shows
acknowledgement of the incoming bomb, fails the exercise. Chickens have no clue what a bomb is.
The goal of the exercise is to show the difference between the reality of the player and the reality of
the character.
Origin
Attributed to Stella Adler (the only known American to study directly with Russian Master
Konstantine Stanislavsky). The story goes that Marlon Brando got it and simply went about laying an
egg while the other chickens went in a frenzy.
Object Morphing
Game Good exercise on object work: players in pairs. First player builds an object, as precise and careful
Environment as possible, then hands it over to the other. Second player accepts the object, being as truthfull to
Exercise what the first player built as possible. After having acknowledged this, player 2 starts morphing the
object into something else. This can be done by bending, breaking, twisting, extending, shrinking,
you name it. When the new object is complete it gets passed back to player 1, who accepts and then
morphs it.
Variations
You can do this in a circle, passing and morphing objects around the circle.
Object Narrative
Game Place one chair on stage. The group sits or stands to the sides so they can see what is going on.
Characters Someone chooses an object from the room and places it on the chair. (Or get an object from the
Exercise
audience in a show) That object is your suggestion.
Narration
Performance One at a time, three members (or how ever many you decide) do a short monologue off that object.
One person starts and when they are done, they leave the object on the chair for the next person.
Whoever is inspired jumps up next adding their part of the story/situation from another character's
point of view. and the third person completes the cycle.
This exercise is extremely character based. The first character sets the story in motion and then the
other two people find a way to be another interesting character that will accept and heighten the first
initiation. The challenge is to not be totally predictable with the follow up character choices (avoid
immediately choosing to be the spouse when you could be that person's mailman...or manicurist
instead). At the same time you still want to support the story line and justify what the previous
characters have already established. The characters don't have to know each other, but they must
have connections (if only through the object).
This exercise helps:
listening (you must listen to the characters before you to know how you can fit into the
story/situation and justify it.)
character work
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Truthfulness (try not to focus 'just' on the object. It's about the relationships and connections
between the 3 different characters.)
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Reincorporating

Objects
Game Divide the class in 2 groups. Give one group the name of an object, and they become, as a group,
Exercise the object. Other group guesses.
Group
Warm-up
Old Job New Job

Game Play a scene with 2 players, and give them a job (or let the audience provide the job). Then tell them
Characters what job they had in a previous life.
Performance
The idea is that somehow in the scene players reflect their previous jobs in their actual life. The idea
is not to 'play' the old job, but to show character traits of someone with the old job while performing
the new job (are we making sense here?)
One Duck
Game Everyone in a circle. We are going to say a pattern, one word per player, going clockwise. It goes
Concentration like:
Warm-up
One Duck, two Legs, Quack
Two Ducks, four legs, Quack Quack
Three Ducks, six legs, Quack Quack Quack
And so on, till someone misses.
Variations
Try with an insect instead of a duck (6 legs per insect), or a spider (eight legs) and invent a sound
the insect might make.
One Eighty Five

Game Not really improv theater but done by a quite a few troupes, and fun when done well. Get a term, e.g.
Performance 'Elephants'. The lines go like
Verbal wit
185 elephants walk into a bar
The bartender says "Sorry but we don't serve elephants here"
(witty line that's the reply of the elephants )
Players basically come up with an instant joke about 185 whatevers that enter the bar. As we said,
not really theater...
One Line Scene

Game Play a one or two minute scene, where only one line of dialog can be spoken. Indicate to the players
Exercise when they have, say, 20 seconds left.
Limitations
This exercise teaches players what can be communicated using non-verbal communication. Things
like, 'thank you', 'I love you', 'I appreciate this', 'I'm sorry" and so forth can all be communicated
non-verbally.

One Mouth
One player (or the MC) is going to interview all other players, but the group of other players are
Game really one character. This character answers the questions, but all players provide the answer at the
Exercise same time, as if the character is speaking out of many mouths simultaneously. The answers should
Group
make sense (at least grammatically) and should be clear. If one player starts answering a question
Performance
by saying 'YYYY' no-one should try and turn that into a 'No'.
Notes
works best if everyone goes for the obvious and simple answers.
don't try to speak too fast, but take your time to let the answer organically grow.
coach players to take the lead if the answers is sagging, and to happily give up the lead as soon
as they feel they got the lead.
move players that stubbornly always take the lead to another position in the group (at the back
or at the ends).
Variations
You can try and use this as an audience warm-up, and try to get the audience to talk to the MC out
R
of one mouth. This is suggested in Impro for Storytellers .
One Two Three Four

Game Ok, this is harder to explain than it is to play. This game is a repetition of 4 movements:
Concentration 1 : touch your head with both hands
Exercise
Warm-up 2 : touch your shoulders with both hands
3 : touch your hips with both hands
4 : slap right foot with right hand
We repeat this 10 times, as follows:
just say 1,2,3,4 - no movements, do this twice
touch your head (on '1' but don't say '1') and say 2,3,4. Repeat twice.
touch head (on '1') touch shoulders (on '2', but don't say '1' or '2'). Follow by 3,4, spoken.
Repeat twice
touch head, touch shoulders, touch hips (on the rhythm on 1,2,3, but don't say 1,2,3). Say '4'.
Repeat twice
touch head, shoulders, hips, slap foot. Don't say anything but stay in the rhythm and repeat
twice
Then just start all over again by saying 1,2,3,4 twice.
Increase tempo as you go along.
Only Questions
Game A scene is played, in which any sentence used by the players must be a question. Players that use
Audience statements instead of questions are boo-ed out by the audience (audience yells 'Die') and are
Participation
replaced by other players. New players need to take over the character of the players they replace.
Die
Exercise
Limitations Notes
K K
Narration Although questions are quite often frowned upon in improv (seeQuestions and Wimping ), in
Performance this game the idea is to build a story. That implies that any question should be giving information,
and should be (implicitly) advancing on the information already available. Evidently, the next player
should implicitly accept any information that was given in the previous question(s).
Open Offer
Game One player starts a scene by making an offer that is not 'complete', in the sense that it is vague
Accepting
enough not to define the who/what/where right away. Another player steps in and completes the
Association Platform K .
Exercise
Notes
K
Although in performance we probably want to establish our Platform as early as possible, this
game teaches players how to quickly build platforms as a group or a team.
Open Your Hand

Game Let the players walk around the room leisurely. Then ask them to stop, open their hands, and let
Exercise something fall out of the sky, right into their hands. Let them name the object in their hands, set it
Spontaneity
aside, move on and open their hands again.
Notes
Some people find this a bit of a scary game, as if they are afraid they are not going to come up with
anything. Explain that there are no wrong answers.
Some players will complain that everything that falls out of the sky is a dead bird (or whatever).
Explain to them that this is fine too. Most players, if reassured that they really can't go wrong, move
on to other stuff after 10 dead birds or so.
Variations
You can tell players they can vary the way they extend their hands or hand. They can hold hands in
front of them, above their head or close to the ground. See if different stuff shows up.
A slightly less difficult version of this game can be done by having players put their hands in their
pockets and take something out. Make sure they all got pockets if you want to play this game. This
version is slightly easier, as anything in their pockets, like dust, or the way the fabric feels, can
trigger and idea; when holding your hands out there is very little to trigger an idea.
Origin
R R
Keith Johnstone describes similar games in his book Impro .
Opposite Characters
G
Game This is basically the opposite to Imitate : for the shopkeeper, rather than imitating the customer's
Characters character, try and build a totally opposite character.
Exercise
As a side coaching, point players to the following character treats:
voice (loud/soft/harsh ? intonation?)
K
Status (high/low?)
Age? Occupation?
G
Way the body moves? (take a look atFast Food Laban for more on movement)
Note that this is also a looking/listening exercise for the shopkeeper!
Opposites
Game Let the players walk around the room in silence. Ask them how they would classify themselves:
K
Characters high or low Status
Exercise
loud or silent
caring or careless
strong or weak
tall or small
secure or insecure
clumsy or perfect
happy or sad
introvert or extravert
basically anything that would be a character trait
Then ask them to imagine they are exactly the opposite of all these character traits. Ask them to
move about like such a character. Then play scenes in which the players 'become' the opposites of
their own characters.
Overload
Game Excellent exercise to train listening skills by means of sensory overload. 4 players. One plays and
Exercise stands centrally. This player has to:
Look and Listen
answer simple arithmetic questions posed by left player
answer simple personal questions posed by right player
mirror the movements made by the player in front of her
If the central player misses something, or fail to answer a question, the player who is not followed
keeps saying 'Beep beep beep' until the question is answered or the movement is mirrored.
Rotate players after a few minutes so everyone gets their turn.
Parallel Universe
Game Audience provides 2 different environments/locations. Then 2 pairs of players play 2 scenes, one in
Limitations each environment, but the scenes are played at the same time (on the same scene, of course).
Performance
Players do not acknowledge characters or events that do not happen in their scene.
Be careful to allow both pairs for 'scene time'.
Pass Ball
Game All players in a circle. Ask the players to pass a mimed ball to others (one ball at a time). Then
Exercise side-coach: the ball becomes heavier, until it weighs a ton, or extremely light, extremely big (and
Warm-up light or heavy) or extremely small (and light or heavy).
We need to 'see' the ball's characteristics in the way it gets passed.

Pass Clap
Game Classic warm-up. Everyone in a circle. One player starts by throwing a hand clap to her
Concentration right neighbor, and the neighbor passes the clap to his right neighbor.
Energy
Play this till the clap really flows nicely around the circle. Then tell the group that players may
Exercise
Warm-up decide to pass the clap back to the neighbor they got it from. Try it and notice how disruptive this
can be.
Variations
Try these for variation:
when receiving a clap, first clap back to the sender, then turn to your neighbor to pass it
on; pass claps either high (bending down) or high (above your head) combine both of the
above.
Try clapping twice, three times or 4 times when you pass the clap. Make movement doing
that (like clap 4 times, low to high as you pass the clap)
Try clapping (simultaneously) in pairs, 3 or even 4 players at a time.
G G
See also Synchro Clap . See also Pass Yes .
Pass Yes
Game G
This is a bit like Pass Clap and all it's variations. One player starts by saying 'Yes' to her lefthand
Concentration neighbor. Neighbor does the same, passing the 'Yes' to her lefthand neighbor. Or she decides to
Warm-up say 'No', after which it's her right-hand neighbors turn.
Try and pass the 'Yes' along the circle as fast as possible.
When everyone's got this. Do the same but with eyes closed.
Patterns
Game G
This is a bit like Free Association Circle , except that player are not to freely associate on the
Association previously heard word, but on the ensemble of what has been heard, thereby heightening is.
Exercise
Example: grass, plant, flower, tree, forest, jungle. Restart as soon as you can heighten any more.
Warm-up
Pecking Order
Game Every player picks a number between 1 and the number of players in the scene. Numbers are kept
Performance secret, so doubles are possible and allowed. Then a scene is played in which each player tries to
Status
play the status picked; 1 being the highest status. Obviously they don't know which numbers the
others picked, so each player will have to choose how to position his or her status with respect to
each other player, and this choice can be wrong.
Most fun if several players pick highest or lowest status.
Peruvian Ball Game

Game Everyone starts milling about the room, miming a particular kind of ball. It can be light or heavy, have
Concentration a texture, whatever, as long as it is particular. At the trainer's sign, everyone passes their ball to
Exercise
someone else. This is done a couple of times, after which everyone tries to find back his or her ball.
Origin
R R
Pillars
Game Put one member of the audience on stage (the pillar). A scene is played, but each player can at any
Performance point stop his sentence and ask the Pillar to provide the next word.
Play Tag
Game Just play tag. Excellent physical warm-up. Tell players to take risks, see how close you can
Warm-up get/stay to the tagger without being caught.
G
See SloMo Tag for an exercise to follow this one.
Pockets
Game Before the show, ask the audience to write simple sentences on slips of paper. Anything goes.
Audience The game is played by 2 players. Ask for a location, or a profession, and have every player draw
Participation
3 of these slips. Players put these in their pockets without reading them.
Limitations
Performance Then a scene is played, in which at any point in time, players replace what they might have
said, by whatever is on the piece of paper they draw out of their pocket. Try to
incorporate/justify whatever is your line into the scene.
Notes
Try to avoid thinks like 'My granny always said' - you want your character to say whatever is on
the piece of paper - don't try to put those words into someone else's mouth. See also a game
G
called Bucket that uses audience lines as well.
Poetry Corner
Game You may want to practice this one: 1 player starts with the first line of a poem; player 2 adds
Performance second line, and so forth.
Verbal wit Try different formats: limericks, sonnets, haikus etc...
Poet Translator
Game A simple translation game. The setup is a foreign language poet, who performs some of his work in
K
Gibberish Gibberish . The translator translates. Nice is number of lines, metrum, and rhymes are kept.
Performance
Point of View
Game Play a simple scene. Then the scene is replayed, from the point of view of one of the characters.
Performance You can replay several times, from several POVs.
Replay
Make sure the scene is such that the relationships between the characters allow for clear POVs. A
scene about dryly buying a pair of shoes does not lead to exciting POVs... Also known as
G
Rashomon . - after the movie by Akira Kurosawa, that follows different points of view as well.

Popcorn
Game Everyone finds themselves a nice spot, and squat down. The teacher now talks the group
Energy through this exercise. Everyone is a piece of corn, the floor is a big pan, and we're going to
Exercise
make popcorn. We slowly start heating the pan; as the pan gets hotter, corn starts to 'pop'. A
Group
Warm-up player can 'pop' by jumping up, clapping hands above their head, and saying 'pop'.
Make sure the 'popping' starts gradually, 'popping' is a group thing, and in the end, 'popping'
should stop.
Variations
Forget to take the pan off the fireplace, and have the popcorn start charring.
Presents
Game Great warm-up exercise that helps you blank your mind. Good for control freaks.
Exercise Players stand in pairs and give each other presents. To give a present, you just open your
Spontaneity
arms/hands to indicate you're holding something. Don't try to think about what you're holding,
Warm-up
but give it to your companion.
Upon receiving the present, you give it a name, the first thing that comes to mind. You
say something like 'Oh, thanks, a little dead bird'. You promptly ignore your present and
return something else to your companion.
This game works best if it's played fast, so players really don't have the time to preconceive. It's
also nice and positive, as everybody is always extremely happy with their presents, no matter
what they are.
If players complain they always receive the same present ("It's always a book") tell them this is
C
quite ok - they should be happy to receive so many books. See also Spontaneity for related
games.
Press Conference
Game 3 to 8 players. One player leaves the room, while the audience provides the name of a famous or
Endowment historical person. The 'absent' player will give a press conference, but he does not know who he is.
Performance
The other players are journalists, whose questions should provide indications to who the mystery
guest might be.
Game ends when our player guesses who he is.
Notes
The 'journalists' should really play journalist characters. They can take photographs, or have a fight
about who gets to ask the next question.
Variations
Instead of a famous or historical person, choose an expert. The game is over when the 'expert'
figures out what he or she is expert in.
Primal Screams
Game All players in a circle. On player steps into the circle, making a big gesture and a loud sound.
Energy Player then steps back, and the rest of the circle imitates the sound and gesture.
Exercise R
Warm-up
Try and do this with open sounds, as loud as possible. As Keith Johnstone says: "Yelling
'en masse' is good for the soul".

Props
Game In this game the players need to come up with an original/funny use of a prop. They cannot use the
Association
prop the way it is supposed to be used for, obviously.
Performance
Notes
You could really use any object as if it were a cell phone, but that is not the idea of the exercise.
Look at the object (or it's parts) and see what inspires you. We once saw a player, given a chair, who
turned into a prisoner. The back of the chair became the bars of this cell.
Protest Song
Game Ask the audience for something that pisses them off. Then improvise a song about it, like the 70s
Performance
screw-the-government type characters. Typically done as a Vers-Chorus type song.
SingSong
Notes
Here's a suggestion for chord succession (but by all means feel free to improvise something ale
yourself if you're an improv musician):
Verse: G Am D D (4 times)
Chorus: D C G% (4 times)
You can do this in a Verse Verse Chorus Verse succession. Or improvise something else.
Puppets
Game 4 players. 2 players will be puppets; these players offer the lines of dialog in the scene, but they
Audience are not allowed to move about themselves. The other 2 players are the puppet masters, that will
Participation
provide the movements for the puppets.
Performance
Variations
Some groups use audience members to play the puppets or the puppet masters.
Rash
Game Make sure you have as many pieces of paper as there are players. Write 'cure' on all but one, and a
Exercise disease (like 'rash') on one. Each player draws a piece of paper, but no-one knows who's got the
Group
disease. Then find the disease and cure it.
Warm-up
Variations
Have one 'cure' and all the others the same disease.
Real Estate Broker

Game One player is a real estate broker and shows a second player (or multiple players) around a space,
Environment given by the audience/trainer. Each player can create whatever they wish in the space, and
Exercise
questions are not allowed. Any object created should be justified (by the broker or by the others).
And obviously any object created stays where it is (unless explicitly moved).
Receiver Right Clap

Game Nice concentration and warmup exercise. All players in a circle. Players can throw a 'clap' to any
Concentration other player by pushing their hands together in front of their chest (like a praying gesture), and then
Exercise
pushing both hands towards the receiving player, opening up their arms as they do so. Sending a
Warm-up
'clap' makes a 'Whoof' sound; receiving a clap makes a sucking sound.
The receiver receives the clap by making the inverse gesture, and uttering a sucking sound.
Once a clap is received, the player to the right of the receiver sends a new clap to any other player.
And so one.
Once everyone's got it, switch to left-hand side player of the receiver to send the next clap.
Variations
If all players are really concentrating, and this game goes particularly well, try 'skipping' a neighbor.
E.g. the second player to the left of the receiver sends the next clap.
Repair Shop
Game One player leaves the stage (or gets a headphone). Audience provides an object, and something
Endowment not-so-obvious that is wrong with the object. Example: an airliner for which the keys to open the door
Guessing
have been lost. In the game the player that is 'it' needs to solve the problem, without knowing what
Performance
the problem is. As soon as she finds out the game is over.
Variations
Bring the object back to the shop where it was purchased. Shopkeeper should give hints as to what
the object is.
Instead of an object, use an animal that is sick, dead or does not do what was promised. Like a
G
parrot that refuse to speak - Also known as Veterinarian Endowment . .
Invert it - have the shopkeeper guess what it is.
Repeater
Game Listening exercise. Any player that wants to offer a piece of dialog needs to repeat the entire dialog
Exercise the last player did (ignoring that player's repetition of previous dialog) before she can offer her own
Look and Listen
input. Obviously not for performance.
Replay Gibberish
K
Game Exercise on Jabbertalk . Have 2 players do a short scene (1 minute or so). Then have them replay
Exercise the scene in gibberish.
Gibberish
Replay
Reverse Chair Dance

Game You will need music for this exercise; provide a tape deck or a ghetto blaster, and a bunch of chairs.
Exercise Start by placing chairs in a circle, one chair less than the number of players. Play music, and have
Group
the players dance around the chairs. When the music stops, everyone should find a chair to sit on.
Introduction
The player that doesn't find a chair needs to find some other way to get his/her feet off the ground.
Remove a chair and repeat. In the end, all players will have to find a way to not to touch the ground,
by climbing and clinging on to each other. Make sure you got sturdy chairs; we've known chairs to
collapse under the weight of 10 players ...
It's important not to side coach - the group needs to figure out themselves how to solve the problem.
Reverse Trivial Pursuit

Game C
Like most of the games in the Verbal wit category, no exactly theater, but fun if played well. Ask
Performance
Verbal wit the audience for statements or facts, to which the players need to come up with the funniest
question to which the statement/fact might be the answer. Example:
Statement: "Green Bananas"

Question: "What is best avoided if you got constipation?"
Rhymes
Game Scene played in verses. The idea is that the first player offers a line, and the second player
Audience rhymes to that. Then the second player offers another line, with which the first player needs to
Participation make a rhyme.
Die
Limitations Players that hesitate or forget to rhyme 'die' and are replaced by other players. The idea is to keep
Narration the story going, so players that can't find a good rhyme that would advance the story better die than
Performance screw up the story.
Verbal wit G
See also Verses .
Rituals
Game Get an everyday activity from the audience. Then play this activity as if it were a ritual.
Performance
Notes
Think about religion, voodoo, sports, a NATO summit, whatever. You'll realize a lot of what we do is
ritualized, just heighten that.
Rumors
Game Everyone in a circle. One person starts by saying "Did you hear about ..." and points to someone
Accepting else. That player immediately replies affirmative and heigthens. After which everyone gasps or
Association
giggles. Person left to the second person restarts.
Exercise
Warm-up The blanks can be anything: something as simple as soup, or something as convoluted as the white
bear who ate a Russian kid for lunch in Novosibirsk last Thursday.
Samurai
Game This is an excellent physical warm up. All players in a circle. One player is the Samurai - she starts
Exercise by lifting her Katana (sword), making a Japanese- sounding grunt. She keeps her sword up in the
Warm-up air, and her 2 neighbors "slaughter" her, by swinging their swords into her sides, again grunting
enthusiastically and in pseudo-japanese. When the neighbors retract their swords, the Samurai
lowers her sword; while doing this she makes eye contact with another player, when then becomes
Samurai, and everything starts all over again.
Start slowly, and then increase the tempo.
Satellite Radio
Game Excellent listening exercise. Players in pairs. Establish a beat. Player 1 provides a story, one word per
Exercise beat. Player 2, within the beat, repeats the story, but with one beat delay (like the delay we have on a
Look and Listen satellite radio).
G
Try with 2 or 3 beats delay as well. See also Satellite TV for an variation on this exercise.
Satellite TV
G
Game Same as Satellite Radio , but with movements. Players in pairs. Establish a beat. Player 1 makes
Exercise a new movement on every beat. Player 2 mirrors the movements, but with a delay of 1 beat.
Look and Listen G
Try a delay of 2 or 3 beats as well. See also Bidirectional Satellite TV for an extension of
the exercise.
Scene in the Dark

Game G
Fairly obvious: a scene is played in the dark. See also The Bat .
Limitations Look
and Listen Notes
Performance
If the theater is really dark, then moving about on the scene can make quite a lot of disruptive noise.
You may want to do a 'radio play', where all players just sit on the stage, and provide the words and
(background) noises for the scene.
Scene Painting
Game Technique for building/advancing scenes. To be used sparingly.
Performance The idea is that any player can stop the scene by yelling freeze, step out of character, and describe
something within the scene, without interrupting what is going on in the scene. After the comment,
player unfreezes the scene and steps back into character.
Example. 2 players in a scene where a backpacker is looking for a bed at a house where an old lady
lives. Backpacker comments on the fact that the house is chock full of stuffed animals, an little
pictures of backpackers, thereby implying that the old lady kills and stuffs backpackers (idea stolen
from a short story by Roald Dahl).
G
See also Asides for another game with uses a similar technique.
Scene Replay
Game Ask 2 players to play a short scene. One could limit the scene to 8 lines of dialog per player. Then
Performance ask the players to replay the scene, based on some audience suggestions for:
Replay G
Timed
a particular emotion. Also known as Emotion Replay .
G G
an era. Also known as Through the Ages . Also known as Historical Replay .
a different location
G
a film / TV / literature style. Also known as Style Replay .
C
in Gibberish
G
backwards. Also known as Backwards Scene .
Variations
You can time the scene to 1 minute, and then replay in 30 seconds, 15 seconds, 7 seconds and 3
seconds.
G G
This variation is Also known as Countdown . and Also known as Half Life . .
Other variations:
have the scene replayed by 2 other players
insist that the dialog remains exactly the same
G
See also Replay Gibberish .

Scene To Music
Game A silent scene is played, in which the characters' emotions are controlled by the music.
Performance
SingSong
Scorpion
Game A number of players stand in the middle of the room, eyes closed the others stand by the walls. One
Exercise of the middle players is tapped on the shoulder, she become the 'killer' or the 'vampire'. The trainer
Trust
give a go-sign, and all 'blinded' players start milling around the room. When the killer bumps into
someone, she squeezes that persons forearm to 'kill' him. When a victim dies, he utters a scream,
opens his eyes and is 'out'.
Game is over when all potential victims are dead.
Audience by the walls make sure that blind players don't bump into stuff or hurt themselves.
Variations
When a 'vampire' runs into a victim, the victim becomes a vampire too
When 2 vampires bump into one anther, they become normal mortal souls again
G G G
Also known as Blind Hunt . Also known as Screamers . Also known as Haunted House . Also
G G G
known as Blind Stalker . Also known as Vampire Game . See also Death and Retriever
Sculptors
Game Works best with an even number of players. Split the group in 2. One half forms a circle in the middle
Exercise of the room, facing outwards. The other half positions themselves, each player in front of one of the
Group
players in the middle circle.
The middle players are clay, or stone, and the outsiders are sculptors. Let each sculptor do
something to his lump of clay, then make the sculptors rotate clockwise. Everyone now stands in
front of someone else's block of stone or lump of clay. Have them work some more on the sculpture
and rotate again. Repeat till every player is in front of his original piece of stone again.
Then ask the sculptors to introduce their work, and give it a name.
Variations
Each statue or sculpture has a built in voice chip that can utter exactly one sentence. Let the
sculptors switch on the voice chip at the end of their explanation.
Notes
K
Excellent exercise to try with a new group to see who is Mr. Nice Guy . Players that keep placing
the sculptures in positions that are impossible to maintain or physically painful can easily be spotted
with this exercise.
Other thing to watch for is which players undo the work the previous artists made. The idea is to
build art together, not to destroy previously done work in order to push your own ideas. Make this
clear by asking the sculptors, when they're in front of their original work again, to what extent the
works still looks anything like what they started with.
Seven Up
Game Everyone in a circle, start counting to 7 while waving right arm up and down to the same rhythm
Concentration you're counting. After 7 switch to the other arm, then the right leg, then the other leg. At the end of
Exercise
the last leg of 7 go back to the original arm and do the same thing counting to 6, and so on down to
Warm-up
1-1-1-1.
Shootout
Game Excellent game to get to know each other's names.
Concentration Everybody's a cowboy or cowgirl, you get them in a circle and ask them to test their revolvers. Have
Energy
them shoot up in air, not at each other (yet). Then ask the group to concentrate; when everybody's
Introduction
Warm-up quiet, call someone's name. That person needs to drop to the floor as fast as he can. His neighbors
take a shot a him; if he's not down fast enough, he dies (making grueling sounds). If he's down
before a gun is fired, the neighbor who fired last dies.
Insist that for every shot there should be at least one victim. If's there's any confusion about who
shot first, they should all spontaneously die.
Repeat till only 2 players are alive. Place those 2 back to back in the middle of the room, and give
them a sign to start walking away from each other. When they hear you drop a coin (or a key ring, or
whatever) they turn around as fast as they can and shoot the other. Again, at least one victim, and if
they're not sure who shot first they should both gladly die.
Variations
A shot can only be fired after a player has made a 360 degree spin.
Notes
K
This is really a game about Chivalry and not about winning. Use this game early in a workshop
to spot the students that stubbornly refuse to be shot and correct them. You could consider your
moment of death you moment of glory - show off how willing you are to accept you own death, and
die with enthusiasm.
Sideways
Game In this game we play a scene, in which the back wall is the 'floor', and the floor is a wall. So, if you
Limitations are 'standing' in the scene, you would be lying on the floor, and if you're lying down, you'd really be
Performance
standing against the back wall.
This setup allows players to so all kinds of weird things, like defying gravity, or become a bat that's
hanging upside down off the wall.
Silly Stinky Sexy

Game 4 players. Each player endows each of the other players with either sexy-ness, silly-ness or
Endowment stinky-ness. Have them play a scene in which people come together, at a party, a picnic, in church.
Performance
Afterwards, ask the audience if they could see who endowed who with what.
Simon Says
Game You are Simon, and you tell the players to do exactly what Simon tells them to do, but only if Simon's
Concentration sentence starts with "Simon says". Any time a player does what Simon tells her to do, without
Exercise
preceding that with "Simon says" is out.
Tell the players the game starts when you say "Simon says the game has started". Then try to trick
them into doing stuff they're not supposed to do. Ask them e.g. if they understand the rules; whoever
nods is out. Try telling players that are out they can join in again; if they do they're out again.
Simple Continuation
Game A scene is started, played by 2 to 4 players. Mid-scene the MC interrupts, and all characters are
Continuation replaced by new players. The new players should take over the original characters, and stick to the
Performance
story that was being developed.
G G
Also known as Understudy . Also known as Actor Switch .
Sitting Standing Lying

Game Silly game to teach fast acting.
Concentration 3 players play a scene. At any point in time, there should always be one player standing, one
Exercise
player sitting and one player lying down. As soon as a sitter stands up, the stander needs to sit
Limitations
Performance down. Try to justify the moves !
Variations
Improv troupe Icebox called in with the following variation: Glad Sad Mad. Same handle.
Six Episodes
Game Excellent game to teach group storytelling. Give a big task, like 'The launch of a new flavor of
Accepting coke', or 'Building a new clubhouse for the girl scouts'. The players get 1 minute to prepare 6
Exercise
scenes, in which the given task needs to be completed. After 1 minute there is no more discussing,
Group
Narration they just play the 6 scenes.
Time it and see if they can make their minds up. Quarreling will just slow them down, so this will
K
only work if players agree; they should be immediately Accepting any usable ides.
Slappy Face
Game A simple word association played in pairs. If a player is too slow, of goed 'Erm...' the other slaps him
Association
in the face (gently). Adding the notion of danger helps some people to say whatever comes to mind. Concentration
Slap Take
Game Very silly. But hey we're an encyclopedia; some folks really do this on stage, so here we go: 2
Performance players do a scene. Every time a player makes the audience laugh the other slaps her. See also
G G
Spit Take . See also Marshmallow Mania .
Slide Show
Game Give one player a big activity, perhaps a trip through the jungle, or the construction of a home.
Exercise This player needs to present a slide show; the other players will play what's in the slides.
Group
Narration
Performance
Notes
The idea is that the story is built both by the presenter, and by the images the other players
present in the slides. Sidecoach players not to simply just 'build' what the narrator has described,
but to extend it, to build/show the sequel or next step in the story.
SloMo Samurai
Game Tell the players they are Samurai, and their right forearm is a poisoned sword. Then have them
Exercise do a slow motion sword fight.
Warm- The only way to fend off a 'sword' is by blocking it with your right arm. If another player's sword
up
touches your body on any other part than your right forearm, you die a gruesome death (also in
slow motion).
Notes
Players should not speed up when they are about to get 'killed', but rather 'let themselves be killed'.
K
Good game to teach a little Chivalry .
G
Also known as Poison Arms .
SloMo Tag
Game Play tag, but in slow motion. Immensely entertaining if played well; players are not to escape
Concentration the tagger by making a sudden movement, and the tagger cannot lash out to tag another
Warm-up player. Tell players to breathe, scream and groan in slow motion.
You may want to have the players exercise walking in slow motion first, to make sure they are
aware of how they (naturally) move, and learn how to stick with that in slow motion.
Soap Series
Game C
Play an episode from a soap series. This can be done as a Long Form , but can also be used in
Long Form
short form. The idea is to use (and abuse) the techniques used in soap series. Typically this
Performance
involves several story lines running at the same time, each story progressing in tiny steps. Other
elements that can be used or spoofed are:
poor acting
settings like oil industry, hospitals, fashing industry
situations where everyone is involved with everyone, including weird plot twists
where characters suddenly discover they are related.
Solitaire
Game All players but one spread along opposing edges of a wide surface. The player in the middle runs
Group from one end of the space with closed eyes. The others prevent the runner from deviating too much
Trust
left/right, and catch the runner at the end.
This is more difficult than it sounds - it's like after a couple of steps most people start sensing a
looming wall in front of them.
Solo Doors
Game C
A Solo exercise. Enter, as a character, through a door. Make the environment clear (by means of
Characters
the (kind of) door. In that environment, address your character as a different character, then one of
Environment
Exercise
the characters (you again) leaves (through the door, or through another door/window/hole/whatever).
Solo Do this fairly fast and long enough so you run through your easy characters. You can shelve any
interesting characters you discover of course.
K
Excellent exercise to help you establish the Platform . This is like a solo variation on
G
Ding Characters .

Sound Circle
Game Everybody in a big circle. One player starts the game by making a gesture and a sound to his right
Accepting neighbor. The neighbor immediately imitates gesture and sound, then turns to his right neighbor
Exercise
and makes a totally different gesture and sound.
Spontaneity
Warm-up Tell players not to preconceive, ask them to throw themselves into this exercise.
Variations
Instead of passing the sound/gesture to your neighbor, players can pass it to any player in
the circle.
Try the game without imitating the sound/gesture received; just have players turn around
and throw a new gesture/sound to their neighbors as fast as possible.
G
Also known as Pass Catch .
Sound Effects
Game A scene is played, and one or more off-scene players provide all the sounds. Players on scene are
Performance allowed to speak, but cannot make other sounds. The idea is that the FX folks add to the scene,
not merely support it.
Sounds Like a Song

Game Play a scene (or series of scenes). At any time, anyone can stop the scene and say 'Sounds like a
Performance song', after which the player(s) sing a song based on the last line that was spoken, or last action that
SingSong
was done.
Space Jump
G
Game This is like an extended Freeze Tag game.
Association 4 players. One player starts miming an every day activity or routine. A second player (or the MC)
Performance
calls Freeze and the first one freezes. Second player builds another scene based on the frozen
position of the first player.
The other 2 players enter the same way. Once players 3 and 4 are in, as soon as Freeze is called, 2
and 3 take on their positions in which they were frozen, and continue their scene. And so on
backwards.
As soon as player 1 is back alone in his activity, he needs to finish it and that ends the game.
Variations
When a scene is continued, keep adding players until everyone is in, then work your way backwards.
When a previous cene is continued, the players continue in the future, perhaps in a new location,
G
and they fustify their new physical positions - Growing and Shrinking Machine .
Spit Take
Game Very silly. But hey we're an encyclopedia so here we go: 2 players do a scene, each holding a
Performance glass of water (or coke, or beer). After every sentence players take a spit. Or take a spit after the
other player said a line. Or both.
G
See also Slap Take .

Split Screen
Game Divide the stage in a left and a right half. The right part becomes the left and vice versa, and the
Characters division in the middle becomes a 'wall'.
Limitations
Then play a scene with 4 players and only 2 characters. When a player leaves the stage to the left
Performance
hand side, his character, played by another player, should enter from the right.
The character should stay the same, even though it's played by a different player.
Notes
The center of the stage cannot be crossed as it is a wall. As a gimmick one might decide to make a
hole in the wall, but stepping through this hole would make the character appear at the other side of
the 'room' - hard to justify...
Sportz Center
Game 3 players, and an every day activity (brushing your teeth, washing your car).
Performance In this game, the every day activity is performed as if it were done at the olympics or at a world
championship. One player is the athlete, and the two others are in a TV studio - one is the
interviewer who interviews the athlete's trainer, as the athlete performs the task. Usually,
something goes wrong and the athlete fails miserably. Gimmicks may include:
Interviewing the athlete on the field after the win (or the disaster)
Asking for a replay of a particularly dramatic moment
Asking for a replay with a different camera (different angle)
G
Also known as Also known as SloMo World Champion ..
Squeezer
Game Get everyone into a circle, holding hands. One player starts the game by squeezing the hand of one
Exercise of his neighbors. The receive then squeezes the hand of his other neighbor, thus generating a
Group
'squeeze wave' through the circle.
Warm-up
Variations
Squeezes can run in different directions, and you can have more than one squeeze wave
cycling through the circle at a time
Instead of squeezing, you can make players communicate by pressing (or even slapping) hands
together
Squeezes can run at different rates - this can be controlled by letting nobody squeeze their
neighbors as long as the squeeze they receive is not over yet
You can have one player try to 'detect' the squeeze (try and squeeze as unnoticeably as
possible)
G
Also known as Hands .

Story Spine
Game This is an idea about the spine of any story. It goes like
Exercise Once upon a time ...
Narration
And every day ...
And every day ...
And then one day ...
And because of that ...
And because of that ...
And ever since that day ...
This little structure teaches performers to advance a story by changing things. There are hundreds of
v ariations known to this, one of which we'll present here as well:
The balance: Once upon a time ... and every day ...
The un-balance: But then one day ...
The quest for a resolution: ... and because of that ... and so ... until finally ....
The new balance: ... and ever since that day ....
Story Story Die

Game Players form a line on the stage. A title for a story, and a story genre is obtained from the audience.
Audience The MC starts the game by pointing to a player, who needs to start telling the story. At any point in
Participation time the MC can switch to another player, who needs to continue the story flawlessly, even if the
Die
Narration switch happened in the middle of a sentence or even in the middle of a word.
Performance Players that hesitate, or whose sentences are not grammatically correct or don't make sense, are
boo-ed out of the game, by the audience yelling 'Die'. The last player left ends the story.
G
Also known as Conducted Story ..
Story To A Chair
C
Game A Solo character exercise. Tell a story to a few chairs. Any story, and the story does not really
Characters matter. Then, as you go, start playing all the characters. Feel free to narrate in between.
Exercise
Make your story such that it becomes easy to establish the character. Start with something like 'Jodi
Solo
didn't really like leaving the house' -- which would point yourself to playing somebody with an
outdoor phobia.
Stretching
Game As a warm-up, let's do some simple stretching exercises. Everyone in the group shows a stretch of a
Warm-up body part, and that is then done by all others. Repeat until the whole body has been stretched.
Notes
On a silly note, try stretching unstretchable body parts: eye balls, ears, hair, noses, toenails.
Stunt Double
Game A scene is played by 2 players. Every time a player needs to do something difficult/unpleasant,
Performance another player jumps in as a stunt double. When done, the stunt double freezes the scene and the
original player continues the scene.

Sung Story Die
Game G
This is like Story Story Die , but sung. Get a suggestions, and sing a song to that
Audience suggestion. When the host points to another player, that player continues the song. Both
Participation music and lyrics should fit flawlessly, otherwise the player is out.
Die
Performance Can be done with an without a musician. Without is a bit easier as the rhythm can be broken a bit
SingSong more easily. Then again, continuing the musical line can be more difficult.
Superman Jam
Game Divide the audience into three groups; label them Group 1, 2, 3, (or any other labeling). Each group
Audience gets their own phrase to sing (or yell); it's important that the rythm and length of each phrase is
Warm-up identical.
Performance
Group 1 sings "Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman"
Group 2 sings "I want to jam with Superman. I want to jam with Superman."
Group 3 sings "I want to jam; I want to jam; I want to jam with Superman."
Then, the MC directs the audience through singing the song, first one group, then two, then
all three, then just two, then just one, then two, then another loud, another soft, etc.
Supermen
K
Game A great Pimping game. 4 players. First player gets from the audience a silly little problem, like My
Characters Shoelaces are Untied, and a simple object, say a kitchen cabinet.
Performance
First player starts a scene in which the Problem arises, and her character is unable to fix the
problem. Hence she calls in (explictly) the help of Kitchen Cabinet Man. This is a SuperHero, like
Superman, Spiderman, you know that kind of cartoon-character heroe types.
K
Our Superman comes in with lots of brou-haha (highStatus ) only to make the problem worse (and
a status switch to low status). So our hero calls in the help of yet another Superman. Use whatever
you can think of first. Say Toothpaste Man. Again this hero comes in high status, screws up even
more, does a status switch and calls in yet another hero, who finally fixes the problem.
The game is really pimping folks into playing outrageous superheroes. The status switch from high to
low after screwing up is pretty important too here.
G K
See also Mr. So and So for another Pimping game.
Supernova
Game Nice energy builder.
Energy All players dispersed around the room, have everyone stand up comfortably, feet apart, eyes closed.
Exercise
Ask your players to imagine they've got a ball of energy hiding in their chests, radiating warm light.
Warm-up
Ask them to imagine this light and energy starts filling their chest, their arms and legs, their hands
and feet, their head, their whole body.
Then ask the players to imaging this light starts shining out of their bodies, through their eyes, their
fingers and toes, filling the whole room. Then imagine the light starts filling the whole building, the
street, the city, the country, the whole world.
Finally, imagine this warm light starts reaching into the skies, up to the moon, overpowering the sun,
filling the whole of the universe.
End the exercise by asking the players to open their eyes.

Surprise Movement
Game Have everyone walk around leisurely. Tel them to stop and start make a movement, a gesture, a
Association sound, anything really. Let the players repeat the gesture until they know what they 'are'.
Exercise
The idea is not to preconceive, but to let it happen. Players may turn out to be dish washers, ushers,
Spontaneity
lawn mowers, ping pong balls, whatever. Explain that there are no wrong answers.
Tell the players just to acknowledge what they 'are' for themselves, and then move on, stop again
and make another gesture/movement/sound.
Survivor
Game Four to six players play a scene. Then the audience chooses one of the players to get "voted off
Audience the island." The remaining players do the scene again, covering everything that happened the
Participation first time. Then another person gets voted out, and so on until one person has to act out the
Concentration
Die scene all by themselves.
Exercise There are various ways of re-playing the original scene, even when only one player left: player can
Look and Listen do a monologue, can play all original characters herself, you name it ...
Performance You can play this for an audience, but it's also a great listening and paying-attention exercise.
Origin
The Improvoholics mailed us to claim they developed this game. Thanks guys!
Swedish Sculptors
G
Game This one is an extension of Sculptors . Divide the class in 2 groups, same number of players in
Exercise every group. One group is clay, and they close their eyes. The other group are sculptors.
Group
The sculptors build one sculpture out of all the 'clay' players. The sculpture is finished when all of the
Trust
players touch someone else (so all are connected to the sculpture). The artists cannot 'push' the clay
into position - they need to 'pull' parts of the clay into position without actually pulling. 'Pulling' is
done by touching a body part with an open hand, and then moving the hand about. They 'clay'
players need to 'follow' the moving open hands.
As soon as the sculpture is finished, the sculptors moves away, and re-build the statue, themselves
now becoming clay. The (original) clay players keep their eyes closed. As soon as the imitation
sculpture is finished, the clay players, eyes still closed, try to find 'themselves' in the imitation. When
everybody has found themselves the game is over, and the clay players assess to what extent they
found 'themselves' and to what extent the imitation is exact.
Origin
R R
Switcheroo
G
Game This is like Simple Continuation , except that the MC interrupts the scene several times, and at
Continuation
each interruption all actors in the scene get switched; no new actors join in, and no actors leave.
Performance G G
Also known as Actor Switch . . See also Hat Continuation .
Switch Gibberish
K
Game Jabbertalk exercise: let a player tell a store. Whenever you ring a bell (or clap your hands) player
C
Exercise switches to Gibberish - the story should continue and should make sense.
Gibberish
If you do this as an exercise, try sidecoaching with different kinds of gibberish. Try any language you
Performance
don't know (Mongolian, Italian, Russian, Chinese, you name it).
Sybil
Game C
This is basically a one-person Long Form . In this format the player plays all characters. The play
Long Form typically starts with a character monologue and then goes into scenes alternated with more
Performance monologues.
Solo
One could summarize the 'rules' as:
you play all the characters and their dialogue in the scenes
monologues are either internal (to the character) or to the audience, addresses as a group (a
minister preaching to a church, a person introducing himself at a job interview).
Origin
The format is attributed to Andy Eninger. The name is based on a book with the same title, about
Sybil Dorsett, a survivor of child abuse who was diagnosed with the first multiple personality
disorder. She alledgedly played host to 16 separate personalities. More info can be found on
www.sybilization.com.
Synchro Clap
Game All players in a circle. One player starts the game by making eye contact with another player. Then,
Concentration both clap their hands simultaneously. The 'receiving' player then makes eye contact with another
Energy
player, and they synchro-clap. And so on.
Exercise
Warm-up Once a firm rhythm is established, start accelerating slowly.
TellTales
In this format a cast of five gets one ask-for each at the top of the show, and then each person is free
Game to play solo scenes with invisible characters, addressing the audience, musing to themselves,
Long Form speaking on the telephone, just being physical and so on until another player enters, at which point
they have to leave. Over the course of the performance a complete play is done. The actors can play
multiple characters if they want.
Origin
Attributed to the Spontaneity Shop (London).
Theatresports
Game Theatre Sports is really a collection of formats. We'll summarize the general rules, and then
Format describe the variations for the different sub-formats:
The game is introduced by an MC, who does a warm-up and then introduces the judges and
the 2 teams
The game is lead by judges
Each game has a fixed duration
A toss decides which team starts with a challenge
Challengers go first. Possible challenges are the classic games, but anything goes. One
might challenge the other team to play the dullest scene possible.
Teams can protest or baulk at a challenge. The judges may accept the baulk, in which case the
challengers need to come up with a new challenge. Reason for baulking at a challenge might
be "we've already done this game tonight".
The judges carry a horn, which they use to issue a warning for boring. After a warning the
scene should be concluded ASAP.
Judges can issue penalties, for e.g. obscenities, smart-assing or whatever. A punished
player gets a basket over his head for a number of minutes
Scenes must end on time; the judges indicate the time, and warn the players e.g. when they
got 30 seconds left. Or they honk a warning for boring, after which the scene must end.
After each challenge (played by both teams) the audience decided by means of cheering, yelling
of applause which team won, as interpreted by the judges. Winners get 5 points, losers get
nothing.
The whole show lasts about 45 minutes.
Variations
Some troupes let the judges issue the challenges. Other troupes allow the winning team a
free scene.
Danish variety: in this format there is only one judge, called an Ombuds. The Ombuds is
both Commentator, MC and scorekeeper.
This format is quite often played with props, in a décor. Sound and light effects are also used. The
Danish version is a bit simpler, and can be used to play with beginners.
Some troupes start an evening off with a 20-minute Danish game, and then play a 45-minute
full version after the intermission.
Theatre sports are played all over the world, and teams from different cities and troupes quite
often meet in competition.
Origin
R
Theatresports is a registered trademark by Keith Johnstone . A complete overview can be found
R
in his book Impro for Storytellers .

The Bag
C
Game This is a group exercise for building Characters . One player on a chair, up to 5 other players sit in
Characters front of her. The player on the chair starts by taking something out of a big mimed bag. She holds
Exercise
the object in front of her and names the object - anything that comes to mind is just fine (see
G G G
Warehouse , Open Your Hand or Presents ).
The other players start asking the middle player questions about the object, why she has it, what it
might mean to her. After a few questions, she is asked to take another object from the bag - again,
this can be anything and need not be related to the first object that came up. This prompts more
questions, and more objects.
Continue until we know the character that is sitting on the chair.
Notes
The idea of the exercise is to construct the character as a group. Both objects, questions and
answers to the questions will provide cues to who the person on the chair might be. Avoid very
leading questions, although any element in the questions should probably be accepted.
As soon as the person on the chair has an idea of who she might be, what her state of mind might
K
be, how old she might be, what her Status might be, she should start showing these qualities, until
she really 'becomes' the character. Use voice and body language to express this.
The Bat
C G
Game This is a Long Form format based on Blind Harold . It is basically a long form played with
Limitations the lights out in a theater.
Long Form You can download mp3 files of a couple of Bat performances off the website of the Impatients .
Performance
Origin
The format was created by Joe Bill of Annoyance Theatre in Chicago.
The Gerbil
Game Invent a silly dramatic story, and explain it to the audience. Classic example is the following: "After
Performance fixing the roof, Roger decided to clean the house, including the cage of Mary's gerbil. He put the
animal in a frying pan, from which it escaped to the roof, where it got stuck in some fresh tar. Roger
put it back in it's cage, where it got smothered by the fresh woodchips. Roger tried to use a solvent
to clean the creature, but the solvent fumes cause the creature to die of a cardiac arrest. At that
point Mary walks in".
This is when the scene starts: Roger needs to explain what happens, but as soon as the audience
starts laughing Roger is replaced by another player who gets a new shot. The idea is to try and play
the scene without getting the audience to laugh.
Notes
Don't stick to the gerbil story - you can invent any silly story for this game.
Origin
R R
Attributed to Keith Johnstone and described in Impro for Storytellers .

Game The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Advice
Audience
Participation 3 players, form a line (or sit down). The audience provides questions or problems for which they
Die need advice. The 3 players provide good, bad, and really bad advice.
Performance
Have the MC choose who provide what advice, so everyone can have a stab at really bad
Verbal wit
advice.
If the 'bad advice' is really bad, then the Ugly advice should be even worse.
C
You can play this as a Die game - if a bad advice is not followed by an even worse
advice, replace the last player by another one.
The Magnet
Game Played in pairs. One player becomes a sculpture, standing still, while his partner closes her eyes.
Concentration
She needs to explore the statue, with her eyes closed, and then tries to become the same statue.
Exercise G
See also Swedish Sculptors for a similar exercise.
Group
Trust
The Party
Game One player plays a character that is having a party. The other players will be the guests, and the
Endowment audience provides us with who the guests might be. Of course the host does not know who the
Guessing
guests are. His task is to guess who the guests might be, based on hints the guests offer.
Performance
The games is over as soon as the host has guessed all guests.
Variations
G
Use quirks instead of characters - Also known as Party Quirks .
The Scream
Game Everybody in a circle, watch the ground. On your sign, everybody lifts their head and either
Energy looks straight, left or right. Whenever 2 people look each other in the eyes, they scream as loud
Warm-up as they can, as if they're startled, and then drop dead.
G
Repeat till only one or 2 players are alive. Also known as Jeepers Peepers .
Three Line Environment

Game Played with 2 players. They get 3 lines (first player gets 2 lines, second one gets one line). Using no
K
Environment more than 3 lines (A-B-A) they need to establish theirPlatform ; who they are, where they are,
Exercise
when and why.
G
See also Doors .
Three Line Solo

C
Game This is a Solo exercise. Play a 3 line scene with 2 characters. Play both characters yourself.
Characters
Repeat at high speed so you run through your 'easy' characters fast.
Exercise
Solo
Three Melodies
Game Ask for 2 occupations. Then do a 4-beat scene as follows:
Performance Player 1 sings about how great and satisfying her job is, but she's missing something critical, or
SingSong
has a minor little problem with it (melody 1)
Number 2 does the same (to a second melody)
Both characters meet in a bar, complaining about their problems. They summarize their problem
in one line each (to finish their song), something like "I got plenty of x but I'm missing y"
Then they solve each other's problem (fitting each other's x to the other's y), they do this in a
duet to a third melody.
G
See also Bartender .
Three Noses
Game A fun and silly game. Let everyone walk leisurely around the room. When you shout '3 Noses' the
Energy players must form little groups, each group consisting of 3 touching noses.
Exercise
Use your imagination - as for 7 left big toes, 2 earlobes, 9 fingers, 4 nipples, 5 bellybuttons. Repeat
Introduction
Warm-up till everyone is giggling.
Notes
This is a great game for new groups, as it lets the players get a feel (literally) for each other.
Three Rules
Game Get 3 rules from the audience, e.g. players have only one arm, players can't use a word that
Limitations contains an 's' and after every question uttered players needs to yell 'Yess!'. Players then play a
Performance
scene, obeying the 3 rules. For examples of what else might be used as a rule see the other games
C
in the Limitations category.
G
Also known as Ahab and the Whale . (beats us why)
Three Sentence Story

Game 2 players. 3 unconnected sentences are provided by one player; the other builds the shortest
Exercise
possible story incorporating the 3 sentences.
Narration
Timed Scenes
Game Here are a couple of different ways to time scenes (apart from using your watch)
Performance time a player can keep his head immersed in a bucket of water
Timed
time it takes the audience to throw 20 socks onto the stage
time it takes for an audience member to finish a beer (or a series of beers)
time it takes a player to go get a burger
G
See also Scene Replay for timed replayed scenes.
Timeline
Game A scene is played, number of players unlimited. The scene starts in prehistoric times, and evolves
Limitations through the ages, till it ends in the future.
Performance
The idea is to stick to one and the same story line, but as time progresses, characters may take on
characteristics or use attributes appropriate to the 'time'. Of course, every characteristic and attribute
needs to be justified and take the scene forward.
Tossing
Game Eight players form 2 lines, facing each other, and mesh their forearms together, to form a platform to
Group 'launch' another player up in the air and catch him again. Do make sure that your platform is sturdy
Trust
(holding the other players by the wrists seems to be most solid).
G G
See also Free Falling and Heave Ho for similar games.
Touch to Talk
Game In this handle players play a scene in which they can only use speech when they touch each other.
Limitations
Performance Notes
Fun when played in locations when people don't usually touch each other, like a confession
chair, a sauna.
Don't go for the easy option of just touching your partner's forearm or shoulder - there are so
many ways to touch each other. Try hugging, fighting, baptizing, tickling.
Translate Gibberish
Game This is best played with an odd number of players. Everyone in a circle. The first player gives a
Association gibberish word to her right neighbor, who translates the word. The next player provides the next
Exercise
gibberish word, and so on.
Gibberish
Spontaneity
Variations
The receiver can provide both the translation, and a new gibberish word.
You may want to add the origin of the language along with the translation.
Notes
Any gibberish word might be translated as 'banana' of course, but that is not the idea of the exercise.
For your translation, use the first thing that comes to mind. You may be inspired by the whole sound
of the word (it might sound like something 'known'), or parts of the word (only the vowels, or only the
consonants), or by the intonation of the 'giver', or even by her expression or body language.
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Try gibberish in different 'languages' or 'accents'. Also known as Gibberish Dictionary .
Translation for the Deaf

Game We need 3 players for this game. One will be an expert on a topic provided by the audience; another
Experts will be the interviewer. The third will provide simultaneous translation for the hearing impaired, using
Performance
'sign language'.
Notes
This works best if the interview itself does not go too fast, so the translator has plenty of time to
translate. Also helpful are returning keywords that the translator can always translate the same way.
A gimmick is to translate everything literally, even 'dummy' words, like 'oh', 'great', 'hm hm'.
Triple Play
Game This is really a series of 3 3-act plays mixed. Three separate plays are played, each based on
Long Form different audience suggestions, and not related at all. We first see the three first acts for every play,
Performance then the three second acts, and finally the three final acts.
Variations
Some folks play each act in a different style, usually a kind of play (say Shakespeare), a kind of
movie (say a spaghetti western) and something musical (say a musical or an opera).
Origin
We believe this is copyright by LA Theatersports. But we've also seen in played in Germany. If you
know more about this please let us know.
Trivial Pursuit
Game MC asks the audience to pick Trivial Pursuit cards. Players line up, and the MC reads questions from
Performance the cards picked by the audience. Players invent the funniest answer to these questions.
Verbal wit
Notes
The MC needs to screen the questions; a question like 'In what year electricity was invented' should
be avoided. As there are 6 questions on a card, go for the question that is vaguest and offers most
options.
Variations
G
Read the answer, and let the players come up with the question. See also Reverse Trivial Pursuit .
Tug-O-War
Game Divide the class in 2 groups and have them mime a Tug-o-war fight. See if
Accepting the mimed rope does not stretch or shrink
Exercise K
Group somebody wins (i.e. one group gladly looses (seeChivalry )
Variations
Do 2 per 2. Or try men against women.
Turning Circle
Game Fun game to warm up those muscles and get the blood pumping.
Concentration Everyone in a circle. The circle starts running (slowly) clockwise. As soon as anybody shouts 'go',
Warm-up the circle changes direction, without anybody bumping into someone else.
TV News
3 players, who play characters in a TV newscast. One will be the lead anchor, another will do the
Game weather, and the third is a reporter at a location. Then, a newscast is played.
Performance
Variations
Ask for an audience suggestion for a central theme in the newscast.

Typewriter
Game This is a nice handle to structure scenes. One of the players is the Narrator. He has a (mimed)
Narration typewriter and starts the scene by reading aloud as he types. As soon as the Narrator has given a
Performance
few elements, the players take over and start playing the scene.
At any point, the Narrator can take over again, perhaps switch to another location, introduce new
character, provide tilts or flashbacks.
Variations
When a scene goes bad, the Narrator can mime ripping a couple of pages of his story apart, and
restart the scene (or the story).
Verses
Game Scene is played in verses, that is, every player need to rhyme to herself. Nice handle to combine
Limitations
with a Shakespeare style.
Performance See also Rhymes G .
Virus
Game Use one empty plastic soft drink bottle. Whichever player has the bottle is the virus. The virus can
Energy move around and infect other players, but only the player with the bottle can infect new players. All
Warm-up infected players chase the healthy players, till all are infected. Evidently, the infected payers need to
pass the bottle around in order to be able to infect new players.
Voices From Heaven

Game Excellent game for building characters and group-storytelling.
Characters 4 players, ask the audience who they are, what their occupation would be.
Exercise
These 4 characters have died together, and they are going to tell us how that came about. Players
Narration
Performance line up. The game is played in 3 rounds. In every round, each player offers some information about
how they happened to die. At the end of the thirds round, they should all be dead.
Notes
It's fun to take risks - if in the first round each of the players just offers what they happened to be doing
the day they died, and where. It is quite a challenge to get these 4 stories together, including the deaths
G
of all characters, by the end of the third round. Also known as Death Con ..
G C K
See also Goon River for a more open, more free Long Form version of the same Handle .
Walking by Numbers
Game Every player finds himself a spot in the room, make sure players can see each other. When you give
Concentration a sign, exactly 1 person starts walking. Whenever that person halts, one person, and only one
Exercise person starts walking.
Look and Listen G
Warm-up Gradually increase the number of walkers. See also Group Freeze .

Walkout
Game You need at least 3 players for this one. Give each player a word. Start playing a scene with 2
Limitations players. As soon as a player hears her word, she has to leave the scene. As soon as she hear her
Performance
word again, she needs to walk into the scene again. Walkouts and re-entrances need to be justified.
G
Also known as Exit Game .
Walk-over Association
Game Another way of playing association games. Place all players at one end of the room. Ask them to
Association name, for themselves, all the things they think of when you throw them the word 'Banana' (or
Exercise
anything else).
For every word they come up with they can take a step. They should keep thinking of stuff until they
reach the other side of the room. Then throw them another word.
Notes
Watch for players that take unreasonably big steps. Ask them if they are afraid they will run out of
ideas.
Variations
G
You can combine this with Last Letter .
Warehouse
Game Let the players walk around leisurely. Tell them they are in a big warehouse, with lots of shelves and
Exercise cabinets, packed with junk.
Spontaneity
Let the players reach out, take something from an shelve, and name it. Players should not
preconceive, just open their hands and mime taking something from a shelf, and see what it
becomes. Once they've named it for themselves, they place the object back, move on to another
shelf and pick up something else.
Notes
G
If players find this difficult, have them play Presents first.
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See also Open Your Hand .
What are you doing

Game G
This is really a Dissociation game, but fun to play.
Association Everyone at one end of the room, form a long line. The first player of the line steps into the room and
Energy
starts miming an activity. As soon as the activity is clear, player 2 approaches player 1 and asks
Exercise
Warm-up
'What are you doing'.
The first player answers something that has nothing to do with what he's actually doing. E.g. if player
1 is cutting someone's hair, when asked what he's doing he might say "I'm reading the newspaper".
First player moves away, and the second player starts miming the activity stated by the previous
player. A third player comes up to player 2, asks what he is doing, and so on. Play until everyone
has mimed something, and has answered the question.
Variations
You can also play this at super high speed, with 2 players. We mean super-super high speed. As
soon as one of the players says ummm, hesitates, or uses an offer that was used before in that
session, that player is replaced. Great for warm-up and energy!
Notes
G G
Other dissociation games are Malapropism and Dissociation .
What Happens Next
Game One player in the middle, the others sit aside. Any person can give the middle player a task, which
Exercise she performs, and then she asks 'What happens next' ? Any player may suggest what needs to
Group
happen next, but the idea is for the group to construct a coherent story.
Narration
Notes
The player in the middle should only and strictly be doing what she's told; it is up to the players at the
side to construct the story.
G
Also known as And Then .
What Has Changed

Game Played in pairs. One player observes another closely. Then she closes her eyes, and her partner
Concentration changes three things in his appearance. She open her eyes again and tries to discover what has
Exercise changed.
Look and Listen
What would she be if

Game Choose one player and let her stand in front of the class. Then ask the whole class to think what she
Association would be if she were a car, a flower, a building, a era, a foreign country, a mineral, a beverage, your
Exercise
name it.
Notes
Tell the group there are no wrong answers. You may want to ask players what triggered their
responses - the answers will probably vary widely.
If you are doing a series of workshops, it may also be interesting to play this game early on, before
people know each other, and then again after a couple of weeks, when everyone has gotten to know
everyone a bit better. See if the answers are any different.
Whoosh
Game Everybody in a circle. Start with one person, who waves both hands to his/her neighbor, saying
Energy 'Whoosh'. The next person passes the Whoosh to his neighbor, and that way the Whoosh is passed
Warm-up around the circle.
There's 4 other sounds/movements that can be made.
'Wow': indicated by saying Wow, and moving both arms down. A Wow changes the direction of
the Whoosh
'Zap': instead of passing the Whoosh to your neighbor, it gets zapped to the person you point to.
The receiver continues with either a Whoosh to his neighbor, or another Zap to another person.
A Wow after a Zap returns to the Zapper.
'Groooooooovelicious': for this one the whole group bends down and up again in a kinda groovy
way, all saying Groooooooovelicious. Afterwards, the person who started the Groovelicious sets
the Whoosh in motion again, in any direction.
'Freakout': indicated by waving both hands in the air. Everybody starts screaming and moves to
the center of the circle. When everybody's freaked out a new circle is formed, and the starter of
the Freakout sets the Whoosh in motion again (or Zaps, or does a Grooooooovelicious).
Variations
You can invent other sounds and gestures. You might replace Whoosh by a kind of Vroom-Vroom,
as is you're in a car, and replace Wow by the sounds of brakes ('iiiii') etc. Also known asZip Zap
G
Zoop .
Who Where Why Am I
Game One player leaves the room. The audience provides:
Endowment where we are, and when (what era)
Performance
who the player will be (can be a person, or just his occupation)
a physical handicap for the player (perhaps he's blind ?)
a problem the player has
Then a scene is played, in which the other players need to coach player 1 into guessing each of the
items above, without giving any explicit clues. Example: scene is played on the Red Square in
Moscow, in 2050, where a limping salesman of vacuum cleaners never sells any vacuum cleaners,
since his prices are quoted in rubels instead of Euros (Russia is obviously part of the Eurodollar
zone in 2050).
G
See also Hijacker .
Without Sound
Game A scene in played, in which no talk of no sounds are allowed.
G
Limitations See also Without Words
Performance
Without Words
Game A scene is played, in which the players are not allowed to talk. Sounds, like slamming doors, running
Limitations
water, singing birds, echoing footsteps are allowed.
Performance G
See also Without Sound .
Word at a Time Expert

Game 3 players: one is the interviewer, and the other 2 are an expert on a subject chosen by the audience.
Limitations The expert is really one person, with 2 heads, and answers to the interviewer's question are
Performance
provided word by word, one word at a time per player.
G G
Also known as Two-headed Professor . . Also known as Oracle . ; use an ancient Greek oracle
instead of an expert, and have the audience ask the oracle questions about life & love.
Variations
G
The interviewer can raise the stakes, e.g. by pimping the expert into a Word-at-a-Time-Song
Word at a Time Letter

Game Play in pairs. The 2 players will compose a letter, one word at a time. Have them actually write down
Exercise the letter. Anything, even 'where' on the paper one starts writing, is an offer.
Narration
No need to sidecoach, but the possibilities are endless; thing about greeting cards, love letters, legal
stuff, promotional letters, suicide notes, etc.
Word at a Time Scene
G
Game This is like Word at a Time Expert , but with a bit more scene work. 2 players, speaking one word
Limitations at a time, alternating between the players. The scene is starting by stating who they are, or where
Performance
they are. Example: "We-are-on-a-sunny-beach". The players then actually play that, and build a
story, word at a time, and actually playing the story at the same time.
For example: "We-see-a-dead-whale"; the players should actually see the whale, and do something
with it. There is no need to 'say' everything before doing it ( use our motto: Play it, don't say it).
Notes
Players have an adventure together; the story needs to happen to both of them, they are not to play
against each other.
As many players tend to verbosity, use a director that 'cuts' the scene and tells the players what to
do. Example: "Give the whale mouth-to-mouth".
Variations
Allow a third character to enter the scene, playing against the two others. Now the lines are done
word per word, by 3 players, but we have 2 characters. This gets extremely silly/messy - to create
some order out of this chaos make sure the third player (i.e. the second character) has a different
voice (different accent or pitch). Unlikely to produce interesting stories, but quite hilarious. Also
G
known as Ping Pong ..
Word at a Time Song

G
Game This is like Word at a Time Scene , but here the players improvise a song. Song can be sung to a
Limitations known melody (makes things a bit easier), or on a tune played on the piano. Tell the piano player not
Performance
to play too fast, though.
SingSong
Word at a Time Story

Game This is an exercise to train group narrative. All players sit in a circle. We are going to tell a story one
Exercise word at a time. Each player provides one word of a sentence. End of a sentence can be indicates by
Group
a player saying 'period', although that is not necessary.
Narration
Notes
This is more difficult than it sounds, especially with newbies. If you're working with novice players
have them try a familiar story. like Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs first. Summarize the story before
they get started, to make sure they're all on the same story. Don't be surprised if gagsters manage to
smuggle atomic bombs and crashing aircraft into the story. Ask the group if they can see/understand
the reasons why their story sucks.
You can also play this a challenge with newbies: divide the group into 2 circles, and have them
compete each other - see which group can finish the story first.
Word Ball
Game Another association game. All players in a circle. One player starts by tossing a word to another
Association player. The receiver associates on this word, and throws his association to yet another player.
Exercise
Warm-up
Variations
G G
Try this in combination with Last Letter or Free Association Lines
Instead of just tossing word, have the players throw a soft ball, or a towel tied in a knot to each
other
try with multiple 'tossers' at once.
Worlds Worst
Game Not exactly theater, but fun if played well.
Performance Players line up, and the audience provides verbs, hobbies and occupations. The players need to
Verbal wit
come up with the worst possible way of doing/being what the audience suggests.
Yes Lets
Game K
Excellent warm-up, and great introduction to Accepting .
Accepting
Pick a group activity, like throwing a party or organizing a picnic. One player starts, saying "Let's ..."
Exercise
Group
filling in what she wants to do. Then she starts actually doing what she said she wanted to do. A
Warm-up second player jumps in, saying "Let's ..." do something else, to advance the group activity. Both
players say "Yes, let's do that" and start doing whatever suggested. Third player jumps in, suggests
what to do, and again all players loudly agree to do it, and actually do it. Continue till everyone has
suggested something.
G
See also Yes Lets - or Rather Not for a more advanced version of this exercise.
Yes Lets - or Rather Not

Game This is a bit controversial, and you probably don't want to do this with newbies.
G
Accepting This one goes a bit like Yes Lets : all players on stage, someone provides a location, e.g. a beach.
Group
One player suggests an action. All players that like the action yell 'Yes, Let's do that' and start doing
Narration
it. Whoever does not like the suggestion steps out sits down. Game continues till only one player is
left.
Notes
This one is a bit controversial as players will object that (one of) the main ideas in Improv is to
accept, and in this game one can reject a suggestion.
K
The idea behind this exercise is that we want our players to be Mr. Nice Guy - players should try to
make their co-players happy. The problem is to learn what suggestions are 'good', which
suggestions make our other players happy. And that's what we're trying to learn with this exercise.
Attitude is important for this one:
players should not feel inhibited to step out (i.e. they should not feel that they are not accepting
players should not feel rejected when others step out. Be happy about that - you are learning
K
which suggestions make others happy! (seeChivalry ).
You
Game Everyone in a circle. Everyone raises their right hand. The 1st person points to someone in the circle
Exercise with their hand up and says "you." They do the same until everyone's hand is down, and the last
Look and Listen
person has pointed back to the 1st person, thus completing the circle. Important: This is a pattern that
never changes. Repeat the pattern until it feels comfortable. Then switch places in the circle. Repeat
the pattern. Close your eyes, and repeat the pattern.
When everyone is comfortable with that, everyone raises their hand again. The same 1st person
begins. Name something: a favorite tv show, food, whatever. Don't point to the same person that you
did last time. Once you feel comfortable with this pattern, you begin both. Start with "you" and add the
next level. (Ex: "you, you, you, string beans, you, corn, pizza, you, etc.).
If you feel that this is becoming too easy, add a third pattern, switch places in the circle, close your
eyes.
Variations
More of a challenge, start two patterns, and then add the pattern of pointing to someone, and saying
the name of the person to your right. Once that pattern is good, switch places in the circle.
You're Fired
Game This is a scene with 2 players, in which the lines are scripted. Here's the script:
Characters (1) {Knocks on a door}
Exercise
Limitations (2) Come in. You know why I called you?
Performance (1) {Indicates she does not know why}
(2) {Hands 1 a (mimed) piece of paper}
(1) I thought you wouldn't take that into account?
(2) You're fired.
(1) Fine. I hated that stupid job anyway.
Have the players play that scene. They need to stick to the script, but can really do anything as long
as they don't add any lines. It probably won't be all that interesting.
Then make them replay the scene, but give them a side coaching (which the other player and the
audience or the rest of the group don't hear). See if the scenes become any more interesting. Things
you might give a player could be
You're nervous, happy, sad, afraid of the other
The other smells nice/stinks
You've been eating beans/garlic
You turn into a crow/monkey/cow
You are in a wheelchair
You try to make a pass at the other
Your underwear doesn't quite fit (too small)
You are a bit deaf, you can't find your glasses, you loose a contact, loose your dentures
You are a kleptomaniac
Notes
Players can do quite a lot without deviating from the script. They can build/open doors, windows,
cabinets, make all kinds of noises or faces.
Remind players they can switch status. Perhaps they could try and make clear what's on the note?
Is it bad, or petty, or funny, or sad?
Variations
Feel free to come up with a different scene, with different lines.
G
See also Fast Food Stanislawski .
Zapping
Game 4 players, each chooses a TV format, like the News, a documentary, a Pokemon show, you name it.
Concentration The audience provides a central theme, and the MC will 'zap' through the channels. Miraculously, all
Performance
broadcasts cover the same theme.
Zoom-In Zoom-Out
Game A scene is played; at any time the MC or host calls "zoom-out" - at that point, the scene continues,
Continuation but is played with finger puppets (as if the audience is watching the scene from fart away, and all
Performance
characters are finger-sized). This continues until the host calls "zoom-in", after which the scene
continues in "normal" size. Alter between zoom-in and zoom-out ad libitum.
Zulu(1)
Game All players form a line, facing the audience. Audience suggests a general product category, like soup
Performance or family cars. Players then have to come up with original new names for (new) products in that
Verbal wit category.
Variations
G
There is another game named Zulu - see Zulu(2) .
Zulu(2)
Game All players form a line, facing the audience. Audience suggests a general product category, like
Audience soup or family cars or candy bars.
Participation The MC now points to a player, who needs to keep coming up with original names for a product of
Die
Performance that category. No doubles are allowed, neither are existing brand names. A player that makes a
Verbal wit mistake 'dies' (when the audience yells 'Die'). The MC can switch players at any time, and the
game lasts till there is only one player left.
Variations
G
There is another game named Zulu - see Zulu(1) .
Keywords
Accepting
K
Keyword Embracing each Offer made by other players to advance the scene.
A good thing.
Advancing
K
Keyword The process of moving a scene forward. Generally a good thing, as opposed to Waffling ,
K K K K
Blocking , Commenting , Sidetracking and Postponing (to name just a few :-) )
Agreement
Keyword Improvisors need to create a reality that is not really there, without knowing what other reality the
other players have in mind. In order to clearly establish one united reality, improvisors should be
K K
Accepting any Offer from each other. If offers are accepted we say there is Agreement. The
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opposite is Denial .
Ask-for Continued
K
Keyword Here are more ideas for Ask-fors (Continued fromAsk-for ).
If you're tired of asking the same old stuff over and over again, buy a summary history book (you
know - something like "History of the 19th Century" - a book that summarizes the historical
highlights of every year within a century), ask for a page number and pick anything off that page.
You'll get plenty of different locations, characters, objects (the invention of the light bulb) and so
on.
Instead of asking for something specific, you can also just start talking they mention as a scene
G
starter. Asking for that much information may even be necessary for games like Day in the Life .
Be creative with the actual use of suggestions in a scene. Classic example is using the location
'Bathroom' only to step through the mirror into a kind of Alice in Wonderland location.
Instead of just asking for suggestions before a scene, why not ask the audience to write down
suggestions on slips of paper before the performance? Put these in a hat and just draw
suggestions before the scene. Or stick them on a dartboard and have an audience pick the
suggestion by 'darting' it.
R R
There is a long list of ask-fors at LearnImprov.com . On YesAnd.com you'll find the Ask-For
Superstore ( http://www.yesand.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5275 ).

Ask-for
C
Keyword Question asked of the audience to get some input to steer a scene. See Audience Participation .
Here are some 'classic questions' :
Can I have a non-geographical location?
Please give me an occupation, a hobby?
Can I have a room in a building?
Can I have a title for a book/a song?
Please give me an emotion?
A genre of film/literature/theatre/song?
A relationship between 2 people?
An item you would find in the kitchen/garage/attic?
A problem that needs to be solved?
An important moment in history?
An era? A year?
A mode of transportation?
C
A foreign country? (seeGibberish )
G
An animal? (seeAnimalistics )
If you want to be a little more original try things like
What did you want to be when you grew up?
What is this? (open your hands or arms as if you hold something)
Give me a place where you have been lost
Why was my spouse limping this morning?
Give me a place you would not want to be alone at night
What would be a nasty/annoying habit?
Give me a place where you would likely meet unusual people?
What would you never want to hear from your 4 year old daughter?
Can I have a state of mind?
What was the best birthday present you ever got?
If I kissed you now how would that feel?
What are the things your spouse does to drive you crazy?
Can I have a non-green vegetable?
What is a tradition in your family?
What is the opposite of green (or any other color)?
Give me something you would want but would never buy yourself
Can you give me an annoying personal habit?
What would the eleventh commandment be?
Can I have an excuse for not having sex?
Where would you (never) want to go on vacation?
What would be a poor choice of venue for a first date?
Can I have a problem that a repairman can fix?
What would be your grandfather's hobby?
Give me an occupation what involves (no) risk of physical harm?
What do you have in your basement/attic/boot of your car?
What would be a lousy excuse for not getting a speeding ticket?
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More on Ask-for Continued !

Backline
Keyword The back of the actual stage.
Beat
G
Keyword A unit of action in a scene or item in a series of connected scenes. A Harold is generally
composed of 3 beats.
Blackout
Keyword A blackout is when the lights in the theater are turned off and the stage is dark.
Blackouts can be used by a director to indicate the end of a scene.
Blocking
Keyword K
Not Accepting other players' offers, and actually destroying these offers. Not the same
K
as Ignoring .
Not a good thing.
Blue
Keyword Term referring to sexual, nasty or generally unaccepted material.

The term comes from the early days of movie-making, in which "blue movies" had the same
meaning.
Breaking The Routine
Keyword Interrupting a (routine) action with another one in order to advance the scene. Generally a good
thing.
Bulldozing
K
Keyword Bulldozing is moving through a scene with attention to the other players' Offer 's and to push
only your own ideas into the scene. Not a good thing.

Canadian Cross
Keyword A Canadian Cross is when a player crosses the scene, without actually taking the focus in the
story, as to add something to the scene. Classics are:
for a scene on the beach, cross the scene as a shark in the water (in the background).
Unless the shark becomes part of the story, it won't be the focus.
for a scene on a camp ground, cross the scene being chased by a swarm of mosquitoes.
If you intention is not to steal the focus, either cross from the back/side, and indicate (eye contact)
to the other players that you're just adding to the platform, not stealing focus. Fun when done well,
but use sparingly.
Canceling
Keyword Canceling is destroying what has been established. Better is to use all elements that have been
K
introduced - see Reincorporating .
Character Journal
Keyword Keep a list on paper, of fleshed out characters. You want to document POV, voice, background,
mental state, physical behavior, status, you name it. Controversial - some folks claim this actually
un-frees your mind when playing, others find it helpful as part of their Bag-O-Tricks. Your mileage
may very.
Chivalry
K
Keyword Chivalry means not clinging to your own ideas, your own Status , or even your own life (as a
R
character). Chivalry is daring to give up control. AsKeith Johnstone teaches, players should
allow themselves to be changed by other players. Be happy to be forced to change, and change .
Obviously a good thing.
Comedia dell arte characters

Keyword Following is a list of the original Italian characters, with other English or French names, or
descendant characters (in parentheses), and the towns/regions to which they are eventually
associated: Arlecchino (Harlequin)
Arlecchino (Harlequin), is Pantalone's servant. He is extremely poor. The famous Harlequin
costume, with its lozenge pattern of red, green, and blue diamonds, is a stylised
representation of clothes that are so old and patched as to have lost their original colour and
material. If he were a character of today, he would be on minimum benefit/wage (frauding of
course!), or in the US, working three jobs. He is a peasant with no instruction (he can't read or
write), who has left his native Bergamo to seek his fortune in the city of Venice, as it grows
rich from its commerce with the orient. This often causes amusement, as no-one can
understand his dialect. He is an acrobat and a clown, he carries a baton which he sometimes
uses to bash other characters, leading to the modern term slapstick. Harlequin is not really a
villain; he just tries to get by. There are three types of Harlequin mask, the cat, the pig and the
monkey (some say the bull too). The lozenge costume has given its name to the fashion
motif, the mask to a shape for eyeglass frames: see Harlequin.
Brighella (Figaro, MoliÃ¨re's Scapin), Bergamo, a money-grubbing villain, a partner of
Arlecchino. He is a self made man, who has become comfortably off by starting his own
business, despite humble beginnings. He is often the proprietor of the local tavern. He is a
ladies' man, who has a lot of success with them. If he were a character of today, he would
own a flashy car and have lots of flashy clothes and jewelry. He's a typical Latin macho man,
with all the charm that involves, and all the drawbacks.
Columbina (Colombina, the Servant, Columbine, Harlequine, Pierrette), Venice, maidservant
to the Innamorata and lover of Arlecchino, usually involved in intrigue. She is rather intelligent.
Il Capitano (the Captain), boastful he-man soldier, but a coward underneath

Dottore (usually called Dottore Balanzone or Dottore Graziano, the Doctor), Bologna, The
Doctor is the local aristocrat, who went all the way to Bologna to read for his degree. He is
extremely rich, with "old" money. He adores food and good wines, thus he is a little round...
Gianduia, Turin, a well-mannered Piedmontese peasant.
Innamorata (the Lover), the leading woman, who wore no mask (see innamorati)
Innamorato (the Lover), the leading man, who wore no mask (see innamorati)-his partner is
also called a lover.
Isabella (Lucinda, Cornelia, Silvia, Rosaura), Pantalone's daughter. She is very headstrong,
flirtatious, sensuous, and articulate. Men are constantly falling hopelessly in love with her.
She loves to tease and test the men. Her father always tries to control her life by arranging
meetings and agreements with inappropriate overaged gentlemen suitors.
Mezzetin, a French figure, painted by Antoine Watteau
Pagliaccio (the Clown), a forerunner of today's clowns. The opera I Pagliacci centers around
a commedia troupe.
Pantalone (Pantalon de' Bisognosi, Pantaloon), Venice, a rich and miserly merchant who is
the father of Isabella. He also employs Arlecchino and treats him cruelly.
Pedrolino (or Pierino, Vicenza, and most commonly nowadays known as Pierrot a dreamer
with a white mask, now considered the French version of a clown).
Pulcinella, Naples, a hunchback who still chases women, he was the model for Punch in the
English variation Punch and Judy.
La Ruffiana (old woman), usually a mother or gossipy townswoman who intrudes into the
lives of the Lovers
Scaramuccia (see also Scaramouche), a roguish adventurer and swordsman who replaced Il
Capitano in later troupes. Was the servant for another character. He wears a black velvet
mask and black trousers, shirt and hat.
Zanni, Venice, a threadbare old servant from Bergamo.

Comedia dell arte
Keyword Commedia dell'arte, (Italian, meaning "comedy of professional artists") was a form of
improvisational theater which began in the 16th century and was popular until the 18th century,
although it is still performed today. Traveling teams of players would set up an outdoor stage and
provide amusement in the form of juggling, acrobatics, and, more typically, humorous plays based
on a repertoire of established characters with a rough storyline, called Canovaccio. Troupes
occasionally would perform directly from the back of their traveling wagon, but this is more typical
of Carro di Tespi, a sort of travelling theater that dates back to antiquity. The performances were
improvised around a repertory of stock conventional situations, adultery, jealousy, old age, love,
some of which can be traced in Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence. The dialogue and
action could easily be made topical and adjusted to satirize local scandals, current events, or
regional tastes, mixed with ancient jokes and punchlines. Characters were identified by costume,
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masks, and even props, such as the slapstick. See Comedia dell arte characters for a list of
classic characters.
Commenting
Keyword Stepping out of the scene and commenting on what's going on. Use sparingly.
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This is basically the handle for Asides .
Conflict
Keyword K
Conflict usually makes a story; once you've established a Platform you will probably use
a conflict to advance the scene.
A good thing if the conflict fits within the platform, and if it advances the scene, but you usually do
not want to start a scene with Instant Trouble.
Cross Fade
Keyword Start of a new scene while the previous scene is winding down. Both scenes run
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at the same for a brief time, and the transition from old to new scene is smooth. An Edit
technique.
Denial
Keyword K K
We have Denial when players are not Accepting each other's Offer 's. Obviously not a
good thing.
Edit
Keyword An edit is the act of interrupting or ending a scene. Sometimes, the host or director will edit
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scenes to cut them short. In Long Form , players can edit a scene to start a new scene.

Embodying
Keyword Embodying is, as a player, physically becoming something inhuman. One can embody a
bird by flappping wings and squeeking, one can embody a table by going on all fours.
Endowing
Keyword Assigning attributes to another performer's character. A good thing if it helps the other player to
establish his or her character (and if it is accepted. obviously).
Focus
Keyword The center of the attention of the audience. Focus should be in one place at any time - if more
than one action/plot is going on simultaneously the focus is split. Less experienced improvisers
often tend to steal the focus (i.e. split the focus and draw it to something unnecessarily new they
introduce).
Freezing
Keyword Freezing is physically stop moving, usually verbally shutting up as well. Several games have this
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technique as a Handle . (seeFreeze Tag , Final Freeze , Blind Freeze for examples).
Fuck Your Fear
Keyword R
This is a central theme in Mick Napier's book Improvise - Scene from the inside out . The idea is
the improvisors fear the consequences of their own actions (or the actions of their characters) and
as a result, freeze, or stick to safe-but-boring actions and scenes. Napier urges us to fuck our fear,
and just do something, anything, and see where it leads us while improvising.
Gagging
Keyword C
Joking, doing funny things, using Verbal wit without advancing the scene.
Might make you popular with the audience but not with your fellow players. Not a good thing.
Give and Take
Keyword Improvised dialog going back and fourth between the players. In scenes where players interrupt
each other, ignore each other, does not show good Give and Take.

Gossiping
Keyword Talking about the action instead of doing it. Or talking about what other people do, or about things
in the past or the future.
Not a good thing. Try and stick to the motto "Play it, don't say it".
Guerilla Improv
Keyword Improv that is not performed on a stage. A kind of street theater, in which one attempts to use the
rules and techniques of improv.
Handle
Keyword A Handle is the premise for a scene. Most of the games in the Games section are actually game
handles.
Hedging
Keyword K
Making smalltalk rather than forwarding the action. See Gossiping .
Heightening
Keyword Heightening is adding information, to build upon what was built before and by others, to deepen
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character and emotion, to Raise The Stakes .
Hoedown
Keyword A hoedown is a square dance, or a gathering where a square dance is featured. The word is
commonly used to describe any country or hillbilly type gathering, generally one with fiddle and
banjo music. Hoedowns were originally harvest festivals of sorts, a gathering held in the fall as the
crops were brought in. The farmers who attended would put their hoes down and come to a
dance, hence the word "hoedown".
In the Improv world, Hoedown refers to a song structure made popular by the TV show Who'se
Line Is It Anyway. It's a simple melody, with 4 lines to a verse, and no chorus. Rhyme pattern in
the verse is usually ABCB.
You'll find a MIDI version of the WLIIA song, as well as sheet music for a simplified version on our
[music] page.
Host
Keyword The Host is the person who welcomes the audience and introduces the players. Some troupes
have the host actually MC the performance, whereas other troupes use a separate director.

Ignoring
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Keyword Ignoring others' offers. Not a nice thing to do. Note that this is even worse than Blocking .
Impro
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Keyword Same as Improv . The standard word for improvised theater outside of the USA.
Improv
Keyword K
Same as Impro , in the USA. Synonyms are improvisation and improvised theater.
Instant Trouble
Keyword Starting the scene with an offer that creates a problem of a conflict. Usually frowned upon. It is
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usually better to first establish a decent Platform ,so we know who the characters are, where
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they are, what their Status is, and how the relationships between them are define. After that,
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a Conflict can be dealt with far more interestingly.
Jabbertalk
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Keyword A nonsense language. Also called Gibberish Invented on the spot. See Gibberish for games that
use Gibberish.
Fun fact: French speakers call this 'Yaourt' (yoghurt).
Joining
Keyword Having the same reactions as your fellow players. This is basically a security blanket that avoids
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changing the Status between players.
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A quote from Keith Johnstone : "Never accept joining as proof that the players are working
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well together." See Mr. Nice Guy , Tilts and Status .
Justifying
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Keyword Finding a solution for every Offer and every element introduced in the scene. The idea it to
justify everything. A good thing, obviously.

Kabuki
Keyword Kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese theater. Kabuki is sometimes translated as "the art of
singing and dancing." The word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning "to
lean", "to be out of the ordinary". Kabuki theater is known for the stylization of its drama and for
the elaborate make-up worn by its performers.
When players ask for a theater style and get Kabuki, they better know what it means.
See Wikipedia for more information.
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Also a Long Form style.
Line Game
Keyword Any game in which all players line up, and in turn step forward and do/say something. Examples
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are Worlds Worst and One Eighty Five .
Long Form
Keyword K
Category of improvised theater, in which a long play is improvised. As opposed to Short Form .
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The Long Form link gives a list of Long Form formats.
MC
Keyword Master of Ceremony. The host of the show. In some cases the host is also the director.
Monologue
Keyword To speak to an audience by yourself. Can be done in character or as oneself.

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Monologues are particularly popular in Long Form , and are often used as openers, in which a
player/character explores the audience suggestion. Monologues can also be used to break series
of fast-paced scenes.
Mr. Nice Guy

Keyword A good improv player is one that makes it easy for other players to play with him or her. This
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encompasses Accepting what your fellow players have to Offer , and some Chivalry .
This does not mean you always need to play nice characters. You can still be an evil character
and be easy to play with!
Also known as Mrs. Nice Girl.
Mugging
Keyword Making silly faces instead of acting truthfully. Usually frowned upon.

Narrative
Keyword The actual story told by the scene. Scenes should generally have a decent beginning, middle and
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end. See Narration for games/exercises that focus specifically on narrative.
Never-ending Story
Keyword A scene that continues to introduce so many new ideas that it becomes impossible to tie the story
together.
Notes
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Keyword Notes is the term used to indicate the Post Mortem : after a show the director or MC discusses
the scenes played, analyzing what went wel land what went wrong (and who did it, and why).
Object Work
Keyword K
Miming the objects and Props used in the scene.
Offer from Space
Keyword K
A bizarre action or statement, seemingly coming from nowhere, as an Offer in the scene. To
be avoided in general, as it tends to break the reality of the scene.
Offer
Keyword Any action or dialog that may advance a scene. Usually a good thing. Offers are supposed to be
accepted.
A strong offer is an offer that clearly gives a direction into which a scene might evolve. An
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Open Offer is an offer that leaves a lot of possible directions for the scene to evolve in.
Opening
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Keyword An opening is the start of a Long Form performance. The opening can be anything (a
monologue, word association, song), and is used to set the theme around which players will be
improvising.
Openings can be skipped altogether. Not all longform formats have or need an opening.

Out Of Your Head
Keyword The expression 'getting out of your head' refers to not thinking, letting go of preconceived ideas
(which your co-players obviously are painfully unaware of). Goes with the expression 'being in
your head': not being 'in' the scene, but thinking about what you should be doing/saying/playing.
Improv works best if you just let it happen and don't think about it too much or too hard. It works
best is you're not in hour head.
Overloading
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Keyword Overloading is throwing unnecessary elements into a scene; this will usually lead to Sidetracking
. Another common cause of overloading is often the introduction of a new and un-needed
character, which will usually prevent whatever was going to happen from happening.
Pimping
Keyword Playfully getting another player to do something unpleasant or difficult. Not really a good thing as
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it doesn't show much Chivalry . Used sparingly if can be quite funny (if accepted).
Platform
Keyword The who, what and where of a scene. Success of a scene often depends on a solid and clear
platform, so we probably want to establish the platform as early as possible.
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You probably want to stick to your platform, to avoid Sidetracking .
Playlist
Keyword K
List of games / Handle s to be used in a performance. Usually different for every performance.
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If you're playing Long Form then you probably won't have a playlist.
Post Mortem
Keyword Discussion of the show by the performers (and the director or MC) to identify problems that arose
as well as things that worked out well.
Postponing
Keyword Postponing is the opposite of advancing. Not a good thing to do. There are 2 kinds of postponing:
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Waffling by lack of ideas
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Wimping , as if being afraid to do anything with the other players' offers.

Props
Keyword Objects used to improvise with. Note that most improv performances are done without props, and
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players mime any objects they might need (seeObject Work and Space Object ). Sometimes
it may be practical to mime all objects needed in the scene, except for objects that might support
an actor. So some troupes may have e.g. chairs on stage, and mime everthing else.
Questions
Keyword Questions are generally frowned upon in improv, though they are not always a bad thing. A
question that gives no information and leaves the rest of the action/the story to be defined by the
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other players is a form of Wimping . But a question that implies a lot of information about how
the story might continue can be quite useful - assuming of course, that all replies to questions are
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positive, in the sense of Accepting the information in the question.
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See also Only Questions .
Raising The Stakes
Keyword K
A good technique for Advancing the scene: make the events in the scene have
greater consequences for the characters in the scene.
Rehearsal
Keyword In Improv, rehearsal is not the same as in traditional scripted theater. In rehearsal players
exercise basic improv skills. In Improv, rehearsal is not intended to develop material to play on
scene.
Perhaps a better term for rehearsal in Improv would be 'Training'.
Reincorporating
Keyword Recycling or re-using ideas or situations from earlier in the scene, or from previous scenes.
While it's always interesting to use elements that were introduced earlier and were neglected or
forgotten, you don't want to overdo this, and turn things into running gags.
Running Gag
Keyword Recycling a situation or character from a previously played scene. Can be funny but use
sparingly.
Self Edit
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Keyword To drop out of your character and leave the stage. Often combined with some other kind of Edit ,
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like a Sweep Edit or Tag Out to clear the rest of the stage.

Setup
Keyword Explaining the handle of the scene to the audience before the scene starts. Also involves doing an
ask-for.
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Done by the Host or MC . Some troupes have players do the setup; in that case typically
the performer who does the setup doesn't play the scene as well.
Shelving
Keyword Acknowledging an offer, but not using it right away, with the intent of using it later. If later ever
comes before the scene is over.
Alternatively: stacking an idea or an interesting character for use in later scenes (or even later
performances).
Short Form
Keyword Style of improvised theater in which short and typically unrelated scenes are played. As opposed
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to Long Form , Short Form Improv is often more gimmickey and more based on silly games or
handles, and less based on solid narrative and characters.
Both styles of Improv (long form and short form) have their zealots. There should be no
discussion about which is best - both can be fun, both can be rewarding, and preference is based
on personal likes or dislikes.
Sidecoaching
Keyword Sidecoaching is done by the director, or by other players. Sidecoaching consists of providing a
player with additional information about the scene or the character. A sidecoaching might be
something like You're an old man, you're in love, you want the other character's money.
Sideline
Keyword The lineup of players in a troupe, when they are not participating in a scene. Usually done at one
of the sides of the stage.
Sidetracking
Keyword Sidetracking is changing the main story line for no reason. Happens usually for one of 2 reasons:
K
Overloading because of introduction of unnecessary characters/elements
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Gagging

Space Object
Keyword An object that's used in the scene but which doesn't really exist. A mimed object. In general,
K
anything that doesn't support weight (like a chair) should be a space object. SeeProps .
Space Work
Keyword Miming the space or the environment where the scene takes place.
Status
Keyword Status is a character's sense of self-esteem.

When building characters, make sure to play different statuses (statii ?). And allow your status to
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be changed (seeChivalry ); a lot of interesting stories are built around status transformations.
Storytelling
Keyword In any scene we (and the audience) will want to see something happen, or a story developing.
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In Improv Handbook for the Actor , Greg Atkins states the improv is 'Storytelling on your
Feet'. More accurately, improv should be 'Storytelling on each other's Feet', as several players
will be trying to build one story, although none of them will know which direction the others
might be going.
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In that respect, improv is Group storytelling.
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For most stories, we will want to know who/what/where we are (Platform ), and then something
K K K
should happen (Tilts , Conflict ), that perhaps changes theStatus between characters.
Finally we want a solution, to conclude the scene.
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Since we are playing theatre, we should not be afraid of a little Truthfulness in our stories.
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After all, the truth is funny (seeTruth in Comedy ).
Subtext
Keyword A character's subtext is the character's underlying drive, goals, ambitions and sense of
K
self-esteem or Status .
Sweep Edit
Keyword K K
Happens when someone (player, director orMC ) walk over the scene as a kind ofEdit ,
indicating that all players should leave and make way for the next scene. Often followed by a
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Blackout .
Keyword
Tag Out
Tapping a player on the shoulder during a scene, thus removing them. You assume their position.
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See Freeze Tag for an example.
Keyword
Taking Care of Yourself

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Another pet peeve of Mick Napier (seeImprovise - Scene from the inside out ). The idea is that if
you take care of yourself, in the sense of know what your character is all about, have the
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character's goals and Subtext clear in your mind, makes it easier for you to actually play and do
something.
K K
This may sound contradictory to the Mr. Nice Guy and Chivalry principles, but it is not: if you
take care of yourself, you'll play free-er, be more playful, and hence be more fun to play with for
the other players, as they'll feel more supported.
Talking Heads
Keyword A scene in which there is little action, and in which the characters mainly talk, talk, talk, almost telling
K K K
the story (if you're lucky) rather than playing it. SeeGossiping , Waffling , Commenting
.
Tilts
Keyword Interesting twitch to advance a scene, or to cause status change. A classic tilt would be a couple
at the breakfast table, where the woman announces out of the blue that she's pregnant. There is
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an interesting list of tilts in the appendix section of Impro for Storytellers .
Time Dash
Keyword In the course of a scene (or a whole performance), show the characters at a different point in
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(story) time than the one in which they were introduced. SeeFast Forward .
Transaction Scene
Keyword A transaction scene is a scene in which nothing happens but a simple transaction. For beginners,
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transaction scenes are a dangerous pitfall. When the scene Setup is e.g. a shoe-shop, it is
tempting to play a scene about buying shoes, but such a scene is not likely to be very interesting.
Transaction scenes need not be boring, but then we want to see something else happening but
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the actual transaction. An interesting Subtext may help.

Truthfulness
Keyword We play theater, and theatre is supposed to somehow touch the audience, and that's usually
done by creating recognizable situations. Audiences naturally laugh when they recognize things
they do, or things they know others do. Hence keeping things truthful is pretty powerful. Absurdity
is usually cheap and not very interesting (very few of us are Ionesco's after all).
Waffling
Keyword K
Waffling is Postponing by lack of ideas; you just keep on babbling in the hope you'll have an
K K
idea. Another example of waffling is Wimping , when you accept the other's Offer but
babble about them without doing anything constructive with the offer. Not a good thing,
obviously.
Walk-Through
Keyword K
Entering a scene, making a strong offer that advances or Tilts the scene, and then exiting.
May indeed help advancing the scene, but should be used sparingly.
Wimping
Keyword Wimping is accepting offers but refusing to do anything with them.

Examples are
K
asking open Questions , thus leaving the action to be decided by the other player
K
Waffling , babbling without accomplishing any action.
Yes And
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Keyword Common method of Advancing scenes: accept everything said and/or done and do something
with it. Also used as a verb: Yes-anding.

Encyclopedia Entries
Augusto Boal
Encyclopedia R
Augusto Boal developed his Theater of the Oppressed in Sao Paulo, Brasil, and is
entry currently working in Paris at the CEDITADE (Centre d'Etude et de Diffusion des Techniques
Actives d'Expression). He also travels and lectures extensively in other countries.
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Check out his book Games for Actors and Non-actors for tons of good games and techniques.
Books
Encyclopedia Here are some good books on Improv:

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Impro
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Impro for Storytellers
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Improvization for the Theatre
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Something Wonderful Right Away
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Truth in Comedy
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Improv Handbook for the Actor
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Games for Actors and Non-actors
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Interactive Acting
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Musical Improv Comedy
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Chicago Improv
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See New Improv Page and Improv Page for massive bibliographies. Improvland also has
a book section to check out.
Cage Match
Encyclopedia The Cage Match is not an Improv Format, but rather a show concept, involving a competition
entry between long-form improv troupes. It was developed by Kevin Mullaney, and the idea is the
following:
2 teams compete for the audience's vote
each team gets 25 minutes to perform. A timer is provided on-stage
each team can call one 30 seconds time-out
each team needs to bring a song/CD/cassette for their 'entry' - for teams that don't bring their
own song something lame will be played
each member of the audience gets one ballot as they enter the theater
in order to be allowed to vote, the audience member must see both teams perform
the performers are not allowed to vote; anyone else present is
the host is responsible for counting the votes. Team with the most votes wins and returns
next time (against another team). Host decides who is the winner in case of a tie.
decisions of the host are final. The host can make up rules and dish out punishments at his
sole discretion.
stacking the audience is not only allowed, but encouraged
apart from the above, anything goes, as long as it's long form improv.
The 'official' rules can be found on www.cage-match.com/rules.php.

Chicago Improv
Encyclopedia Chicago Improv

entry Rob Kozlowski
Heinemann Drama - 16.95 USD
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This book (undertitles as Shortcut to Long-form Improvization) gives a history of Long( Form )
Improv as it developed in Chicago. The book seems to have grown out of a series of interviews
with various Chicago improv artists, and not only covers history but also describes various Long
Form formats.
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The history is not covered as detailed as in Something Wonderful Right Away , but it is far more
up-to-date.
As the title indicates, it is very Chicago-oriented, and ignores anything short form.
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Compared to Truth in Comedy , it is not a how-to book, but in our opinion it does a better job of
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describing the Harold than the former. As was said when comparing to Something Wonderful
Right Away - it is also more up-to-date.
Del Close
Encyclopedia Del Close, who died in 1999, dedicated most of his life to Improv. In 1957 he became part of the
entry Compass players, a troupe that evolved into Second City, and he is considered as one of the
world's Improv Guru's.
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Del Close is the inventor of the Harold - a long format that is wildly popular in the US.
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You can find out more details (and gossip!) about Del Close at theImprov Page Hall of Fame .
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See also Something Wonderful Right Away .
Directing Improv
Encyclopedia Directing Improv: Show the way by getting out of the way
entry Asaf Ronen
YesAnd.com - 17.95 USD
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Asaf Ronen is the man behind YesAnd.com.ref , and this book is his first. While there are plenty
of books on how to improvize, this one is the only one that gives some guidance on how to direct
improvizers. That fact alone makes the book a must-have.
Chapters cover a multitude of topics including giving notes, sidecoaching, working with children,
and dealing with troupe member issues.
Throughout the book are tips and anecdotes from such respected improv luminaries as Armando
Diaz, Michael Gellman, Kevin Mullaney, Mick Napier, Dan O'Connor, Shira Piven, Gary Schwartz,
Todd Stashwick, and many more.
Discussion Boards
Encyclopedia Here are some links to discussion boards on Improv on the internet:
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Improvland
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YesAnd.com
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Improvisation.ws

Eleven Commandments
Encyclopedia We've included these because we've gotten quite a few questions about this: it's the 11
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entry Commandments for Improv, attributed to Del Close . The original text can be found at
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www.improvolympic.com Also, do read Improvise - Scene from the inside out for a
discussion why rules in Improv are not necessarily all that relevant. General Principles
You are all supporting actors.
Always check your impulses.
Never enter a scene unless you are NEEDED.
Save your fellow actor, don't worry about the piece.
Your prime responsibility is to support.
Work at the top of your brains at all times.
Never underestimate or condescend to your audience.
No jokes (unless it is tipped in front that it is a joke.)
Trust... trust your fellow actors to support you; trust them to come through if you lay
something heavy on them; trust yourself.
Avoid judging what is going down except in terms of whether it needs help (either by entering
or cutting), what can best follow, or how you can support it imaginatively if your support is
called for.
LISTEN
Game Lists
Encyclopedia Here are references to other lists of improv games.

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New Improv Page
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Improvland
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Living Playbook
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LearnImprov.com
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SheerIdiocy
Games for Actors and Non-actors
Encyclopedia Games for Actors and Non-actors

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entry Agusto Boal
Routleg Publishers
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In this book Augusto Boal describes more than a hundred games, as part of his 'arsenal' of his
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Theater of the Oppressed . These exercises in general valuable for anyone interested in
dramatic expression and performance techniques.
The book, originally written in Portugese, is a translation of two separate books. In the first part of
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the book Boal describes his Theater of the Oppressed , and in the second part the games and
exercises used by Theater of the Oppressed are outlined.
Although not a book about Improv t is still a must-have for anyone interested in Improv or
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Interactive Acting . Even if you are not particularly interested in Theater of the Oppressed, the
sheer volume of games described is an absolute wealth. Recommended!

Impro for Storytellers
Encyclopedia Impro for Storytellers

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entry Keith Johnstone
Faber & Faber - 20.99 USD
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An absolute Must-Have! This book is a bit easier to read than Impro , less theoretical, and more
oriented towards practical games and theatre sports.
A number of reviewers are less happy about this book, and complain that Johnstone basically
recycled his first book. Another complaint is that the text is not clearly organized. But even as this
book is a lot bigger than his first, it is a better introduction to the layman.
Johnstone clearly took the time (and the pages) to elaborate on the background reasons for doing
what he does. He covers Important People like Laban and Stanislawski in a very practical and
readable manner. And the Appendixes with Tilt-lists and Fast Food Stanislawski lists are absolute
gems.
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You can, in a way, consider this book as a guide on How To Form Your Own Theatresports
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Troupe and How To Train Improv. Several formats, like Gorilla Theatre and Micetro are
covered, with rather explicit instructions on Good Ideas and Bad Ideas on how to use props, how
to judge, etc.
Impro
Encyclopedia IMPRO - Improvisation for the Theatre

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entry Keith Johnstone
Methuen Drama, 18.99 USD
This book, by the (European) father of Improv is not always an easy read, but it is definitely a
must have. In his introduction Johnstone describes how he came about teaching Improv and that
is an definite eye opener.
K C
The book consists of 4 essays, on Status , Spontaneity , Storytelling and Mask theatre. Each
essay starts off rather theoretically, and that is sometimes a bit of a rough read. But it does show
Mr. Johnstone has pretty varied interests, as he does refer to tons of (rather old) scientific stuff on
e.g. psychoanalysis, transcendence, you name it.
Towards the end, the chapters become more practical, although not all that many games are
covered.
Particularly fascinating is the last chapter on Mask work.
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See also Impro for Storytellers .
Improv Handbook for the Actor
Encyclopedia Improv! Handbook for the Actor

entry Greg Atkins
Heinemann - 13.95 USD
Not a bad book, a good introduction. Atkins mainly sticks to games, and uses these games as a
guideline to explain what Improv is all about. The book also contains an outline for a 15 week
workshop.
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Atkins stresses (among other things)Trust in a group of players, and that is something not many
other books about Improv highlight.
The book is well structured, sometimes a bit too much oriented towards working with actors
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(rather than students in general) but, compared toImprovization for the Theatre it is really
practical.
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The book does miss the fundamentals about Improv, as found in Johnstone's work (Impro ,
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Impro for Storytellers ) but at the same time, the book is probably more accessible than
Johnstone's.

Improvise - Scene from the inside out
Encyclopedia Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out

entry Mick Napier
Heinemann Drama - 15.95 USD
This recent little book is a gem: it's Mick Napier's personal take on what Improv is and how it
should/could be done.
The book is not for absolute beginners. Napier assumes a basic knowledge of and/or experience
with Improv, and dives right in with a set of rules, only to conclude that the rules are irrelevant.
You may or may not agree with Napier's take on things, but as he states himself somewhere in
the book, there are various approaches to Improv, and none of them are right and none of them
are wrong: every approach has helped someone at some time improve their work. Napier's
approach will probably improve yours as well.
Absolutely recommended!
Improvization for the Theatre
Encyclopedia Improvisation for the Theater

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entry Viola Spolin
Northwestern University Press - 15.95 USD
This work is a bit older than Johnstone's and it shows, even though the latest reprint has been
revamped and a bunch of new games have been added. Spolin (and her son Paul Sills) is for
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America what Keith Johnstone is for Europe.
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The book is less profound than Johnstone's Impro (although it does contain a whole chapter on
theory) and is far more oriented towards Theatre in general. That is probably due to the fact that
Spolin started experimenting in the 40s, about 10 years before Johnstone started his work. This
book was a bit the Bible for Second City in Chicago in the 50s. Although Second City was
founded about the same time Johnstone founded his Theatre Machine (and later Loose Moose),
this book really covers the fundamentals, which for Spolin really originated out of a theatre
education, and all that dates from before the Era of Improv.
What happened after 1958 is a bit missing in this book. It contains an enormous list of games, but
all these are really very basic. This book is like the Bible for Christians, it may sound a bit
outdated, but it is still a must have.
Improvland
Encyclopedia www.improvland.com is a big improv resource and an on-line community. On the site you will find
entry a list of games and handles, submitted by site guests. You can add games on-line
list of improv people
list of improv books (and reviews)
message boards
calendar of events
funny video clips and on-line games
and they also organize a monthly chat!

Improv Page
Encyclopedia The Improv Page at www.improvcomedy.org has references to troupes, game lists, a list of
entry Improv Terms (see Glossary) and a Hall of Fame.
Improvresourcecenter.com
Encyclopedia The Improv Resource Center is at www.improvresourcecenter.com. This is a site dedicated

entry mainly to long form improv. They have a lively discussion board, discussing both long form improv
and just ordinary stuff.
They also feature a calendar, and they have a link of the month, so be sure to check it out at least
once a month!
ImprovReview
Encyclopedia www.improvreview.com features reviews of improv shows from all over the world. This site also
entry has a calendar, and features articles on Improv Business and other stuff. They even have their
own Guru!
Interactive Acting
Encyclopedia Interactive Acting

entry Jeff Wirth
Fall Creek Press - 14.95 USD
This is not a book about Improv, but rather about other forms of theater which involve audience
interaction.
Wirth describes 4 kinds of Interactive Theater:
Environmental theater, in which the audience become characters in a semi-scripted role-
play, together with actors
Playback theater, in which actors 'replay' scenes from the audience's experience
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Forum Theater, or Theater of the Oppressed
Theatrical Freestyle, developed by Wirth himself, in which audience members join actors on
stage to play full-length performances.
About half of the book is an introduction in improvisation and Improv techniques. This is basically
an excellent introduction to Improv in general, albeit a bit brief.
The other half of the book describes audience interaction in general. Although this is not
Improv-specific, the tips and techniques Wirth describes are invaluable for any improviser or host
to an improv performance.
On the whole an interesting book, and a bit of an eye opener for those who are familiar with
Improv-only. It is interesting to see how basic Improv techniques apply more widely than strictly to
Improv-as-we-know-it.

Keith Johnstone
Encyclopedia Director born in England, now living in Calgary, Alberta, and improv pioneer who became
entry notorious for telling his students to be more boring.
He performed with the Royal Court Theatre and taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
before coming to Canada. Though he is the author of several plays, he is probably best noted for
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his writings and studies into improvisation and his creation of Theatresports . He has invented
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many of the improv games the Theatresports chain uses, notably Micetro and Gorilla Theatre .
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His books include Impro and Impro for Storytellers .
He is professor emeritus at the University of Calgary and co-founder of Loose Moose Theatre.
LearnImprov.com
Encyclopedia Hugh McLeod's list of Improvizational Theatre Structures used to be at

entry www.staircase.org/structures and it contains over 100 Improv games, each with nice descriptions,
and classified in 4/5 categories.
The site has been revamped, and now has its own domain name: go to www.learnimprov.com
Living Playbook
Encyclopedia The Living Playbook is at www.unexpectedproductions.org/playbook.htm, and it contains over 300

entry games. It is one of the largest collections of games on the planet, even if they say so themselves.
Nicely organized in different categories and game types.
Musical Improv Comedy
Encyclopedia Musical Improv Comedy

entry Michael Pollock
Masteryear Publishing - 19.95 USD
This book is a complete guide to the art of Musical Improv Comedy. Pollock goes into song theory
(how is a song structured), rythm and tempo, endings and much more.
The book comes with a CD with examples, and tracks for exercising.
Absolutely recommended for anyone that wants to improvise songs!
New Improv Page
Encyclopedia The New Improv Page at www.fuzzyco.com/improv is a massive resource of improv links. You
entry will find
groups
performers
festivals
workshops and classes
references to Games lists (and they have their own list as well, albeit with little explanations)
and a big bibliography.

SheerIdiocy
Encyclopedia The SheerIdiocy website at www.sheeridiocy.net/games.html lists over 150 Improv games and
entry exercises. Each comes with a short description, and no classification (other than game/exercise)
is made.
Something Wonderful Right Away
Encyclopedia Something Wonderful Right Away

entry Jeffrey Sweet
Limelight Editions - 20 USD
This is not a book on how to play Improv; it describes, in a series of interviews, the history of
Chicago's Second City, the theatre where Improv in the US more or less started. Although it won't
teach you much about Improv, the book is still an interesting read.
For several reasons: it is kind of amusing to hear about famous people's less eh - interesting
character features, and it's also instructive to read how people discovered basic rules of Improv
K
(likeAccepting ) by trial and error.
The book is not exactly recent (although it is still available) but hey, you gotta know your history!
Ten Commandments
Encyclopedia Here is another set of 'rules' that's been circulating for a while. Also take a look at Eleven
R R
entry Commandments and The Rules . And never forget: it's good to know the rules (some rules)
but once you've mastered them, by all means break them. Read Improvise - Scene from
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the inside out for a discussion why rules in Improv are not all that relevant. Anyway, here
goes:
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Thou shalt not block (seeBlocking )
Thou shalt always retain focus
Thou shalt not shine above thy team-mates
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To gag is to commit a sin that will be paid for (seeGagging )
Thou shalt always be changed by what is said to you
K
Thou shalt not waffle ( seeWaffling )
When in doubt, break the routine
K
To wimp is to show thy true self ( seeWimping )
(S)he what tries to be clever is not; while (s)he that is clever doesn't try
When thy faith is low, thy spirit weak, thy good fortune strained, and thy team losing, be
comforted and smile, because it just doesn't matter.
Theater of the Oppressed
Encyclopedia R
Developed by Augusto Boal , this is a series of imaginative exercises which promote
entry awareness of one's social situation and it's limitations, individual attitudes, and even how we are
all bound by tradition.
Theater of the Oppressed is improvisational, in the sense that tries to play non-scripted theater,
with actors and non-actors, in which he explores how oppression appears in our societies, and
how we might fight it.
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In his book Games for Actors and Non-actors more than a hundred excellent exercises
are described (his 'arsenal' of the Theater of the Oppressed) which are equally valuable as
tools/games for Improv.

The Rules
Encyclopedia Here is yet another set of 'rules' that's been circulating for a while. We're not necessarily
entry endorsing them, but they seem to be a bit public domain. Your mileage may vary. Also take a look
R R
at Eleven Commandments and Ten Commandments . And never forget: it's good to know the
rules (some rules) but once you've mastered them, by all means break them. i
R
Read Improvise - Scene from the inside out for a discussion why rules in Improv are not all that
relevant.
Here goes:
Trust
Don't negate or deny
Don't ask questions
Make actional choices
Make assumptions
Give and Take
Listen, watch and concentrate
Work to the top of your intelligence
Truth in Comedy
Encyclopedia Truth in Comedy

entry Halpern & Johnson
Meriwether Publishing - 16.95 USD
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This book basically describes a long format, called Harold , and doing this the book touches on
R
just a bit of everything. It is by no means theoretical, it is not as complete as Keith Johnstone or
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Viola Spolin 's books but it is a good starter. They cover a number of games, but not as many
as Spolin or Johnstone, and they sort of skirt over these games a bit too shallowly.
Still, the book is a good read, for 2 reasons: it is about the only book covering long format Improv,
K
and the notion about Truthfulness in Improv (or Comedy, as the titles says) is also quite
refreshing.
R
Note added June 2003 - check out Chicago Improv , a more recent book that also describes
G C
the Harold as well as other Long Form structures.
Viola Spolin
Encyclopedia Viola Spolin, who died in 1994, can probably be considered as the American Grand Mother of
entry Improv. She influenced the first generation of Improv at the Second City in Chicago in the late
50's, as her son, Paul Sills, was one of the co-founders.
Spolin developed new games that focused upon creativity, adapting and focusing the concept of
play to unlock the individual's capacity for creative self-expression. These games (several of
R
which have become classics) are described inImprovization for the Theatre .
Read more about Viola Spolin on www.spolin.com , or check out the Hall of Fame at the
G
Improv Page , where you can find a couple of articles about her and her work.

YesAnd.com
Encyclopedia www.yesand.com is a site with improv articles and references; focus is on all forms of improv.
entry They've got a very lively message board. Be sure to check out their Improv Theory section of the
message board, where you can find quite often interesting discussions on games and handles.
Also very interesting is their archive of previous articles.

Indexes
Categories
32 Categories:
- Accepting
- Association
- Audience Participation
- Audience Warm-up
- Characters
- Concentration
- Continuation
- Die
- Endowment
- Energy
- Environment
- Exercise
- Experts
- Format
- Gibberish
- Group
- Guessing
- Introduction
- Limitations
- Long Form
- Look and Listen
- Narration
- Performance
- Replay
- SingSong
- Solo
- Spontaneity
- Status
- Timed
- Trust
- Verbal wit
- Warm-up
Games, Handles & Exercises

Total 471 games.
- 3 Series
- 3 some
- Accepting Circle
- Actor's Nightmare
- Adjective Scene
- Advancing and Expanding (see Make More Interesting)
- Aerobics
- Alien Tiger Cow

- Alliterations
- Alphabet Circle
- Alphabet Game
- Alter Ego (see Asides)
- American Idol
- Animalistics
- Animals
- Armando
- Artist Model Clay
- Asides
- Assassin
- Association Jump
- Audience Warm-ups
- Back Dancing
- Balladeer(1)
- Balladeer(2)
- Barney
- BarPro
- Bartender
- Beatnik Poet
- Become
- Before or After
- Big Blob
- Big Booty
- Bippety Bop(1)
- Bippety Bop(2)
- Black Box
- Blindfolded Scene
- Blind Freeze
- Blind Harold
- Blind Lead
- Blind Line Offers
- Blind Line Up
- Blind Musical
- Blues Jam
- Body Hide
- Bong Bong Bong
- Boris

- Bucket
- Bunny
- Call from Ray
- Cards
- Card Status
- Cat and Mouse
- Catch'em
- Circle of Knots
- Circle Sitting
- Clap Snap Stamp
- ComedySportz
- Coming Home
- Commercial
- Complete Bodies
- Confessions
- Consciences (see Asides)
- Continuing Styles
- CopyCat
- Crime Endowments
- Crisis Situation
- Cross Circle
- Cut
- Dating Game
- Day in the Life
- Deaf Replay
- Death in a Minute
- Deconstruction
- Diamond
- Ding Characters
- Ding Dong
- Ding
- Director's Cut
- Disc(1)
- Disc(2)
- Dissociation
- Distance Game
- Distorting Mirror
- Doors
- Doo Wop(1)
- Doo Wop(2)
- Do Ron Ron

- Double Endowment
- Double Opening
- Dubbed Movie
- Duck Duck Goose
- Eights
- Elephant
- Emotional Family
- Emotional Mirror
- Endowments
- Energy 1-10
- Evil Stick of Gum
- Evil Twin
- Excluding
- Family Portraits
- Famous Last Words
- Fast Food Laban
- Fast Forward
- Feature Film
- Final Freeze
- Finger Applause
- Fingertips
- Firing Squad
- Five Things
- Flock Dance
- Follow the Leader
- Follow your Nose
- Foreign Movie
- Fortune Cookie
- Fortune Teller
- Free Association
- Free Falling
- Freeze Tag
- French Braid
- Front Desk
- Fruit Basket
- Fusillade
- Fuzzy Ducky
- Game-O-Matic

- Gibberish Expert
- Give and Take
- Goalie
- Goon River
- Gorilla Theatre
- Greetings
- Group Environment
- Group Freeze
- Group Order
- Guest Game
- Hall of Justice
- Hand Slap
- Harold
- Hat Continuation
- Hats
- Heave Ho
- Helping Hands
- He Said She Said
- Hesitation
- Hijacker
- Hitch Hiker
- Honey Walk
- Horoscope
- Hot Spot
- Human Props
- ID
- I Love You
- Imitate
- Impro Match
- In-Out
- Invisibility
- Invocation
- Janus Dance
- Jeopardy
- Jump
- Just Gibberish
- Killer Bunny

- King Game
- Ksss
- LOW (see LCD)
- La Ronde
- Last Letter
- Last Letter Scene
- Last Line
- LCD
- Lets Not
- Line Mirror
- Little Voice
- Location
- Lotus
- Lounge Singer
- Machines
- Make More Interesting
- Making Faces
- Malapropism
- Man Overboard
- Mantra
- Marshmallow Mania
- Massage
- Mega Replay
- Mexican Name Wave
- Micetro
- Millipede
- Mirror
- Montage
- More or Less
- Move and Speak
- Movie Review
- Mr. So and So
- My Fault
- Name 6 Circle
- Name the Monster
- Name Volley
- No Doubles 1-10
- Non Sequitor
- No P
- Object Morphing
- Object Narrative

- Objects
- Old Job New Job
- One Duck
- One Eighty Five
- One Line Scene
- One Mouth
- Only Questions
- Open Offer
- Open Your Hand
- Opposites
- Overload
- Parallel Universe
- Pass Ball
- Pass Clap
- Pass Yes
- Patterns
- Pecking Order
- Pillars
- Play Tag
- Pockets
- Poetry Corner
- Poet Translator
- Point of View
- Popcorn
- Presents
- Press Conference
- Primal Screams
- Props
- Protest Song
- Puppets
- Queen Game (see King Game)
- Rash
- Repair Shop
- Repeater
- Replay Gibberish

- Rhymes
- Rituals
- Rumors
- Samurai
- Satellite Radio
- Satellite TV
- Scene in the Dark
- Scene Painting
- Scene Replay
- Scene To Music
- Scorpion
- Sculptors
- Seven Up
- Shootout
- Sideways
- Silly Stinky Sexy
- Simon Says
- Six Episodes
- Slappy Face
- Slap Take
- Slide Show
- SloMo Samurai
- SloMo Tag
- SloMo World Champion (see Sportz Center)
- Soap (see Cut)
- Soap Series
- Solitaire
- Solo Doors
- Sound Circle
- Sound Effects
- Space Jump
- Speck (see Little Voice)
- Spit Take
- Split Screen
- Sportz Center
- Squeezer
- Story Spine
- Story Story Die
- Story To A Chair
- Stretching
- Stunt Double

- Sung Story Die
- Superman Jam
- Supermen
- Supernova
- Surprise Movement
- Survivor
- Swedish Sculptors
- Switcheroo
- Switch Gibberish
- Sybil
- Synchro Clap
- TellTales
- Theatresports
- The Bag
- The Bat
- The Gerbil
- The Magnet
- The Party
- The Scream
- Three Line Solo
- Three Melodies
- Three Noses
- Three Rules
- Timed Scenes
- Timeline
- Tossing
- Touch to Talk
- Triple Play
- Trivial Pursuit
- Tug-O-War
- Turning Circle
- TV News
- Typewriter
- Verses
- Virus
- Walkout

- Warehouse
- What Happens Next
- What Has Changed
- Whoosh
- Without Sound
- Without Words
- Word Ball
- Worlds Worst
- Yes Lets
- You
- You're Fired
- Zapping
- Zoom-In Zoom-Out
- Zulu(1)
- Zulu(2)
Keywords
95 Keywords:
- Accepting
- Advancing
- Agreement
- Ask-for Continued
- Ask-for
- Backline
- Beat
- Blackout
- Blocking
- Blue
- Breaking The Routine
- Bulldozing
- Canadian Cross
- Canceling
- Character Journal
- Chivalry
- Comedia dell arte characters
- Comedia dell arte
- Commenting
- Conflict
- Cross Fade
- Denial
- Edit
- Embodying

- Endowing
- Focus
- Freezing
- Fuck Your Fear
- Gagging
- Give and Take
- Gossiping
- Guerilla Improv
- Handle
- Hedging
- Heightening
- Hoedown
- Host
- Ignoring
- Impro
- Improv
- Instant Trouble
- Jabbertalk
- Joining
- Justifying
- Kabuki
- Line Game
- Long Form
- MC
- Monologue
- Mr. Nice Guy
- Mugging
- Narrative
- Never-ending Story
- Notes
- Object Work
- Offer from Space
- Offer
- Opening
- Out Of Your Head
- Overloading
- Pimping
- Platform
- Playlist
- Post Mortem
- Postponing
- Props
- Questions
- Raising The Stakes
- Rehearsal
- Reincorporating
- Running Gag
- Self Edit
- Setup
- Shelving
- Short Form
- Sidecoaching
- Sideline
- Sidetracking

- Space Object
- Space Work
- Status
- Storytelling
- Subtext
- Sweep Edit
- Tag Out
- Taking Care of Yourself
- Talking Heads
- Tilts
- Time Dash
- Transaction Scene
- Truthfulness
- Waffling
- Walk-Through
- Wimping
- Yes And
Encyclopedia entries
33 Entries:
- Augusto Boal
- Books
- Cage Match
- Chicago Improv
- Del Close
- Directing Improv
- Discussion Boards
- Eleven Commandments
- Game Lists
- Games for Actors and Non-actors
- Impro for Storytellers
- Impro
- Improv Handbook for the Actor
- Improvise - Scene from the inside out
- Improvization for the Theatre
- Improvland
- Improv Page
- Improvresourcecenter.com
- ImprovReview
- Interactive Acting
- Keith Johnstone
- LearnImprov.com
- Living Playbook
- Musical Improv Comedy
- New Improv Page
- SheerIdiocy
- Something Wonderful Right Away
- Ten Commandments
- Theater of the Oppressed
- The Rules
- Truth in Comedy
- Viola Spolin
- YesAnd.com

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Improv Encyclopedia

Version 2.0.6 - 18Jun2007 - improvencyclopedia.org

This booklet is organized in 4 chapters:

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 1

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 2

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 3

Category The focus of these games and exercises is on building characters.

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 4

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 5

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 6

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 7

Total 210 games.

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 8

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 9

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 10

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 11

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 12

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 13

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 14

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 15

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 16

Look and Listen

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 17

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 18

Category These are games you'd use for performance.

Total 240 games.

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 19

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 20

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 21

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Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 23

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 24

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 25

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 26

Total 106 games.

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 27

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 28

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 29

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 30

Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves

Alien Tiger Cow

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 31

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 32

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 33

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 34

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 36

Big Fish Small Fish

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 38

Blind Association Circle

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 39

Blind Line Offers

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 40

Bong Bong Bong

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 41

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 42

Cat and Mouse

Improv Encyclopedia -- V 2.0.6 -- 18May2007 -- www.improvencyclopedia.org - page 43

Clap Snap Association

Clap Snap Stamp