THEATRE GAMES - IMPROVISATION

SITUATIONAL  IMPROVISATION

THREE  WORDS

Catogeries  :  Concentration,  Improvisation,  Motivation,  Team  Building

For  Ages  :  Middle  School,  College

Description  :  Teaches improvisation, pantomime, and clear communication. It also works as an 

                           introduction to a skill of giving constructive criticism.

Players  :  Minimum  number  of   player – at  least  10

                  Maximum  number  of  player – no  more  than  20

Space  required  :  Standard  room

Instruction  : 

1) Break  the  class into  groups  of  three.

2) Each group  is  given  the  same  three  words.

3) Working  independently,  each  group  comes up  with  a  short  scene,  in  which  the only spoken words  are  the  three  given.  The  scenes  can  include  pantomimed  communication  (implying  that other  words  are  spoken),  but  they  are  very  short  scenes  using  only  the  three  words  in  different ways.

4) After  the  groups  have  planned  their  scenes,  they  perform  them  for  the  group.

5) Optional  :  discuss  each  groups  performance  through  use  of  constructive  criticism.

Adaptation  :

Possible  Three  words:  Why,  Sorry,  Oh.

Example  of  Scenarios:

1) A  man  walked  down  the  street  until  he  bumped  into  another  man.  "Oh,  sorry,"  he  said.  The second  man  beat  up the  first  man,  who  then  looked  up  the  heavens  and  cried,  "why?"

2) Two  boys  were  tossing  a  baseball  around.  One  boy  threw  it  hard  and  it  broke  a  window. After  it  broke,  he  said,  "Oh."  A  girl  came  out,   pointed  to  the  window  and  said,  "why?"  and both  boys  said,  "sorry!"

3) One  man  borrowed  another's  watch  and  then  accidentally  dropped  it. "Sorry"  he  said.  The  other man,  who  hadn't  seen  the  watch  drop  said,  "why?"  Then,  when  his  broken  watch  was  shown  to him,  he  said,  "oh."

MAKING  SOUNDS

Categories  :  Improvisations,  warm-up

For  Ages  :  Elementary  school,  middle  school,  high  school

Description  :  Students create stories and loosen up through making sounds to set the scene of the story

                         Described.

Players  :  Minimum  number  of   player – at  least  10

                  Maximum  number  of  player – no  maximum

Instruction  : 

Divide  the  class  into  the  group  of  4- 8.  Designate  one  person  to  be  a  storyteller.  The  others  sit  in  row.  The  storyteller  makes  up  a  story,  one  sentence  at  a time,  making  sure  to  include  the  opportunity  to  make  a  sound  to  enhance  each  line.  Once  the  last  student  has  gone,  its  the  first  student’s  turn  again  until  the  story  ends.

Adaptation  :

Storyteller – It  was  dark  and  stormy  night.

The  first  student  makes  storm  sounds.

Storyteller – The  phone  rang  in  Janet’s  house.

The  second  student  makes  phone-ringing  sounds.

Storyteller – There  had  been  a  car  wreck!

The  third  student  makes  car  wreck  sounds.

And  so  forth  until  the  storyteller  brings  the  story  to  a  close.

BUS  STOP

Categories  :  Improvisations,  warm-up,  movement

For  Ages  :  middle  school,  high  school,  college

Description  :  To get students moving, thinking fast and on their feet through improvisation.

Players  :  Minimum  number  of   player – at  least  2

                  Maximum  number  of  player – no  more  than  20

Materials  :  A Bench or Two Chairs that represent a bench - cannot be separated during the course of the 
                      scene.

Space  required  :  Standard  room.

Instructions  :

1) Actor #1  sits  in  the  stage  right  seat – their  goal  is  simply  to  just  be/react  to  the  situation.
2) Actor #2  makes  an  entrance  from  stage  left - they  must  create  a  character,  both  physically  and vocally,  who  is  unlike  themselves.  Their  goal  is  to  get  Actor #1  from  their  portion  of  the  bench (without  physically  pushing).

~ It  is  IMPERATIVE  that  Actor #1  is  true  to  themselves  and  reacts  in  a  believable  manner  and they  accept  anything  Actor #2  does/says  as  truth.