“V” is for “Volunteers”

From interactive street theatre and sociodramatic modalities, to short-form competitive games and monologue-inspired long-forms, many improvisational practices invite or require the use of audience Volunteers, those who bravely offer up themselves or their stories to enable spontaneous play.

Can I Have a Volunteer…?

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Related Entries: Audience, Looking Good, Shining Antonyms: Ensemble Synonyms: Amateur, Guest

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
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© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Moving Bodies

Game Library: “Alphabet Game”

Accepting bold choices, delivering each fearless gift, honoring instinctual justifications, keeping letters mindfully near or purposefully – quickly – rigidly sequenced, that’s unequivocally vital when x, y, z… come around. This is Alphabet Game, a short-form classic designed to test your Verbal Skills. (Scroll down if you’re looking for the soupy variation!)

The Basics

Players perform a scene in which the first word of each line of dialogue must begin with the next successive letter of the alphabet (not every word as painfully demonstrated in my belabored introduction!)

Example

A scene is based on the premise of a “builder.” Players A and B begin…

Player A: (pushing on a wheelbarrow) “Another beautiful day – we’re making great progress!”

Player B: (surveying the progress) “Believe it! We’ll have finished our own prairie home in no time at this rate.”

Player A: “Crib will look perfect in this little corner…”

Player B: (surprised) “…Don’t think we’ve had that conversation yet…”

An awkward but light pause as they both build for a moment. Player A looks to B lovingly…

Player A: “Every house is made a home with children…”

Player B: (now a little rattled) “First one crib, now plural children: how big a family are we talking about here…?”

The Focus

Verbal restrictions challenge players to craft a well-balanced scene in spite of the distraction of sequentially moving through the alphabet. However, when potentially brain-stumping handles are played with a fearless spirit, these restrictions can actually create as much rich content as they thwart.

Traps and Tips

1.) Alternate dialogue. A standard “rule” for Alphabet Game is for alternating players to take on the challenge of justifying the next required letter. If one player rattles off several sentences in a row starting with the pertinent letters – especially as an expression of panic or in an effort to shine – the game quickly feels lopsided or just unclear. Rigorously change speakers for each letter. In addition to sharing the work and rewards of the scene, this also gives your partner a second to have the next needed letter front of mind for when it’s their turn. Avoiding an overcrowded stage further helps in this regard as with only two or three characters activated at a time, it’s easier to determine who will be talking next.

2.) Bold each step. If you’ll forgive the oxymoron, it’s important to exaggerate or emphasize your featured alphabetized word just a little. Habitual “ums,” “wells,” or other introductory utterances prior to the officially needed first word will just confuse your audience and teammates while reducing the effectiveness of the scenic enterprise as a whole. Make sure the word that corresponds with the required letter unequivocally launches your speech act. And consider giving this word a little extra emboldened punch: perhaps it’s the operative or most important word in your sentence or laced with extra subtext or passion. If you throw away the featured word or obfuscate it with a messy preamble, the alphabet train often derails quickly.

3.) Condense your exchanges. Just as scrolling through multiple letters in a row as a singular character tends to muddy the waters, it can prove similarly challenging if players are routinely voluminous in their offers. If it’s been forty seconds since your “sentence” started, the chances are quite high that everyone will forget your first letter by the time you finally hit that final punctuation. There are obviously exceptions: if you enjoy adding style – Shakespeare or similar – into the mix, a monologue or soliloquy, especially at a climactic moment, certainly honors your source material. I don’t tend to impose a rule that only one sentence can be uttered for each letter as, frankly, that’ll likely cause unhelpful confusion as players try to parse each other’s intended punctuation with little added value to the scene. But if you always take a paragraph to your partners’ concise five-word sentences, then consider breaking up your preferred pattern if only for the sake of variety.

4.) Don’t just stand there. Don’t let the prescribed verbal game pull you exclusively into your head as an improviser. Yes, it’s almost unavoidable that there will be times of struggle – often attributed to a forgotten letter or an unsuccessful search for the right word – and yet it’s part of the performance value to relish these struggles a little. After all, if the game is too seamless, the audience may not fully appreciate the skill they have just witnessed. But also make sure you’re not just improvising from the “neck up.” Create a dynamic world complete with interesting scenic elements and potentials for activity and action. In this manner, when a silence hits, your character can fill this time with justified movement and energy while the audience can simultaneously enjoy the sight of the improviser squirming underneath. Which reminds me that you also shouldn’t be afraid of a little strategic silence in general. When players just immediately bark out their dialogue because they have the next needed letter, the scene can start to feel oddly inhuman.

In Performance

There is some debate – at least in my own improv circles – about whether to always start the scene with the letter “A,” or if it facilitates stronger work to elicit a random letter to serve as the impetus for the first line of dialogue and then pick up the sequence from there. When you start with “A,” you’re setting up a climax of “X,” “Y,” and “Z.” (Although some companies will then return to “A” as needed if there’s still a little more scene required to reach a satisfying button.) The rationale for and against the “A” start hinges on whether or not repeatedly facing this climactic language challenge seems appealing or routinely bears fruit. There is no question that “X” and “Z” have very few options, and if every Alphabet Game ends in “Zipper’s down…” then shaking it up will hopefully rescue you from the pit of desperate bits. But, if players remain playfully present and open to new discoveries, I find this seemingly insurmountable hurdle a glorious pinnacle for the scene.

Also avoid “x-treme,” ”x-cited,” or “x-tra” approaches to that formidable “X” position as these often won’t fly with a more discerning audience. It’s probably worth your while to at least glance at the half page of available options in a dictionary if you play this game with any frequency!

And if you’re up for an even greater challenge, try moving through the alphabet backward, starting with Z instead!

Or, as explored in a recent R&D Show, you can mix it up as Alphabet Soup. Here, the caller nominates a new, random letter after each line of dialogue that must be used to begin the next verbal offer. The advice above remains largely the same, although it’s particularly important to provide strong and resolute endings when speaking (to leave the caller sufficient room to announce the next letter), and generally the caller should only offer each letter once (writing the alphabet out on a sheet beforehand and crossing out calls as you go is a must). If you like the foundational language device but find the predictability of the sequencing working against you or plunging you into old habits, Alphabet Soup serves as a nice, simple adjustment to reintroduce the risk.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2023/2026 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Verbal Skills
The R&D Show Expansion Pack

“V” is for “Verbal Skills”

How we use (or don’t use) the full range and potential of our voices on the improv stage.

V Verbal V’s

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Related Entries: Experts, Obvious, Physicality, Rhyme, Talking Heads Antonyms: Waffling, Wimping Synonyms: Vocabulary

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Alphabet Game

Game Library: “Starting in the Middle”

Perhaps more of a scenic approach than a short-form game in its own right, Starting in the Middle enables energized launches that enhance Urgency and stakes.

The Basics

When workshopped as a skill building exercise, players quickly self-determine their CROW ingredients before bringing these elements to life on stage. As a more general tool, players can elect this style of scenic initiation as an overlay in response to an audience suggestion or in conjunction with the needs of another game structure. In both cases, as the title reflects, when the lights come up on the scene, the audience experiences an action that is already “in progress.”

Example

Players respond to the prompt of “white water rafting.” All four team members are discovered in the throes of a tumultuous descent as the scene begins…

Player A: (panicked) “I just lost my paddle overboard too!”

Player B: (losing the battle to remain calm) “This was just meant to be a leisurely adventure down the river!”

Player A: “We have to get to the river bank…”

Player C: (paddling ferociously) “Says the guy who just lost his paddle. What exactly are you going to do, Luca?!”

Player D: “Has anyone seen my backpack with my inhaler in it…?”

The Focus

In addition to starting in the middle of the scene, make sure you are also starting in the middle of the rising action and providing the stage with the corresponding level of energy and emotion. This doesn’t have to be as dramatic as the example above, but if your scene depicts starting in the middle of a bland or apathetic routine – such as nonchalantly sitting on the couch watching a movie, or uneventfully doing a load of laundry – you’re not really fully capitalizing on the intended dynamic.

Traps and Tips

1.) Jump in. Typically, this device benefits from assuming that the ignition is in the scenic rear view mirror. Beginning a scene a few steps into the balance or status quo doesn’t gain you much more than perhaps a little novelty. The balance, by definition, is the unbroken ritual of the characters’ lives, so a few steps into the balance will still feel ordinary and likely under energized. When the ignition has already occurred, on the other hand, the scene should already feel dynamic and in motion. This is also a great device for immediately raising the stakes and urgency by avoiding passive considerations of what might happen in the scene if you ever manage to actually get to it.

2.) Keep moving. There can be a tendency to want to pause the action so as to explain the given circumstances. While it’s important to provide the necessary context, thread any pertinent information into the rising action whenever you can. If you’ve set some of the foundational choices privately as a team before the scene start, it is critical to remember that the audience isn’t privy to these decisions, so you will want to provide clarity when it’s needed but stalling the action to do so may cause as much harm as good. And don’t forget that a lot can be definitively established amidst the panicked yells of our rafters.

3.) Then backfill. That being said, with few exceptions when ambiguity is the game, scenes gain strength from strong CROW decisions. These may or may not be completely known prior to the lights rising, so a healthy dose of justifying may be in order. Our rafters may not know their exact relationships to each other or the particular location of the river initially, but establishing or revealing these factors adds detail and potential. Exposition can prove challenging to activate in any theatrical mode; in this game, it necessarily becomes part of the innate fabric of the scene. Part of the entertainment for everyone is learning how the rafters got into this particular form of peril as that very selfsame peril expands.

In Performance

A gentle and luxurious scene start where players slowly determine who they are and what they’re doing can prove captivating in adept hands, but as a standard or repeated pattern such a launch can also require a great deal of patience from your audience. The urgency of starting in the middle (and its associated risk and vibrancy) offers a welcome respite from relentless expository meanderings. In particular, if you find yourself often starting scenes planning for or discussing a future event – and perhaps then not actually getting to the activity in question – this technique will become your new improv best friend. So jump in, keep moving, and then backfill.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Urgency

“U” is for “Urgency”

Urgency, alongside stakes, provides an all-purpose tool to make our actions more intense and theatrical. While elevated stakes influence the consequences of failing or succeeding, urgency fuels the action by considering the question of “why now?” What factors are currently in play that make this particular choice or action critical in this given moment?

Intensifying the Urgency…

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Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Related Entries: Drama, Stakes Antonyms: Postponing Synonyms: Repercussions

Connected Game: Starting in the Middle

Game Library: “One-Voice Expert”

The mechanics of One-Voice Expert make it uniquely prone to Upstaging tendencies as a desire to forge a strong connection to your scene partner can easily result in closing yourself off from your audience if you’re not vigilant.

The Basics

An expert is interviewed on a given subject by a teammate. While the expert has one voice, they have two (or more) heads and must sound out all of their answers in unison.

Example

The topic at hand is “photography.” Player A serves as the host while B and C wrap an arm around each other’s waists to form one expert persona.

Player A: “Welcome back to Picture That! I’ve been trying to secure our next guest for many years now; I couldn’t be more excited to finally have you join me here with our studio audience today!”

Players B/C: (forming their words together) “Thaaank you, Graaace. I’m a biiiig faaaan of the show…”

Player A: “You’re too kind, Ellie. If I may call you that…?”

Players B/C: (sounding out their response) “Of course. If I caaaan call yoooou Grace!?”

Player A: “I want to dive right into your new beautiful collection, if I may…”

Players B/C: (together) “Please doooo. It’s beeeen a real laaaabor of love and I’m reeeeally proud of these photographs of eeeeveryday ciiitizens…”

The Focus

Enjoy the inherent language struggles while also fighting to justify joyful slips as you build a story and engaging relationship.

Traps and Tips

1.) Lead. If you’re not hyper aware, it’s easy for the multiple-headed expert to become so polite and deferring that every word becomes a painful exercise in belabored negotiation. Sometimes, you just need to leap into the fray and strongly offer up an initial sound, word, or short phrase. If none of the expert heads are willing to initiate any choice, then it becomes awfully difficult to generate steam and content. Once you’ve established your connection, the goal is to resemble natural speech rhythms and cadences as best you can. Similarly, as the interviewer, don’t be afraid to steer the story when it’s needed. If the expert is struggling to create content, pitch a simpler question; if an answer is particularly opaque or circuitous, justify or reiterate its essence (or invite the expert to do so).

2.) Follow. While the individual expert voices should happily take the reins for a moment or two, the resulting dialogue shouldn’t clearly be the brainchild of one speaker for any length of time. The dynamic quickly feels wonky – and therefore much less risky and exciting – when the audience can clearly see one player consistently leading the way. So, just as you shouldn’t be too leery to take the focus for a few seconds, you should be equally as willing to immediately give the lead when you sense your partner wants it. In theory, these exchanges should become so smooth that leading and following become almost synonymous. As the host, be similarly aware that you don’t dominate as it’s easy to become comparatively voluminous without the expert’s speaking restriction. Endeavor to keep your guest as featured as possible.

3.) Commit. Verbal restriction games tend to make players neglect all the other scenic components that can help round out the performance in delightful ways. If you’re playing with two players as the expert, it’s typical for improvisers to use their outer arms as if they belonged to the cumulative expert. Find opportunities to support your character and story with bold gestures and physical offers. As the scene begins, it’s also understandable (and actually smart) to stand largely in profile toe-to-toe as this allows you to really see each other’s mouths which greatly assists in the task of figuring out the words and energy. Such a stance left unchecked, however, can shut out the audience. Cheating out not only improves visibility but also raises the chances of missteps, which (frankly) is a large part of the excitement.

4.) Shape. If you’re primarily using this game as a charm piece, you can certainly get a few minutes of entertainment just out of the built-in communicative struggle of the multi-headed expert. But, like most short-form handles, the scene can be much more than just the stated conceit. Shape a strong point of view for the expert and the host, explore the subtleties of this central relationship, and follow the potentials of the story threads as they emerge. Sure, the interviewer can just make their guest leap through some linguistic hoops, but when the gimmick also serves a well-crafted narrative, the ultimate payoff will prove so much more satisfying. If you find yourself blindly scrolling through “bits,” you’re only scratching the surface of what this game can offer.

In Performance

One-voice characters are tough, and I love and fear them in equal measure! Here, this persona is housed in an interview dynamic, but once you’re comfortable with the requisite techniques, there’s no reason not to set them free into other scenarios, too. If you seek control of the improv stage, one-voice work reminds you of the destructiveness of bulldozing and the vibrancy of spontaneously going with the flow.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2022 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Upstaging

“U” is for “Upstaging”

Upstaging refers to a performer’s inability to remain “open” or seen by the audience, which, in turn, can create the additional challenge of making dialogue difficult to hear.

What’s Up with That Staging…?

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Related Entries: Acting, Levels, Physicality, Sharing Focus, Stage Picture Antonyms: Being Seen, Staying Open Synonyms: Closing Yourself Off

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: One-Voice Expert

Game Library: “Lotus Monologues”

This narrative exercise encourages active listening, subtle connections, and grounding characters in your personal Truth. Let me introduce you to Lotus Monologues.

The Basics

Three players (A, B, and C) volunteer to play and stand in stage right, center stage, and stage left positions, respectively. The exercise usually begins without an audience prompt as any themes or connections are discovered rather than imposed. Subsequently, it’s helpful if the stage right player has a personal story that they’d like to share at this particular moment in their capacity as the first narrator. Players explore three rounds of storytelling with each improviser sharing in sequence as focus moves down the line from stage right to left.

Round One

Player A begins by taking a step forward and narrating “the first third” of a true story. This is a rather artificial measure and generally consists of establishing the given circumstances and some sense of the story’s mood or essence. Once they feel they have met this goal, they step back, thereby giving the focus to B, who steps forward. This improviser now narrates the beginning of their own personal story that was subtly inspired by the previous narrative. Once they complete their first offering, the process continues with Player C now providing a third honest story start that’s influenced by the tone or feel of both of their predecessors.

Player A tells the start of a story of moving schools as a young child and the nervousness of entering a classroom without knowing anyone there. Player B responds with an account of meeting their beloved pet dog and the elaborate surprise created by their family for the moment. The round concludes with Player C recalling a road trip adventure with their older sister where they just followed the highways that spoke to them…

Round Two

We now return to Player A, who picks up their story from where they left off. However, the next step or focus of this story should now reflect the “feel” or emerging themes explicated by their teammates. The story may remain wholly true with just a slightly new direction or voice, or the narrator may elect to deviate more substantially in order to reflect commonalities with their teammates. After finishing the “second third” of their story, they step back again, and Player B and C continue this process of narrating their own stories based on truth but influenced by the choices of their peers.

As the second round unfolds, all the players lean into the theme of adventure and the unknown, with Player A continuing to narrate about that first day at school, B tells of training their dog in the neighborhood park, while C recalls a particularly out-of-the-way small town that felt like a trip back in time.

Round Three

Finally, we rotate through the tellers one last time with Player A, B, and then C sharing the conclusions of their individual stories. Players should not seek to name or make explicit perceived connections but rather just allow them to color each narrative in ways that feel appropriate and grounded. As each story culminates, it may remain completely factual, modestly adjusted, or a more complex mix of honesty and artistry.

Picking up on some potentially scarier hues, A’s story ends with then running away from school and trying to walk back home, B has their dog run away only to be found and returned by a kind stranger, and C recounts driving down an abandoned dirt road only to eventually make it back to the highway and “civilization.”

The Focus

This exercise invites a nuanced application of truthful and intuitive storytelling by encouraging players to combine factual and fictional honesty. If the final round of narrative is largely absurd, you’ve likely missed the mark a little (or a lot!)

Traps and Tips

1.) Start as yourself. The request to share personal stories might immediately make some players a little uncomfortable right from the outset. Stories needn’t be the darkest moments of our lives (and frankly, probably shouldn’t be as this may cause the teller harm), but avoid narratives designed purely to get a laugh or to evade revealing anything vulnerable whatsoever. The first teller sets the tone, so I’ll let players self-select into this spot. Especially once the dynamic has been modeled, stories tend to bubble up that offer grounded launching points. For B and C, they should ideally just react honestly to the initial narrative and not feel obliged to explicitly explain their rationale.

2.) Look beyond the surface. At the completion of the game, I’ll ask those watching to brainstorm the various shared themes and connections they experienced from their seats in the audience. (One of the innate values of this game is the realization that audience members seek and see connections everywhere effortlessly.) Narrators should resist grabbing obvious elements from others’ tales and then plopping them inorganically in their own: Player A mentioned a dog so now I’m going to have a dog in my story too… Instead, honor subtler energies, themes, and tensions, trusting that this will amply serve the exercise and your future scene work in general.

3.) Retain a truth. I feel a little odd writing the advice in black and white to “lie well,” but that’s the gist of this bullet point! While the stories should start in your experienced (albeit, subjective) truth, by the game’s conclusion, it’s probable that each narrative will represent a much messier amalgam of truth and dramatic lies or conceit. Regardless of where each individual ends up on this scale, stories should feel honest. It’s foreseeable that a teller might just plod through the rounds without any content or tonal shifts. While there might be occasions when doing so reflects an alignment of the storytelling stars as the base narration as is connects gracefully to those around it, more often players should allow the greater context to influence their work.

4.) Measure your steps. Finally, each story needn’t move through time in exactly the same pattern. A narrative could span several weeks of content, move jauntily through a singular important day, or linger on the repercussions of one particularly intense minute or moment. You’ll want to avoid making the entire story generalized context or an impersonal overview: narratives unquestionably benefit from specifics. But subsequent stories can solve the challenge of time in the manner that best suits them. One player might always pick up immediately from where they left off with each new visit, as is the case with Player A, while a teammate might use these edits to enable dramatic shifts in time or location.

In Performance

Players invariably will ask for a less opaque measurement for the preferred duration of each narrative segment, but the best answer is truly “when you’ve said enough.” Some stories will require more preamble or illustrative balance than others to set up the appropriate details. This flexibility also encourages players to develop an ability to “read the room” so as to determine when an offer has sufficiently served its intended function.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Lotus format, this monologue version serves as a nice introduction to the scenic version where three pairs of improvisers now craft three rounds of work that gently reflect the energies and choices of their peers.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Truth

“T” is for “Truth”

Pursuing stories and characters that reflect the real world around us in thoughtful and provocative ways.

Four Truths and a Lie…

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Related Entries: Comedy, Culpability, Drama, Emotional Truth, Material Antonyms: Escapism Synonyms: Honesty, Integrity

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Lotus Monologues

Game Library: “Creation Myth Scene”

Creation Myth Scene belongs to a category of short-form games that requires a good dose of attentive reverse engineering. (Other examples include Famous Last Words, In A, With A, While A… and Commercial.) Subsequently, it’s no small act of Trust to bravely explore a patient and unified path forward alongside your teammates.

The Basics

The scene gains its impetus from a human-made object or invention, such as a pencil, lunchbox, or slinky. For reasons that will become clear, highly technological items are less helpful for this particular frame. Players imagine and create a world in which this item does not yet exist. As the scene progresses, the conditions and elements required to make the proffered item slowly assemble until, finally, the characters discover this new valuable gift to humanity.

Example

The audience suggests “wheelbarrow.” As the lights rise, Player A lumbers onto the stage carrying an immensely heavy rock. After each few steps, they pause to rest before taking up their burden once more. A few steps later, a second character, Player B, struggles on behind them.

Player A: (with approximated stone age speech patterns) “This rock… heavy.”

Player B: (prodding A forward) “Must make wall.”

Player A: (pushing the rock out of desperation) “This rock HEAVY!”

Both characters watch as the large rock rolls just a little…

Player B: “Push rock more!’

Player B tries to do the same with their rock but it doesn’t work.

Player B: “Push your rock more!”

Both characters delight in their rolling rock. They are oblivious as Player C enters from the opposite direction struggling under the burden of a load of wood…

Player C: “This wood… heavy…”

The Focus

Any scene that seeks a particular collective end – in this case, the emergence of the named object – can unfortunately put players in their individual heads as they strive to intellectually solve the scenic riddle. Pay extra attention to your teammates, making sure you are supporting and trusting their instincts rather than just passively waiting to insert your own idea regardless of if it’s a grounded next step based on the current scenic conditions. Yes, look for opportunities to nudge the creation a small step forward, but also fearlessly exist in the here and now.

Traps and Tips

1.) Construct a world. One of my favorite aspects of Creation Myth Scene is that it gives you the opportunity to explore more radically different times and places than your average “kitchen sink” scene. No one on your team will necessarily know with any certainty when the object in question actually came into being, so don’t be afraid of just making a definitive, educated guess. The balance of this scene is particularly important as it establishes the rules for everything that follows. Subsequently, be wary of just casually wandering into the action if your fellow players have gone to the trouble of crafting a specific time period or mood. Style scenes provide a great break from the mundane every day, so take full advantage of this component. The scene is framed as a “myth” after all, so don’t default to modern blandness out of carelessness.

2.) Bring one brick. This game invites players to assemble the requisite pieces for the named product. It follows that these ingredients will need to make it to the stage eventually, but don’t just throw them all at the stage immediately and haphazardly. Take the improv adage of “bring one brick” (rather than a cathedral) literally and take the risk of establishing one element with joyful precision, especially during the opening moments of the scene. The stone age characters’ large rocks might serve primarily as the obstacle, forming the need for the wheelbarrow, or with a little love and polishing, might also provide a step towards the beckoning solution. Let each new element have its own featured moment, trusting that your teammates will have the wherewithal to add the next step when it’s needed.

3.) Craft don’t solve. At first glance, this format might look quite similar to Commercial (see here), which also requires players to develop the need for a new product to cure their woes. The potential for period-infused style marks one important distinction; the requirement to actually invent the product in real time serves as another. In Commercial, Player C might just enter pushing the desired wheelbarrow. In Creation Myth Scene, however, this object doesn’t exist until the onstage characters make it from their combined efforts. It’s more than appropriate for C to enter with a piece of the puzzle – the wood planks in this case – but it implodes the playful premise if one character just has the fully realized prop in their possession. This game provides the very embodiment of privileging messy process over a tidy product.

4.) Get on board. Beware of the conflict-seeking naysayer! This scene needs a few minutes to evolve unlike the intentionally sharper Famous Last Words or Commercial; but, if a character falls into a contrarian attitude, there probably isn’t enough time in your whole evening to get the scene to the finish line. Stalling the action by commenting on logic flaws or inconsistencies – rather than seeing these holes and then immediately working to be part of a solution – will undermine the momentum of the rising action which is so critical for the game. Choose to be equally invested as a character and a player: this is the historical moment that this object needed to come into existence and when all the required components finally lined up perfectly. Be a willing part of that perfection!

In Performance

It’s not obligatory, but it can provide a fitting button to end the scene by naming the new wondrous creation. This may or may not line up with how the object has become known to us in the modern period. Whether or not you punctuate the scene in this fashion, make sure your characters actively use and celebrate this memorable contribution to the evolution of the human race! The format has a built-in climax, and even if your efforts have resulted in only partial “success,” don’t throw away this promised ending.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Trust