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Post by peter on Jun 6, 2007 21:01:02 GMT -5
Hey all - in light of the smashing success so far of the Tuesday night Improv session I was inspired to create this thread to allow quick and easy input into what you all want to see/do on future Tuesday nights.
So riddle me this:
What's your favorite short form game?
And/Or
What's your favorite warm-up activity?
(NB - please include a brief description of how it is played - even if it is a fairly popular game/warm-up in your mind as there are numerous games which go by different names and not everyone has played/seen/heard about everything - if you're not sure exactly how it goes just post as much info as you have and hopefully someone on this board can then add to it - thanks).
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Post by peter on Jun 6, 2007 21:51:56 GMT -5
I'll go ahead and be sporting and start this off with a few of my favorites:
Warm-ups:
Definitely one of my favorites is one we actually played at the last Tuesday session:
Hot Spot.
Hot Spot starts with getting everyone in a circle, slightly spread out, facing the center. One player jumps into the center and begins singing a song (sometimes this can be inspired by a suggestion gotten before it all starts, or it can be any song at all).
As soon as either the song being sung inspires someone on the outside of the circle or (really even more importantly) before the person singing forgets words, seems like they may be stuck, etc (this might only lead to one line from the chorus) - one of the people on the out side jumps in taking over the "hot spot" from the current singer and begins belting out another tune.
It's not an American idol audition (so doesn;t matter how well you sing) or a memory test (doesn;t matter how much or little of the song you know) it only matters that you jump in as soon as you see the person in the center needs someone to jump in - and that you sell it.
Games:
Blind Line
(aka: 3 lines, mad libs, etc, etc).
Ca be played with two (my preferred set-up) or more people (I've done it with like 6 I believe).
Needs a little pre-show preparation in the form of slips of paper and writing utensils.
The players are sent out of the room as a number of suggestions are gotten from the audience - typically simple ask for's like: favorite song lyric, movie quote, line of poetry, bumper sticker slogan, etc - and written on various slips of paper (usually a lot of suggestions are gotten). The slips are then scatted about the playing space on the ground so the players can't see what's on them (they can also be folded and handed to the players to keep in a their pockets) the players are then called back in and and asked to begin improvising a scene (given a relationship or location by audience). During this scene the players must occasionally pick up the slips from the floor and incorporate the phrases into their dialog (as naturally as possible) and justify why they said it. The players don't have to get through all the suggestions btw.
(NB occasionally I've also played a version where scenarios/emotions are written down: "you're in love with your scene partner," "you're scared," "you're plotting their demise," etc are used instead - in this instance it's not about saying what's on the slips of paper aloud as dialog and justifying it - rather it's about letting those offers affect your character and relationship and then justifying that change - my favorite version).
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Post by stephbell8 on Jun 7, 2007 14:02:59 GMT -5
I'm going to steal Peter's inspiration (and words) here are my favorites! Warm-ups: Definitely one of my favorites is one we actually played at the last Tuesday session: Hot Spot. Hot Spot starts with getting everyone in a circle, slightly spread out, facing the center. One player jumps into the center and begins singing a song (sometimes this can be inspired by a suggestion gotten before it all starts, or it can be any song at all). As soon as either the song being sung inspires someone on the outside of the circle or (really even more importantly) before the person singing forgets words, seems like they may be stuck, etc (this might only lead to one line from the chorus) - one of the people on the out side jumps in taking over the "hot spot" from the current singer and begins belting out another tune. It's not an American idol audition (so doesn;t matter how well you sing) or a memory test (doesn;t matter how much or little of the song you know) it only matters that you jump in as soon as you see the person in the center needs someone to jump in - and that you sell it. And as for Games: I'm not sure of the titles, but the switch Right switch Left game where there are 4 people in a square and if someone says switch right (oh dear why did I pick this one, hard enough to explain with the spoken word!!) then the ... okay here we go... ... Lets say everyone is in the position of CAR TIRES... you have Front Left, Front Right, Rear Left, and Rear Right positions. The FL and FR positions are given a relationship, then someone yells SWITCH RIGHT the FR moves to RR, the RR moves to RL, and the RL moves to FL and FL moves to FR. It's a squares and you move one position when someone says SWITCH... get it? So you go around and each two people in front are given a relationship. When play begins each time a couple gets up to the front positions time should pass whether it's a day or years. I'm still not sure that is clear. Maybe I should draw a picture...  Make sense??? |
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Post by Bill Chott on Jun 7, 2007 17:58:29 GMT -5
I'm so glad that the Tuesday Night Sessions are going so well.
Double Zip Zap Zop
One of my very favorite new warm ups is Double Zip Zap Zop. I learned this at the New Orleans Improv Festival.
I never felt that Zip Zap Zop was a good warm up: Simply enough, you say (in that order) zip, zap and zop. You pass the three words around with a clap or a forward chopping motion. Yep, after three rounds and a yawn it becomes the least committed warm up around. That's why I don't teach it as a warm up.
But Double Zip Zap Zop sends each word in either one or two directions. The words are passed along like a karate chop.
When I say Zip, I can pass it to two different players or chop both hands at one person. Then that person can pass the Zap to one or two players. Two players can send both Zops (saying it at the same time) to one person who can send his Zip in one or two directions. There are never more than two things to concentrate on at one time, but it sure is fun.
My Favorite Short Form is Replay,also called Rewind or Genre Change
Replay
The players enact a neutral scene set in a location based on an audience suggestion. The scene is then played in three genres, musical styles, emotions, classic TV shows, etc. or one of each.
It's a great game for listening and trying out new styles.
My Favorite Long Form is Musicale!
Musicale!
Ok, so I invented it. But I love to sing and I became a bit tired of improvised musicals. In Musicale! the cast of improvisers and musicians creates a central opening number and then explores the themes and styles that are brought up in the opening.
This form includes non-linear storytelling, silent scenes set to music, monologues set to music, musical instruments used as sound effects, audience sing-alongs, street theatre and acapella vocals among other long form techniques.
It also includes scenic options like Scene Mapping, Split Scenes and other techniques not seen in the average improvised musical. I really hope that we can develop enough musical improvisers to start working on Musicale! in St. Louis soon.
Of course, I also want to see Shift Left/Shift Right performed as an audience interactive Long Form.
I've got to say that I'm very proud of The Improv Trick students bringing together improvisers from all over town.
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Post by peter on Jun 9, 2007 15:24:14 GMT -5
I realized in my earlier post I mentioned a "few" of my favorites - which certainly means more than two - so I'll add some more here to make up for it:
Warm-ups:
Nemesis/Defender
(aka: Assassin/Protector, et al.)
Players begin walking around the room (need a fairly open space for this one). Each person secretly chooses one person to be their Nemesis and one to be their Defender. When whoever is leading the warm-up yells go everyone must try and keep their Defender between them and their Nemesis at all times.
Bell Hop
(more of an exercise than warm-up, but I've used it as such - so it'll go here)
A Second City audition staple, introduced to me by Ed Reggi: Two players up. One player is the bell hop at a hotel - they should play the character as neutrally as possible - basically they are really a sounding board for the other person. A little space is marked off (often just with chairs) as the front desk where the bell hop works. The second player must check into this hotel as 10 (though usually while using it as a warm-up I only use 5) different characters. The second player must quickly snap into a character go up to the desk and check in - once he has a room he must circle around the desk space having morphed into a entirely new character by the time he reaches the front again. Then just Rinse and Repeat.
Games:
Blind Freeze
Cousin of Freeze Tag and played almost exactly the same way: Players from a back line and two of them step out on stage. They can be positioned prior to the start of a scene by audience members or simply given a suggestion and asked to begin a scene. At any point during the scene any player on the back line may yell out "FREEZE" at which point the two players in the scene must freeze in whatever position they are in. The player you yelled freeze then tags one of the two frozen people out, assumes their exact same position and begins an entirely new scene - then just rinse and repeat.
The key that makes Blind Freeze different is that when the players are standing in the back line - they must be facing away from the audience and the scene: the players can't see the scene going. This version can either be played with the audience yelling freeze, and MC yelling freeze, or even the "blind" players yelling it.
(also there is Double Blind Freeze - played exactly as above, except when someone yells freeze both players in the scene are tagged out and a new scene is started).
Voices From Heaven
(aka: Death Con, or Goon/Spoon River Lite)
3 - 4 players are involved. Each player is endowed by the audience with a different occupation - now these 3-4 characters have all died together and the point of this game is for them to tell the audience how it happened. The game is played in three rounds and in every round each player offers some information (in the form of a brief monologue) about how they happened to die. By the end of the final round all of them should of course be dead. Usually this game hinges around the "Butterfly effect" method: one single event/choice/moment (typically found in the last two rounds if not just the first death) causes ripples which triggers the other deaths.
Boris
Two person game - that I believe comes from Keith Johnstone. This is an interrogation scene - one player is the suspect the other one interrogates them. In the original form the interrogator throws random unconnected elements at the suspect, who must incorporate them together in order to get into (even more) trouble.
Then there is Boris: Boris is a big, evil, nasty, but INVISIBLE thug assisting the interrogation. At any point the interrogator may call on Boris to torture the suspect causing them to further incriminate themselves (the suspect must mime getting tortured). In this version a crime is not established beforehand.
In another version I've seen performed - you can get a crime from the audience (usually with at least two or three endowments: if the crime is murder, you ask for an unusual weapon victim and place to dispose the body, if the crime is something like robbery you'd ask for an unusual thing to steal and where they stashed it, if it's arson what they set on fire and how they started the fire, etc). And them have the interrogator drop hints (using Boris whenever the suspect guesses incorrectly or is going in the wrong direction).
You can also add Boris' evil twin Igor to the mix, who is also invisible.
I have a ton more games, warm-ups, exercises, etc. that I really enjoy watching and doing, but this is already too long and I don't want to steal anymore that others may post (and don't even get me started on long formats I'll talk your ear off).
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Post by Bill Chott on Jun 10, 2007 20:04:21 GMT -5
Oooh. I had never heard of Voices from Heaven. What a great exercise in bringing threads together. Good one! ;D
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Post by mfitzgerald73 on Jun 10, 2007 20:57:12 GMT -5
well lets see
favorite warm up - doctor doctor
there is a script that never changes
child: whatcha doing?
parent: making eggs.
child: can i have some?
parent: sure.
child eats eggs and collapses
parent: doctor doctor my child is sick
doctor: im sorry your child is dead
the hook is that the audience calls out the style or genre that the scene is to be played - soap opera, rock stars, cowboys, etc.
after the scene is completed everyone shifts - child becomes parent, parent becomes doctor, doctor gets back in line and a new child comes in
favorite long form - not sure of the name but its one i came up with with my students in boston
there are 5 - 6 players, player 1 is given a suggestion and they start a story (i emphasize it be a true life experience)
when someone else hears a word or a phrase that sparks them they immediately pick up a new story
e.g. suggestion : puppies
player 1: when i first saw the puppy that would become buddy the wonder pup he was in a large cage with his brother. the sign on the cage said they were from virginia and were a cross between a lab and a plot hound - now most people dont know what a plot hound is - i was included - a plot hound is a breed bred to hunt bears ...
player 2: hunt bears? you've got to be kidding me! but my uncle wasn't - he wanted me to come with him on his next hunting trip and i knew from the wild look in his eye that he meant business.
player 3: I could tell from the wild look in his eye that he meant business. He was going to fail me if i didnt turn in that last paper and then my scholarship was down the toilet ...
player 1: the toilet was his favorite place - he loved to drink out of it like it was his personal water dish.
this continues until player 1 ends the story. the stories are then used as a jumping off point for vignettes. they arent necessarilly retelling the stories but an inspiration
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Post by zacharyfordmadison on Jun 10, 2007 23:12:56 GMT -5
Dubbing: Four players divide into teams of two. It's decided which team will provide the voice and which will be the body. Usually the audience gives a suggestion of Who, What, or Where. The "body" team move their lip as if they were speaking while the "voice" team provides the voice. Both teams follow the follower (mirror) in voice and action. Then exchange teams and continue the scene or choose a new W.W.W.
Slow/Fast/Normal: Two or more players choose a W.W.W. and play a few minutes at normal speed. Then play through the scene in slow motion. Then play the scene as fast as you can. Then at normal speed again observing the difference from the first and last scene.
Three Way Conversation: Player A sits between two end player(B and C). Each end player chooses a topic and engages in a conversation with the center as if the other end player did not exist. The center must converse to both ends responding and initiating when necessary, fluent in both conversations and not excluding either player. Then call "switch" and either end player bumps the center over and switch over.
Spelling: Two players do a scene spelling out each word varying the tone as if they were speaking normally.
I like any kind of "gibberish" exercise if anybody knows some.
I wonder if maybe since last class we kind of had an audience if we could all meet upstairs at 6:30 just to do some warm-ups then move on from there.
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Post by thestevenvance on Jun 11, 2007 11:44:15 GMT -5
One of my favorite warm-ups is "Go."
The basic concept is simple. Players arrange in a circle. One player starts by pointing at another. The other player responds by saying "Go," which allows the pointer to move to that person's spot. That person now points at another player. In theory, there should only ever be one person in one spot at any given time.
If it were a conversation, it would be very simple:
"May I come to your spot."=the point
"Yes, you may."="Go"
Simple enough, right? Well, it is amazingly easy to jump the gun and point before you've released the other person, which leads to a big mess.
It's a good warm up for scene work, in that it encourages patience and rhythm.
Once the group gets into a rhythm, I'll add a few more "Gos", so that there are three or four at a time.
Variants could include just eye contact instead of pointing. I've also had people do Frogs (one frog, two eyes, four legs, kerplunk, into the pond...) with the point and as the "go."
I often like to have this follow something that is more pure energy, so that we're building that energy, then refining it a little.
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Post by peter on Dec 17, 2007 2:38:42 GMT -5
Reviving this old thread - cause it died so young: I have a bunch of new warm-ups that I love (I really don't know why on some of them), but I'll just list one for now: Fred Schneider(First for those of you who don't know Fred Schneider is the singer from the B-52's: Sings such songs as Rock Lobster & Love Shack - this is actually very important to know). Everyone stands in a circle and begins clapping in rhythm. Then everyone says together to the beat - in their best Fred Schneider imitation: "Hey Fred Schneider what are you doing" To which one person in the circle responds with some activity to the beat - again in their best Fred Schneider imitation - it can be anything that person did that day: "I'm brushing my teeth in the bathroom sink." - or something completely made up (doesn't matter at all): "I'm juggling cats while singing this song." Then everyone says: "Hey Fred Schneider what are you doing" and the cycle repeats around the circle till everyone has gone. Love Shack: youtube.com/watch?v=vkMy4YWJb7YRock Lobster: youtube.com/watch?v=szhJzX0UgDMCome on new members - what are your favorite games to play (or watch) - and warm-ups? |
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Post by Bill Chott on Dec 17, 2007 15:16:05 GMT -5
Yay! More love from Peter! Thanks so much for keeping in touch with The Improv Trick in St. Louis. Looking forward to the next Chicago workshops...and seeing you at CIC and wherever else you're onstage by then.
I was just reminding my classes to read your posts so they can get the benefit of your experiences in Chicago. Keep kicking butt there and return to St. Louis soon.
Sincerley,
Bill
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