So Fu*k You All:
This is a great game, but you don’t need to call it "So fu*k you all". That’s just what The Fibbs used to call it. It’s basically just a circle character monologue game. Your group stands in a circle. One person starts a monologue as a character. Then the person to their right continues the same monologue as the same character. It goes all around the circle till it gets back to the person who starts it and then they finish it. As The Fibbs we would also try and end every monologue with the line "so fu*k you all", and that continued over when we brought the game to the Un-Scripted Theater Company. You don’t have to end with a particular line, or you can pick a more PG line to end with. It doesn’t matter. Really the point is to expand your repertoire of characters you can play, and to learn how to continue the work/story of your fellow actors. It's a great game and you can play at every workout as a warm-up and really get stuff out of it over time.
Showing posts with label acting class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acting class. Show all posts
Monday, February 20, 2012
Improv Game - I Am A Tree:
I Am A Tree:
One actor goes out on stage and says "I am a tree" taking a position as a tree, a second actor goes out and adds to the picture they are painting, and a third person goes out and finishes it. Then the person who was first picks one of the two and leaves the stage, leaving the leftover actor on stage as the start of a new picture.
Example:
Actor 1: I am a tree
Actor 2: I am a leaf on the tree
Actor 3: I am the grass under the tree
Actor 1: I’ll take the grass
1 and 3 leave
Actor 2: I am a leaf
Actor 4: I am a panda bear
Actor 5: I am a zookeeper
Etc…
However, as you play this game, it can become an amazing training tool at getting the cast to learn the kinds of stories each other like to tell. If instead of just painting a picture on stage, the objects you go in as can raise the stakes for the story and connect together with themes. As a result, "I am a tree" can become a great training tool for ensemble and comedy.
Example:
Actor 1: I am a tree
Actor 2: I am a spotted owl
Actor 3: and I am the impending doom from the "clean air act"
Actor 1: I’ll take the spotted owl
1 and 2 leave
Actor 3: I am the "clean air act"
Actor 4: I am a brighter better tomorrow
Actor 5: and I am the fog of un-reality
Etc…
That was a bit of a political example, but maybe that’s what one group loves doing stories about. My group usually ends up making fun of my love life, but I think that’s a good sign. Good-natured ribbing is usually a sign that people like playing together.
One actor goes out on stage and says "I am a tree" taking a position as a tree, a second actor goes out and adds to the picture they are painting, and a third person goes out and finishes it. Then the person who was first picks one of the two and leaves the stage, leaving the leftover actor on stage as the start of a new picture.
Example:
Actor 1: I am a tree
Actor 2: I am a leaf on the tree
Actor 3: I am the grass under the tree
Actor 1: I’ll take the grass
1 and 3 leave
Actor 2: I am a leaf
Actor 4: I am a panda bear
Actor 5: I am a zookeeper
Etc…
However, as you play this game, it can become an amazing training tool at getting the cast to learn the kinds of stories each other like to tell. If instead of just painting a picture on stage, the objects you go in as can raise the stakes for the story and connect together with themes. As a result, "I am a tree" can become a great training tool for ensemble and comedy.
Example:
Actor 1: I am a tree
Actor 2: I am a spotted owl
Actor 3: and I am the impending doom from the "clean air act"
Actor 1: I’ll take the spotted owl
1 and 2 leave
Actor 3: I am the "clean air act"
Actor 4: I am a brighter better tomorrow
Actor 5: and I am the fog of un-reality
Etc…
That was a bit of a political example, but maybe that’s what one group loves doing stories about. My group usually ends up making fun of my love life, but I think that’s a good sign. Good-natured ribbing is usually a sign that people like playing together.
Improv Game - The Dolphin Training Game:
The Dolphin Training Game:
It’s just like the hot/cold game you used to play as a little kid, but without the cold and with the sound "ding" instead of hot. It’s the same concept as the one you use to train dolphins to jump through hoops and stuff. You send a person out of the room and decide on a single simple task for them to do: Sit on the chair; put their hand on their head; hug Whitton; lift the chair off the ground; etc. Try and keep the tasks to single activities when you start out. Putting on a jacket is a couple of activities, not just one.
When they get closer to doing the activity everyone in the audience says "ding". When they get it you go "ding ding ding ding ding" and someone else gets to try. People tend to think in categories, so if you try to think outside of the same category for the next person, everyone will get more out of the game. So if the first person had to sit on the chair, the next person will be thinking about moving around the room. If you have the second person put their hand on their head, you’re giving them a chance to discover something they weren’t thinking about.
This is a great game for learning that it’s ok to be wrong about stuff, not to get stuck on your ideas, and how to learn from mistakes. As the person going, the more you cycle through incorrect activities and have it be ok that you tried something that didn’t work, the closer you can get to discovering what the right activity is. Humble, bold improvisors tend to be really fast at this game, two great qualities in an actor.
This game can be really satisfying to finally succeed after struggling on stage for 20 minutes, but you also want to keep the game fun. Try to balance getting struggling improvisor all the way through it with keeping your cast happy. If people aren’t happy make it ok to give up and try again. If the game isn’t fun, no one will want to learn from it.
It’s just like the hot/cold game you used to play as a little kid, but without the cold and with the sound "ding" instead of hot. It’s the same concept as the one you use to train dolphins to jump through hoops and stuff. You send a person out of the room and decide on a single simple task for them to do: Sit on the chair; put their hand on their head; hug Whitton; lift the chair off the ground; etc. Try and keep the tasks to single activities when you start out. Putting on a jacket is a couple of activities, not just one.
When they get closer to doing the activity everyone in the audience says "ding". When they get it you go "ding ding ding ding ding" and someone else gets to try. People tend to think in categories, so if you try to think outside of the same category for the next person, everyone will get more out of the game. So if the first person had to sit on the chair, the next person will be thinking about moving around the room. If you have the second person put their hand on their head, you’re giving them a chance to discover something they weren’t thinking about.
This is a great game for learning that it’s ok to be wrong about stuff, not to get stuck on your ideas, and how to learn from mistakes. As the person going, the more you cycle through incorrect activities and have it be ok that you tried something that didn’t work, the closer you can get to discovering what the right activity is. Humble, bold improvisors tend to be really fast at this game, two great qualities in an actor.
This game can be really satisfying to finally succeed after struggling on stage for 20 minutes, but you also want to keep the game fun. Try to balance getting struggling improvisor all the way through it with keeping your cast happy. If people aren’t happy make it ok to give up and try again. If the game isn’t fun, no one will want to learn from it.
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