Improv Exercises
Superheroes –Have everyone form a circle. Ask every participant to create a super hero name
and physical gesture. For example: “Incredible Lisa” jumps up and punches the air, “Terrible
Tim” steps forward scissor claps, “Elastic Jerry” turns around while stomping his feet. As every
participant introduces him/herself everyone in the circle repeats the name and physical gesture.
Once everyone has introduced themselves go around the circle one more time to refresh
everyone’s minds. They will now pass around this invisible ball of energy to others in the circle
by repeating first their name and gesture and passing it to someone else by saying their name and
gesture for example in order for Lisa to pass to Tim. She will say, “Incredible Lisa” jumping up
and punching the air and then “Terrible Tim” stepping forward and scissor clapping. Terrible
Tim will repeat his own name and gesture and then pass it to Elastic Jerry by saying his name
and completing his physical gesture and so on. Once everyone gets the hang of passing it around
one a time have them pass the energy, to a person and also have the person on the left and right
repeat the name and physical gesture.
Literal “YES, AND” - Have two people seated (or standing) have a second conversations and
talk about their weekend, celebrities etc. To build the scene, have them repeat their conversation
partners’ lines of dialog verbatim, and then say, “YES, AND...” and then adding their own lines
of dialog.
Zip Zap Zop – Participants and teacher gather in a circle to pass an invisible ball of energy by
making eye contact, pointing with their hand, and saying Zip, the following person will make eye
contact, point with their hand and say Zap, and then another individual will point and say Zop.
Remind participants that it doesn’t matter who they pass the energy to, but to keep it going and
increase momentum.
Last Word – Have people pair off and face each other. One person starts out by making a
declarative sentence, like “I’m going to the movies tomorrow”. The other person has to respond
with a one line of dialogues that starts with the last word in his/her partner’s line (“tomorrow”).
“Tomorrow will be a beautiful day.” “Day time is play time” and so on. The goal is to start every
line with the last word of the last line.
Training People to Learn While Laughing
www.carolinaimprov.com
(843) 597-6393
Improv Exercises
One Word Story - Have five to six people tell a story together by using one word at a time.
Their focus should be simple agreement. Focus on their confidence and stage presence. Create a
title for the story (Name, Action & Location), tell them to respond to the last word said. Folks
may use crazy words or stop talking. Encourage them to keep the story going. Point out that they
are only accountable for one word and one word only.
Conducted Story - Have no more than six people stand in front of the rest of the group. Explain
that they all will tell a story together, but instead of telling it one word at a time, when you point
to them they need to keep talking. As soon as you move your hand to someone else the first
person needs to stop talking and the new individual needs to pick up exactly where they left off.
This could be mid sentence or mid-word.
Diamond Dance - Have everyone stand at their seats. Instruct the front row to raise their hands
and then instruct them to all turn to the right and have the new front row raise their hands and so
until everyone is standing in their original positions. Let them know that they will now all dance
but have to mirror the person directly in front of them to dance. Keep switching front row
positions and repeat.
World’s Largest Rock, Paper, Scissors - Have people find partners and explain how to play
Rock, Paper, Scissors (Paper beats rock, scissors beats paper, Rock beats scissors). Pairs play
one game and the loser then stands behind the winner and cheers him/her on while they travel
together to find another group to compete with. The losing team of two (champ and cheerleader)
then stands behind the winning team of two and cheers on that winner to travel to another team
to compete with and so on. By the end there should be two giant teams with two final individuals
and the head of the teams competing against each other. For more information contact:
Gina Trimarco, [email protected], (843) 597-6393
Training People to Learn While Laughing
www.carolinaimprov.com
(843) 597-6393