Improv Exercises

4 Sentence Story

Players stand in a circle or a line to tell short stories. Each player contributes exactly one sentence. The four sentences follow this m...

5 Sentence Story

Simple storytelling in 5 steps, playable in pairs or small groups: Character and place — introduce a person and where they are Second c...

Advance and Illustrate

Players begin a scene. From outside, the facilitator calls two commands: 'Advance!' — players must move the plot forward with new infor...

AED (Action Emotion Detail)

One player tells a story. Three others give signals when they want more Action, more Emotion, or more Detail. Each is responsible for one...

Assertion Marathon

Two players must pack as many assertions as possible into a scene. Every assertion must drive the scene forward. This trains bold offers...

Best Side Story

Two teams face each other. Team 1 begins a story. Each player steps forward and advances the narrative. When the other team notices hesit...

Emotion Circle 3

In the circle, players read aloud from a book — the more emotionless the text, the better (e.g. an instruction manual or textbook). The r...

Fantasy Story with Questions

A quiet exercise for two. Player A lies relaxed with closed eyes and tells a story (no prompt needed). Player B sits nearby and periodica...

Fortunately Unfortunately

Players tell a story sentence by sentence, alternating between fortunately and unfortunately. Player 1: 'Once upon a time there was a pi...

Gibberish Circle

All players form a circle. One of them steps into the center and explains through some gestures something in gibberish. After the player ...

Gibberish Circle

All players form a circle. One steps into the center and explains something using gestures and gibberish (nonsense language). After retur...

Gossip Sisters

Two groups (A and B) of equal size. Group A forms a tight circle in the center and whispers as quietly as possible about a topic. Group B...

I Have a Better Idea

Three players stand in a semicircle. The middle one tells a story. The other two enthusiastically agree with 'Yes yes yes!' to every acti...

La Ronde

The Round Dance follows the model of the same name from Arthur Schnitzler. In this play, different characters appear on the stage one aft...

Once Upon a Time Model

Players stand in a circle and build a story following this model: Once upon a time... (introduce character and setting) Every day... (e...

Opera Ball

An extension of the one-word story. Players form pairs in waltz position. The pairs begin a dialogue — but word by word, alternating betw...

Overwhelming the Listener

Four players. One stands in the center as the listener. Three others stand in front, left, and right, each telling a different story simu...

Pearl String

All players line up. Player 1 steps forward, goes to the far right, and says a sentence that could start a story. Player 2 steps forward,...

Problem Injection

Two players establish a positive routine. After a while, a third player enters from offstage and introduces a problem. Then they leave (w...

Spit-Fire

One player receives a topic and tells a story. On either side, two other players constantly shout random words. The storyteller must inco...

Telephone Monologue

The facilitator and 2 players stay in the room. Player A receives a prompt and delivers a monologue in a developed character. Player B wa...

Tell a Story Together

Two players tell a story together. The first begins: 'Let us go on vacation.' The second starts their sentence with YES: 'Yes, let us go ...

Yes Exactly And Because

Two players sit shoulder to shoulder on chairs, playing one person — an expert or inventor. They are being interviewed about their specia...

Yes Exactly And Then

An exercise for two players. Both experienced something together and tell the story while acting it out. They stand shoulder to shoulder,...