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I am a tree is a very popular improv exercise, well suited for beginners. It trains spontaneous offers, scene-building from the body, and the ability to associate visually rather than verbally.
How to play
The players stand on the stage or around the room. Player A goes to the middle, strikes a pose and says who or what they represent. For example, they lift their arms over their head and say "I am a tree." A second player joins, adds to the picture and also says who or what they are. A third player completes the picture started by A and B.
Once the picture is complete, player A leaves the stage and takes one of the other two players with them. The remaining player keeps their pose and repeats their sentence - that becomes the new offer for the next picture. Two new players join in to complete it.
The exercise can run with any number of players and continues for as many rounds as the energy holds.
Examples
Concrete picture:
- A: I am a tree.
- B: I am the dog who's peeing on the tree.
- C: I am the man whom the dog belongs to.
- A: (leaves) I'm taking the man with me.
- B: I am a dog.
Abstract / figurative picture:
- A: I am a tree.
- B: I am acid rain. (B mimes rain falling on A.)
- C: I am conservation. (C stretches an "umbrella" over A.)
- A: (leaves) I am taking conservation with me.
- B: I am acid rain. (B remains in the middle.)
Tips
- Commit to the pose. A fully physical pose gives much more to associate from than a half-hearted one.
- Add to the picture, don't compete with it. Your offer should make the existing image richer, not contradict or upstage it.
- Visual associations are gold. Don't only think of objects that go together logically - think of what would visually look good in the same image.
- Abstract concepts are allowed. "I am loneliness", "I am gravity", "I am Tuesday" - all valid as long as you give them a body.
- Keep it short. First the pose and the position, then the sentence. Don't explain.
Common pitfalls
- Talking too much. A long-winded "I'm the woodcutter who's coming to chop down the tree because his wife told him..." kills the picture.
- Always going concrete. A scene of three trees, three dogs and three men gets old fast. Mix concrete and abstract.
- Forgetting to take someone with you. When A leaves, A must explicitly take one player along - that defines what the next picture starts from.
Variants
- Machine version. Instead of three players forming a still image, players join one after another and add a movement and a sound to build a working machine (e.g. a machine that fells a tree and turns it into pencils).
- No words. Players only build through pose and movement, naming nothing. The audience guesses afterwards what each picture was.
- Larger pictures. With more players, build pictures of 4-5 elements before someone leaves.
