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2-months programme for beginners
When you start moderating an beginner improv group, it is good to have a roadmap which introduces improv topics and principles slowly and gives you set of games and exercises.
If you are an experienced moderator, this programme gives you a base for your workshops and you won't loose sigth of what topics you already teached.
"Yes and..." principle (accepting) and games with limitations - 04.01.2020
Accepting the weird ideas of the other players is the core principle of improv and the students must get this message from the beggining. On the other hand, games with limitations provide a gentle way to step into the stage and start playing focussed on only one aspect of acting.
- Improv-Games 3 with focus on accepting List of games
Played game set
Because the room was too noisy with 25 people, I skipped all pair exercises
- Word at a time proverb in a circle
- Tug-O-War:
Two groups competing with an imaginary rope. One group looses gladly
Showing emotions - 11.01.2020
It shows those new to improv what they can do with their faces and bodies and how fun can improv be.
List of games
- Increase and decrease in circle
- Circle-up
- Samurai (Mirroring)
- Bunny Bunny
- Columbian Fuck Head
- Only one walks
- Großes Kino
- Emotions Characters (afraid, grateful, surprised, patient)
- Scene with 3 emotions
- Emotional Party
- Disaster movie
Creating characters - 18.01.2020
Played Set
- Synchroapplause
- Noise ball
- Ball Metamorphosis
- Samurai
- Bunny Bunny
- Walking with different roles (God, monk, Lucifer, king, prisoner, clown, cowboy)
- Walking and getting old
- Award ceremony
- Hitch hiker with characters
- At the cinema
- Speed dating freeze
- The dating game
Trusting your brain - Be spontaneous! - 08.02.2020
Played set
Listen like a thief! - 07.03.2020
Learn to focus on body language and entonation rather than talking.
Played set
To be in the moment
- Mirror in circle: After some minutes, one person goes outside and when he comes back he has to guess who is the person anyone is mirroing
Listening and accepting in groups
- Group Order by age, weight, shoe size, hair colour, finger length, mental health, personal hygiene, number of ex-lovers, by blue
Learning to see subtle signals
The following games are done in pairs. Changing pairs after every round, so students start loosing their fear of doing eye-contact with others
- Mirror face expressions for 5 minutes. Every pair decides on the moment who leads and the leader is changed during the game
- Mirrow face and body expressions for 5 minutes. Every pair decides on the moment who leads and the leader is changed during the game.
- Mirrow face and body expressions and movements around the classroom for 5 minutes. Every pair decides on the moment who leads and the leader is changed during the game. The movements must be slow
- Mirrowing in the whole room: People start mirroing in pair, after a while they can mirror any person how is passing by. It can be done with music
- Emotional mirror in Greberish
Playing Scenes: Listening
- Limited Genre Improv Game without three typical elements of the genre
Describing places and always doing an activity on stage
This includes object work, less talking and more action. Due to the nature of those topics is difficult to keep the energy high.
Played set
- Circle-up
- Samurai
- Bunny, bunny
- 1, 2, 3, country, name, 6, change
- Superheros wars
- Walk around the room with tension
- Top model show
For next session
- Ball methamorphosis
- Exagerate a scene
- Free form with temporal connection
- Laid down scene
- Different places
- Boom Chicago
Let's get loud! 12.04.2020
Accepting II
* Pairs (Truck, old truck, two connecting ideas)
* what are you doing
only one person walks
open offer, platform building
pen-friends
always yes/no
Developing a Character II
Trusting your brain - Be spontaneous! II
- Storytelling with detail, emotion, action
- Goalie accepting an open line and a character
- Slideshow
- Backwards/Forwards
- Space jump
- Little voice
- Story solo with thrown words
- Whose line is it?
Listen like a thief! II
Learn to focus on body language and entonation rather than talking.
Played set
- Counting until 21 lying down: Make groups of 5 or 6 people. Each group has to count until 21 as a whole. To count, one person has to lift his leg at once. If two people lift their legs at the same time, the group has to start from 1 again.
It is easy for the group to cheat. A supervisor must be there - Gentle manipulation - dressage with an activity or action to guide the second player to guess what the action is
- Silent Post: four monologues in a row with the other players outside the room. To see how facial expressions and emotions are changed
- 32 Players make a scene but they can't speak, just count until 32
- 2, 3 words per sentence
Topics that need to be added
Discussion