Summary of Games for September 29th

Hey Improvisers

Great session tonight. I had a blast. Sorry my computer wasn't louder. I scolded it and sent it to its room without dinner.

Games:

Acceptance Circle
- Same as last week

Why did we do it?
- Practice makes perfect. And you guys got right back into the swing of things really quickly. Kudos.


“Yes” Circle
- Players are in a circle. One begins by looking at another player. That player must make eye contact, and then say ‘Yes’. The first player then begins moving towards the second player’s position. The second player must make eye-contact with a third person, who must say ‘Yes’, until the second player can move.

Why did we do it?
- Focus on listening and making eye-contact. Saying ‘yes’ is representative of accepting offers.

Tips: Make eye contact! Always be watching everyone else.


What are you doing?
- Two person scene. Player 1 begins by performing an action. Player 2 asks ‘What are you doing?’ Player 1 then says an action completely different than the one he is performing. Player 2 then performs the stated action. Player 1 then asks Player 2 ‘What are you doing?’, and then performs the action stated by Player 2.
- Variation: Get 2 letters, and each word has to start with each letter (i.e. for initials ‘GM’, actions spoken could be ‘Getting Murdered’, ‘Grabbing Money’, ‘Golfing Maggots’, etc)

Why did we do it?
- Focus on listening, being big with actions, association/disassociation.

Tips: Say the first thing that comes to mind. Especially with the Initials variation. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense. A lot of the humour can come from seeing a player’s physical interpretation of something that makes no sense when spoken. i.e. ‘Jerking Water’ ;)


Goalie
- One player in the center (the ‘Goalie). Other players enter as a strong, definitive character. The first sentence spoken must establish the relationship between the characters, and what the scene will be about. (i.e. “Dad, can you teach me how to fish?”) After a few sentences are exchanged, the player who entered must find some logical reason to leave. Another player then enters as a completely different character with a completely different scene.

Why did we do it?
- Although the players who enter have a big role, the focus is on the goalie, and their ability to adapt to new characters and scenes. The goalie is forced to accept the ideas that are presented, because they really have little other option.

Tips: Players – Have a strong character at the beginning, it will help the Goalie respond. Goalie – Try having an emotional reaction to the offers presented.


Master Servant Disaster
- Two players, one is the Master, another is the Servant. The Master has some kind of goal to accomplish at the beginning. Every offer made by the Master must be turned down (preferably in a creative and unique way) by the Servant. Play continues until the Master becomes exasperated, the Servant is tricked into doing something, or the entire world is destroyed.

Why did we do it?
- MSD demonstrates the effect that saying ‘No’ to offers can have on a scene. Every MSD scene goes absolutely nowhere as a result of the Servant’s refusal to do anything.

Tips: This wouldn’t be used as a performance game, but tips are helpful. Master – Be as creative as possible in coming up with solutions to the problem. If you need to, go to your environment! Servant – Be a dick. If you need to, feel free to destroy the entire world, except for the room you’re in.


Freeze
- A game for any number of people, although it tends to get more hectic past eight players. Two are in the center. They begin doing a scene (using big, expressive characters). At any point, a player outside of the scene may clap and shout ‘Freeze!’ When this happens, the players in the scene freeze in their exact positions, and the person who shouted ‘Freeze’ takes the exact position of one of the players, replacing them in the scene. They then begin an entirely different scene, inspired by the position they took from the other player.
- Variations: Blind Pimp Freeze. Players not in the scene face away from the game. At any point, players yell ‘Freeze’ and then shout the name of someone else. The person who is named must go into the scene.

Why did we do it?
- In Freeze, there is no time to say ‘No’ to any offers that are made. You must say ‘Yes’ to everything in order to make the scene interesting. It also stresses the importance of doing big, expressive characters, for the sake of creating more interesting positions to yell ‘Freeze’ upon.

Tips: Try not to get caught up in finding clever positions. Sometimes it’s fun to call Freeze randomly, and go in with what you’re given (i.e. like in Blind Pimp Freeze). Also, it’s good practice to introduce a Who, What, and Where in each scene. Before you call Freeze, check to make sure that the Who What Where have been established. Also, be LOUD when shouting Freeze.


And that's about it for this evening.

Also, remember, we're in JHE 210 next week. I visited it today, and it seems alright. A little small, but it'll be more private.

Yours in HTML,

Cliff