← Speeches & Workshops

Energizers

Quickies: Cow, Rabbit, cowboy. One person in middle of circle, points to a person standing in circle and shouts out one of the key words. The person pointed to and the two people surrounding him combine to quickly form the trio. The possibilities: Cow, rabbit, cowboy, cow, tickle tree, sandwich, 1776, Elvis, jello, grape, etc. (Many of the camp kids know these.) And then there are the variations: Elvis in a blender, etc. Start Motion: One person in center of circle, closes eyes. Teacher points to someone standing in actual circle of kids. When the center person opens his eyes, the designated “signer” starts a gesture. Everyone in the circle takes up that gesture. The “signer” changes occasionally… The object: for the person in the center to guess who’s starting (and who keeps changing) the gesture. One, Two, Three! All in a circle. Look at floor. On your count of One! Two! Three! all look up. If a person finds himself staring directly into the eyes of another person, both scream, shout, throw a fit, pee their pants, and get out of the circle. The circle then moves inward to make up for the missing bodies and the game is repeated until only one..or none remain. Groupings: Shout out groups. “Get in a group with people who are born that same month as you! Go!” Then… who like the same sport, same ice cream flavor, same pizza topping, who are wearing the same color of underwear, etc. I’m Falling.. Group meanders around the room. At some point someone will shout, “I’m Falling!” and he does. It’s the job of those around him to catch him.

Commercial Wars . One person from each team is given a product to sell.. actual and physical or imaginary.. They each have one minute to grab the attention away from the other contestant. Judged purely on attention grabbed.

Circle of Sound.. All sit in a circle on the floor. Close eyes. Teacher announces the “place” they are in. For example, a baby nursery, the break room at WalMart, a Kleenex factory. As the teacher touches each head, that person begins making sounds we’d hear in that room. Keep the sounds going, building upon one another, until “Stop!” is called and a new place is announced.

Samurai Warrior. All stand in a circle. One person is the beginning Samurai warrior. He raises his hands above his heads, palms together, lets out his own personal shriek and brings his hands down pointing at someone else in the circle. Whoever is “hit” screams and throws his hands in the air in a similar gesture while the kids on each side of him make a slashing gestures with their hands toward his stomach. (Don’t actually touch the stomach..it can hurt!) The “struck” warrior then directs his scream and hit toward another person in the circle. It’s really very simple and kids love this one.

Concentr-8 Single members from each team stand or sit facing their opponent. Neither can look away, neither can stop talking, neither can crack up. Give each a different topic to talk about.

Move me, Baby! Two members needed from each team. One member of each team goes onstage and faces the other. Give them a situation to play. They may not move their own bodies. The only movement allowed is when another team member behind them moves one of the two actors. The actors should take their cues from those moving them.

Dating Game. Like the TV show. All four members of one team sit on stools or chairs. Give an imaginary persona to each of three contestants… Madonna, Eve, Brittany S, .. the fourth person does not know who they are. The fourth person asks questions of each to determine their identity. They may not ask pointed questions such as “Who are you?” Duh.

Work It In! Two members from one team come forward. Give them an improv situation and set them off. After they get going, throw in objects from the classroom one at a time. They must catch these and smoothly work them into the dialogue.

Party Quirks. Whole team at once. Put one person into his “living room,” then (out of earshot of the host) give the other team members a quirk to display once they enter the party. They cannot name their quirk. Send them into the party one at a time. The host must guess each quirk. Sample quirks: a man with a duck on his back, a girl with snakes wrapped around her neck, a boy who cries every time someone asks him a question, a girl who laughs every time somebody says a verb.

Larry. Two contestants from the same team. One is the interrogator and the other is a probably suspect to some crime.. like stealing basketball coaches panty hose. The third character is a Pooka, an invisible 8-foot tall being of enormous strength. Larry takes orders only from the interrogator.

Freeze Tag. The customary game. A direct challenge. One contestant from each team comes forward and begins to act out a prompt. At some point one of the other contestants shouts “Freeze!” The two actors freeze in position as one actor from each team enters to replace them. They tap them on their shoulders, assume the frozen position, then take off on an entirely different idea based on the frozen poses.

Hands Behind. Two actors act out a scene with their hands behind their backs. Two other actors stand behind them, sticking their arms through the arms of the foremost actors, thus becoming their hands.

Simul-Talk. All team members participate at once. Teams huddle very close together, head on with the other team. One member of the first team begins talking and all his teammates talk simultaneously with him. After a bit, he tags a single member of the other team and the second team does the same.. tagging back and forth.

Scene 3 Ways. Get a story line from the audience.. like “What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you this week?” Then have one team act this out. (Keep it brief with a definite ending.) Then say, now play the same scene as a Soap Opera! (Play it three different ways.. Other ideas: a Western, a musical, a Situation Comedy, as the Tele-Tubbies, as Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers, as a Kung-Fu Movie, as a Bruce Willis action-adventure flick, as the Flintstones, as a game show, etc.)

Alpha-Bits. One team lines up and you give them a story to tell, one sentence at a time. Each new sentence must begin with the next letter of the alphabet. Ex: “A huge elephant showed up in my pajamas.” “But I didn’t ask him to stay.” “’Cause he was big and hairy.” “Did you see him?”

3-Word Scene. Two actors from the same team improv a scene. Each line must contain three and only three words. Once a mistake is made, the MC goes “ERRRR!” or something clever and two from the other team jump out and try to keep it going.. back and forth.. etc. etc. .. ad infinitum.

Statue Statue! Entire team comes onstage. You give them a scene then five seconds to form a statue depicting this scene. EX: Washington Crossing the Delaware! One! Two! Three! Four! Freeze!” or “At the kitchen in McDonalds!” in “The school cafeteria!” Give each team about four of these.

The Brain. Three person. One sitting on floor facing the audience, one sitting on a chair behind him, and one standing behind the sitter.

Taxi! Taxi! Three people.. or two or four.. sit on a park bench. A final person enters and sits with them. This intruder has some small quirk or idiosyncrasy that is gradually and eventually “caught” by all the others. When all have contracted this affliction, the intruder yells Taxi! Taxi! and exits.. then another intruder enters and the game goes on. Same afflictions: an itch, a tendency to shout everything, a tendency to doze, unrealistic fear of everything, spazz-icity, etc.

Hitchhiker…four chairs set in “car” formation. Three family members taking a trip. Fourth participant stands up and thumbs a ride. They stop to pick him up and his small quick slowly infects the rest of the car’s inhabitants. When someone offstage yells “Hitchhiker!” a family member is thrown out and former hitchhiker becomes a family member and the process is repeated.

BUS STOP…similar to Taxi! Taxi! or Hitchhiker! with participants waiting at bus stop and various characters coming up to wait on bus. In this version, someone shouts “Here Comes The Bus!” and leaves.

Newscast. Entire team at once. Assign one person as the TV anchor. Another is the “reporter in the field,” one is the weather person and a fourth does the commercials. You act as director. As you point to each area of the stage, the anchor takes the action there. Give them situations. A storm front containing cats and dogs approaching from the Rockies, a sportscaster interviewing the captain the school’s new frog dissecting team, etc.

Only Questions. Two from one team. Give them a situation to improvise. They may only ask questions. If anyone “fouls,” you let forth with a vicious “ERRRR!”

Line Talk. All contestants from one team in a single line facing the audience. Give the first person a prompt. They repeat it and keep talking. When you shout “Switch!” that person goes to the end of the line and the next person takes over.

Sit Stand Lie. Three contestants. Give them a situation to improvise. At all times, one person must be lying on the ground, one sitting in a chair and one standing. Whenever one person changes positions, the old position must be filled by another. The trick is to make these changes logical and not haphazard.

Circle Tag: Play a scene in the center of a circle. Improvisors tag in, while maintaining the same initial characters and story throughout the scene.

INVENTION… A scene depicting how something was invented… The first Pepsi.. The Hula Hoop, the shoelace, the first underwear, the meatball, the pizza, the potato chip, the Kleenex.

INNER THOUGHTS… two characters doing a scene, two at side giving their real thoughts

ATTITUDE! … get attitudes from audience..one is neutral. Give them a scene to play.

EMBARRASSED! Get an audience members most embarrassing experience.. play it twice..once like it happened then how you wished it would have happened.

BEYOND WORDS.. play a scene where the emotions are so profound, they can’t be expressed in words.

BLIND FREEZE…Same as freeze tag but team stands with backs to audience as two members face audience and act out scene given from audience. One member with back turned yells “Freeze!” then he and someone he tags enters the scene and tags off, resuming the same positions as those tagged. This sometimes actually works better than freeze tag.

SCORPION.. warm up exercise .. six in middle of circle..close eyes.. one is murderer.. kills by squeezing the arm of another.. when squeezed, the victim screams and joins outer circle.

CHANCE OF A LIFETIME… someone in audience tells about something they’ve always wanted to do.. they bring him/her onstage and act it out.

ANGELS AND DEVILS… two actors giving thoughts to person onstage (or two people.) One an angel, one a devil…like the old cartoon idea.

FLASH TAG… pair begins…MC says switch and another pair takes over..use the whole team.

HIDDEN WORD… three actors leave.. get environment from the audience..then three words that might be used in that environment… the actors come in and the audience responds wildly when they’re getting close.

FOLEY ROOM.. one offstage making sound effects..or..two onstage with other team members in the Foley Room, making sound effects.

GIBBERISH COMEDIAN.. comedian and his audience..this one’s great.

LAST LETTER.. each actor’s first word must start with the last letter of the previous speech.

CHARACTER LINE… each has a given character..take turns telling a Fairy Tale

PHYSICAL CONTACT… actors can only speak when they have physical contact with someone else.

SLOW PUPPETS.. two actors moving in slo-mo.. They can only move when someone else taps a part of their body and that part must begin moving in slow motion.

SECRET WORD … actors turn backs to audience, plug ears… get word for each from audience..write on paper and tape to actor’s back.. other actors try to get them to say that word.

REVERSE SEX.. boys play girls and girls play boys… give them a scene..kids love this one…something hormonal, I think.

SLIDE SHOW..one person out front narrating his vacation or other experience..other team members act out his “slides.” They only assume a new position when the narrator says “click.”

The Speck.. (German version: “Das Spec”..) one actor holds a spec in his hand..offstage actor is spec’s voice.

STUNT DOUBLE.. duet begins.. when a dangerous or distasteful act is called for, he yells “Stunt Double!”.. then the double yells “First Team!” when finished.

TRUTH—LIE… three actors sent out, one shares a true event in her life.. they return and all tell the story as theirs with small variations. The audience can question them.

School Bus..tried and true..always a winner

What are you Doing?….. . . Group activity. One person starts miming an activity. Another comes up and asks, “What are you doing?” The first lies and says something totally different…the second person must start doing that activity..a third comes up and asks the second, etc.

Goin’ for a ride..Good for young elementery. Two participants are whispered something on which to be riding..the others try to guess. horse and buggy, rocket, bronc, roller coaster, hot air balloon, elevator, elephant, merry go round, dog sled, canoe, tobaggan, teacher’s back, etc.

Doo Wacka Doo …

Mr. Mumble…Another good old warhorse. Two participants memorize this scene: “Hello.” “Hello.” “Who are you?” “I’m Mr. Mumble!” “Huh?” “I’m Mr. Mumble!” “Oh!” Then they stand face to face and do the scene with lips covering teeth, trying to make the other person laugh.

Energizers

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