Narrative Experiment

Narrative Experiment

Sign in Subscribe

We Support You

Get as many people up for a scene as feels appropriate. Designate one as person as the "spotlighted" performer. The goal for the spotlighted performer is to do whatever they want. Being present is encouraged, but honestly, just don't worry too much about it. What do

Detangle the Show

This exercise requires at least three or four performers. It is similar to "Bring the Show Home", but with some important differences. You will be given a purposefully flawed story setup. You are not about to perform the beginning of a story, you are about to perform the

Bring the Show Home

This exercise requires at least three or four performers. You will be given a story setup. You are not about to perform the beginning of a story, you are about to perform the end. You may need to remember some information about who your character is, what they want, and

Playing Director

Get as many people up for a scene as feels appropriate. Designate one as person as the "director". The performers (including the director) will improvise a scene (or multiple connected scenes) like they normally would. In fact, everyone should treat this like the beginning of a run. The

Play Against Physical and Situational Plot

Get as many people up for a scene as feels appropriate. The performers will be given a concise suggestion of how to start the scene – this suggestion will intentionally seem to imply a physical or situational plot device (ex. "You have been offered one million dollars to perform a

Play Against Conflict and Negativity

Get as many people up for a scene as feels appropriate. The performers will be given a concise suggestion of how to start the scene – this suggestion will intentionally seem to imply conflict or negativity (ex. "You are at your great-aunt's house and you both hate each

Core Categories

This exercise is based on the popular short-form game, "Categories." One person will act as host; everyone else will form a horizontal line or semi-circle. The host will name a category and quickly point to one participant at a time. The participant will name a word, item, or

Voice Acting

Stand or sit back to back with another performer (you do not need to be touching). Using either written material or improvising (this can be paired with "Script to Scriptless"), perform a scene without moving or looking at your scene partner. Your goal is to voice act. Despite

Script to Scriptless

Use a script for a scene you'd like to imitate. "Imitate" in this case does not mean to copy exactly; it means to perform something similar in spirit to the scene. 1. Cold read the script. Perform it. Make up the characters and react to the