Short Form
Encyclopedia

A DAY IN THE LIFE

 

The host interviews a couple on the story of how they met, including major events and confidant characters.  The performers then recreate the story, sticking to the plot points established and taking liberties otherwise.  Can be done in a genre or as a musical.

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Difficulty: 3

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ACTING COACH

 

At intervals, the host tells the performers to repeat a line or action with increasing intensity of some aspect he specifies.  The scene continues after it has intensified enough.

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Difficulty: 3

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BLIND LINES

 

While the performers are outside, the host gets sentences from the audience and has audience volunteers write them on pieces of paper.  The performers return and do a scene, picking up, reading aloud, and justifying the lines at intervals.

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Difficulty: 2.  Do not headline lines, e.g.: "You know, my grandma always said…[line]."

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CAMPFIRE TALES

 

One performer is an older relative telling a story to two audience volunteer "children," while the remaining players act out the story.  At intervals, the storyteller will interrupt the acted out story to explain what happens next.  During these explanations, he will prompt the audience members to "remind" him what happens next.

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Difficulty: 3

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COUNTRY HIJINKS

 

Four performers split into teams of two. Team B goes outside while Team A does a short scene. Team B comes back inside and watches Team A recreate its scene speaking in gibberish. Team B then recreates what it thinks the original scene could have been.

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Difficulty: 3. Enhance the game by making sure the motions are memorable and recreated accurately. Team B should purposely choose to misinterpret actions.

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DIRECTOR

 

One performer is a director.  The rest do a short scene.  The director yells "cut!" to stop them, gives them direction, then the scene repeats.  This happens 2-3 times.  Direction can include accents, genres, or emotions from audience suggestions.

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Difficulty: 3

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FOLEY

 

Two performers do a scene and two audience members do sound effects, each doing sounds for one performer.

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Difficulty: 3. Mock and justify how bad the sound effects are.

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HUMAN PROPS

 

Three audience volunteers become props throughout the scene.

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Difficulty: 4.  Be sure to maintain a story rather than just calling props into existence.  Mock and justify how bad or delayed the audience is when becoming props.

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IB+

 

The host modifies and controls the scene using remote control commands, including:

- Pause/Play

- Rewind (reverse actions and repeat lines in reverse order)

- Slow Motion

- Skip scene (jump ahead to a new scene in the story)

- Director's commentary (scene goes silent and someone not in it acts as the director)

- Foreign dub (everyone speaks foreign-sounding gibberish)

- Director's Cut Ending (alternative ending if you don't like the original)

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Difficulty: 4

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MUSICAL COUNTRY HIJINKS

 

Four performers split into teams of two. Team B goes outside while Team A does a short scene that ends in a song. Team B comes back inside and watches Team A recreate its scene speaking in gibberish. Team B then recreates what it thinks the original scene could have been.  The music should be the same each time.

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Difficulty: 3. Enhance the game by making sure the motions are memorable and recreated accurately. Team B should purposely choose to misinterpret actions.

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MY HANDS ARE TIED

 

For 4 performers in pairs.  For each pair, the person in front holds his arms behind his back and the one in back puts his arms through, such that the rear persons arms act as the front person's arms in the scene.

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Difficulty: 2

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MY MUSICAL

 

The performers line up across the front of the stage and take turns coming up with new musical titles using two initials from the audience.  If the host likes a title, he signals to expand and the person who came up with it offers a brief synopsis.  If the host likes the synopsis, he signals the performs to do a short musical excerpt from the musical.

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Difficulty: 2

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NEW CHOICE

 

At any time, the host can yell "new choice," and whoever spoke last must say something to replace his last line.

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Difficulty: 1. Each successive new choice in a set should be more ridiculous than the last.

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NOVELIST

 

One performer is writing a book.  The others act out the scene being written, with the author interrupting to narrate at intervals.  The actors and author both influence the story, but only the author can delete and rewrite something that happens.

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Difficulty: 4

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PICK A TEXT

 

One performer is able to speak normally, but the others can only speak messages from an audience member's phone (1 phone per performer).

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Difficulty: 1

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PILLARS

 

1-2 audience volunteers stand onstage. Throughout the scene, performers may tap on the volunteer's shoulder, after which the volunteer will give the next line of the scene.

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Difficulty: 1.  Be sure to repeat what the audience says when continuing.

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RAP IT

 

At any point during the scene, the host can call "rap it," and whoever spoke last must begin rapping.

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Difficulty: 3

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REVOLVER

 

Four performers stand in a square.  Each side of the square is a different scene, with the pair at the front of the scene being the one acted out.  At intervals, the host will call "rotate," after which the square will rotate to the next side and act out that scene.  When returning to a side, time has passed.

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Difficulty: 1

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SING IT

 

At any point during the scene, the host can call "sing it," and whoever spoke last must begin singing.

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Difficulty: 2

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SHAMILTON

 

An improvised Hamilton-style rap musical about a fake historical figure or event, focusing on three important scenes.

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Difficulty: 5

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SWEET PERFECTION

 

Four performers split into pairs. Team A starts doing a scene. At any time, Team B can shout "objection" and point out an error or take issue with something Team A did. If the host overrules the objection, the scene continues from where it was paused. If the host sustains the objection, Team B takes over the scene and it continues from where it was paused.

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Difficulty: 3.  Escalate the frequency of objections as the game goes on. Do not acknowledge the content of a sustained objection when resuming the scene.

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TELEPHONE

 

Four performers split into teams of two. Team B goes outside while Team A does a short scene. Team B enters and must try to recreate the first scene using nothing but a 10-word description from an audience volunteer.

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Difficulty: 1

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TEXT ME A MUSICAL

 

Each performer has an audience member's phone. When the host prompts the pianist to start a song, whoever spoke last must sing an unbroken sequence of text messages (censored if necessary) from the phone.

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Difficulty: 2

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TWO ROOMS

 

The performers split into pairs, each doing a different scene. One pair performs at a time. When they switch between the two scenes, the last thing said before the switch must be the first thing said after the switch. Each team continues its own scene between switches.

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Difficulty: 1.  If 6 performers, rename to 3 Rooms.

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WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

 

Whenever one performer asks "what do you mean?" the one being asked must sing until someone else in the scene talks.

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Difficulty: 2