PSRWarmUpBigList

Warming Up:

Big Lists

Theory

Occasionally we get kind of immobilized by the agony of choice when we try to pick out warm-ups. A Big List of improv warm-ups will at least let us agonize over a long list of possibilities. :)

The Big List

These are sort of in order -- ones at the start of the list lend themselves to being done first, and the later ones should be done later in warm ups.

body

• Stretching
• Face stretching: Prune face. Surprised face! Prune face. Surprised face!
• Chain of massage

voice

• Projecting at volumes one through ten

  • Indicate the levels by standing at different distances from the players.
  • Have them count from 1 to 10 at the specified volume.
• Projecting to various spots in the theatre
• Tongue-twisters
• Musical scales (especially if you have a musical improvisor)
• Song Spot

energy

• Bippity-bippity-bop
• Big Booty
• 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 -- shaking various body parts

• Simple party games

  • e. g., Funny/scary/sexy
  • Five Things 1

focus and connection

• Walk around, occasionally make unsmiling eye contact 1

• Group mirroring (although this confuses people)

  • Pairwise mirroring
  • Walk around, imitating somebody else's walk

• Paired naming

  • Requires an odd number of people
  • Everybody pairs up
  • The odd man out calls out somebody else's name
  • If you hear your partner's name, you have to immediately run to the caller's side.

  • If your partner tags you before you get there, you return to your spot

    • Your partner may only take one step in any direction to tag you.
  • You can also play this with eye contact instead of spoken names

• Item Chains

  • Get everyone in a circle
  • Specify a category
  • Have everybody name off items in that category, in a particular order
  • Repeat that 'chain' a few times
  • Repeat the process with a new category and a new order
  • Repeat the process a second time with a new category and a new order
  • Now, start all chains going at once
  • Variation: Occasionally reverse one of the chains
  • Variation: Use a thrown object instead of a spoken item

• Pass the clap

  • (Make sure to make eye contact in this warm-up.)
  • Pass the anti-clap: in this one, if you are the person who got clapped to, somebody else has to clap next.
  • Pass the synchro-clap: Each pair of players must clap simultaneously.

• Passing and accepting items

  • Players invent a small set of mimed items, and pass them around for a while.
  • On each pass, A names the item, passes it to B, and B repeats the name and says "thank you."

spontaneity

• Word association -- either pairwise, in a circle, or in two rotating lines

  • Make sure to make eye contact in this warm-up.

• Word-at-a-time...

  • Story
  • Monologue

  • Movie Trailer

    • Make sure to make eye contact in this warm-up.

mime & location

• Pass and transform the mimed object.
• The Room Game

endowments

• Firing Line (2 lines of dialog)

  • Get in a line

  • The person furthest to the left ("A") turns to the next person ("B"), and they have this exchange:

    1. "A" says a line that endows the other person with a name.
    2. "B" says a reply that endows them both with a location.
  • Then "A" goes on to the next person and so on.
  • After a short delay "B" can peel off behind "A" and do the same thing.

• "It's Tuesday!"

  • Pair off
  • First person says "It's Tuesday!"
  • Second person overaccepts the offer.
  • They volley back and forth for a while.

status

• Everybody tries to be the lowest-status person in the room.
• Everybody tries to be the highest-status person in the room.

• Status Pylon

  • We put an object in the middle of the room -- it stays put in the exercise
  • Whoever is closest to that object has the highest status, whoever is next-closest has the next-highest, and so on.
  • Run a large group scene in this environment.
  • Players should remember to move around a lot, and change status as they do so.

improv schizophrenia

• Bell games

  • Positivity ("Yes and...")
  • Motivation ("I want...")
  • Endowment ("You are...")

narrative & scenework

• Scene Starts
• Mini-Fast-Forward

• "I Am A Tree"

  • Player 1 stands on stage like a tree & says "I am a tree"
  • Player 2 comes on as another object.
  • Player 3 comes on as a third object.
  • Player 1 then picks one of the two other players, and they leave the stage.
  • We then restart the process with the remaining player, who repeats the object that s/he is supposed to be.

Useful Links

The improv encyclopedia database of warm-ups.

Footnotes

1 The Peter says: FWIW I've never felt that I've gotten anything out of this exercise.