HONEY WALK

ALIEN TIGER COW

CATS AND TURKEYS

POPCORN

COPY CATS

STATUES

ZIG ZAG TAG

OPPOSITES

BALL BABY ANGRY CAT

FREEZE TAG

PUPPETS

STORY STORY

ANIMALS

FIRST LINE LAST LINE

BUCKET

GENRE/EMOTIONS

STYLE REPLAY/DIRECTOR’S CUT

CUT

EMOTIONAL SYMPHONY

OPERA

FOOT SOLDIERS

QUIRKY FAIRYTALE

UNDERSTUDY

RHYMES

OPEN HOUSE

DISC

WORD AT A TIME

LAST LINE SCENE

HE SAID SHE SAID

HEAD IN A BUCKET

ASIDES

3 LINES

CRISIS SITUATION

DUBBING

EVIL TWIN

PRESS CONFERENCE

SLIDESHOW

RITUALS

ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE

DING

QUESTIONS

NO P

MOVIE REVIEW

1) Agree and Add

This is where "yes, and" comes from. Agree and add is the #1 rule of good improv. Denial on the other hand, is the #1 reason most scenes go bad. Any time you refuse an “offer” made by your scene partner(s) your scene will almost instantly come to a grinding halt. Example: Player A) "Hi, my name is Jim. Welcome to my store." Player B) "This isn't a store, it's an airplane. And you're not Jim, you're George Washington.”

2) Don't ask open ended questions

Open ended questions (like "Who are you?") are usually scene killers because they force your partner to stop whatever they are doing and come up with an answer. When you ask your partner an open ended question, you put the burden of coming up with something "interesting" on your partner. You will have brought the scene to a halt and forced the other person to do the work that you weren’t willing to do.

3) You don't have to be funny

The hidden riddle of improv is that the harder you try NOT to be funny the funnier your scene is going to be. The most successful improv scenes are "interesting" ones, not necessarily a "funny" ones. When you do an interesting scene, the humor tends to just happen. By sticking to your character, the story and the rules of the scene you are playing, you can never go wrong.

4) Set your scene partner up for success

When you’re in a scene, the more you set up your partner for success (and they for you) the better the scene is going to be. All too often players enter a scene with a really great idea about the character they are going to play or an idea they want to do. This is wonderful, but your scene partner probably has no clue as to what your pre-determined idea is and might have their own idea they are trying to get you to adhere to. No matter how brilliant your ideas might be, they are practically worthless if the scene as a whole goes bad. The priority should always be the scene, not the individual improvisors. Support each other and everyone looks good!

5) Tell a story

Storytelling is probably the easiest rule to remember but the hardest one to do. The real magic of improv is when we see the players take totally random suggestions (like a plumber and a cab driver selling shoes on a space station) and somehow "make it work". If all these unrelated elements are going to come together then it's going to happen through the course of an interesting story. And that takes teamwork!

Bonus Rule: Just Have FUN!!!